Maya Dunietz: Root of Two
Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts
2022
Production | Exhibition Grant
Maya Dunietz’s Reflections and Reverberations is a multimedia sound installation combining music, performance, and technology on a vast scale. Occupying all 13,000 square feet of the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Dunietz’s project features five new, experiential artworks that explore the physicality of sound. Root of Two (2022), an installation comprised of 17 discarded pianos that Dunietz modified to be played through transducers, creates an oscillating network of signals where each piano is programmed to search for the middle point note in a sea of constantly regenerated sound. Other pieces, such as Mechanical Lungs (2022) and Ghosts (2022), take their inspiration from Bemis’ iconic building, using found materials or existing architectural elements to generate sounds that may, in turn, be modified by visitors. As they move their bodies through Dunietz’s audio environment, visitors are encouraged to physically interact with each sound work before periodically entering a series of anechoic chambers that cleanse the palate in preparation for the next sonic experience. With Reflections and Reverberations, Dunietz challenges expectations about the nature of sound, inviting viewers to haptically engage with her instruments in unexpected ways by using their bodies to contemplate—and even generate—sound.
The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts is an alternative art space known for its artist-driven public programming. The Sound Art + Experimental Music Residency Program is a recent addition to Bemis’ pioneering program, which seeks to incubate experimental sound art while connecting visiting artists to Omaha’s vibrant music scene. In the framework of the Sound Art residency, Dunietz will present an artist talk, performance, and several workshops for the public, all of which connect her working practice to her final exhibition on public view. Dunietz has invited Omaha-based musicians and composers to intervene, compose, and perform with the instruments featured in her installation. The Bemis Center will also host a “Public Assembly” in conjunction with the exhibition, a signature program that invites community members to contemplate how Bemis’s exhibitions pertain to interests relevant to Omaha residents.
Images: Maya Dunietz: Rehearsal for Root of Two, to be installed at Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in 2022. Courtesy of the artist and Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, NE.
