SOUND PLACES (COMMOTION FESTIVAL)

Sound Places, co-presented by Bowerbird as part of the Commotion Festival, was a “virtual” sound art project: a series of short, site-specific audio pieces by Philadelphia artists, each tied to a location in the Point Breeze, Grays Ferry and South of South Street neighborhoods. Listeners scanned a code at each location with a smartphone to hear the piece there. It launched on June 16, 2012 at the Commotion Festival kickoff at Zion Hill Memorial Baptist Church and ran through June 30.

Pieces and locations
Claire Niebergall, 2650 Grays Ferry Ave
Nick Krill, “Neighborhood Dynamo,” Webster St between Schuylkill Ave and South Taney St
George Korein, 2530 Ellsworth St
Toisha Tucker, “Urban Thunderstorm,” Wharton Square
Daniel Perelstein, “Metal City,” 26th St just north of Dickinson
Laine Godsey, “Domesticated Savage,” Grays Ferry Ave and Christian St
Murmuration, “Balance Act,” Keith Haring mural at 22nd and Ellsworth
Brendan McGeehan, “Contemplating Our Powerful Surroundings,” Webster and South Taney St
Team Hungrymonsters, “Crescent Park Tandemphone,” Crescent Park
Maria Dumlao, Zion Hill Baptist Church, 2702 Ellsworth St
Jesse Kudler, railway bridge over Washington Ave between 25th and 26th
Newton, “Shades of Grays Ferry,” 29th and Ellsworth St
Byron Westbrook, “Choir for Handheld Recorder,” Grays Ferry Power Plant

The project also included three free Sound Places workshops, with Byron Westbrook, Eugene Lew and Maria Dumlao.

Commotion was an initiative of the University of the Arts, a public art project funded by PECO, commissioned by the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority’s Percent for Art Program and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.