Cities and Memory are proud to unveil their latest project – which they’ve been working on since way before the world turned itself upside-down… and they really hope you enjoy it!
Smithsonian Treasures is an online sound exhibition inspired by the works of the most famous museum network in the world.
Artists all over the world took inspiration from paintings, photographs, scientific specimens, works of literature and even war machines from museum as diverse as the Hirshhorn, the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the National Air and Space Museum.
The result is a beautiful, diverse exhibition of fascinating sound works from all over the world.
There are some incredible sound pieces in the project – here are just a few examples:
Artworks by Hopper, Rodin and Eakins reimagined as new sonic compositions;
Pieces inspired by musicians as diverse as Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Rakim and Charlie Parker;
Sound stories based on historical figures like Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, Cleopatra and Muhammad Ali;
Stars of the silver screen like Charlie Chaplin and Rudolph Valentino transformed into sound;
A “lit EDM banger” inspired by a portrait of Abraham Lincoln;
Items covering the full range of history from 221BC to 2014 AD.
Selected highlights from the project are available on the free album embedded at the top of the post.
I really enjoy taking part in Cities and Memory projects. This is the image I worked with:
For me there’s an element of mystery to the picture. It appears to be set in the mountains with a picture of Mount Fuji in the top left. There isn’t really a background, this adds to the mystery as does the serious expression on the lady’s face and the fact she’s looking behind her. I’ve tried to capture the mood and various rhythms, there’s rhythms in the flow of the water and in the washing process for example and I’ve used a variety of orchestration sounds with a variety of movement.
You can listen to my submission and all the others at Smithsonian Treasures
