Turners Falls RiverCulture Presents 

Sun Boxes: A Solar Sound Installation by Craig Colorusso

9 Days, 3 Locations, 20 Sun Boxes

For the first three weekends of November Turners Falls RiverCulture will present Craig Colorusso's Sun Boxes, allowing the participants to observe the piece evolve as it moves through downtown Turners Falls from 11 am - sunset.

Nov. 5-7 Lawn of the Great Falls Discovery Center, 2 Ave. A, Turners Falls, MA

Nov. 12-14 Peskeomskut Park, Ave. A + 7th Sts, Turners Falls, MA

Nov. 19-21 Lawn at the beginning of the Bike Path along the river on 1st Street, Turners Falls, MA

Sun Boxes is a solar powered sound installation. It's comprised of twenty speakers operating independently, each powered by the sun via solar panels. Inside each Sun Box is a PC board that has a recorded guitar note loaded and programmed to play continuously in a loop. These guitar notes collectively make a Bb chord. Because the loops are different in length, once the piece begins they continually overlap and the piece slowly evolves over time.

"The piece creates space; it's an environment for one to enter and exit," says Colorusso. "The footprint this environment occupies is similar to that of a city. A metropolis. It's a burst of technology in the middle of nature. Unlike most cities I have been to, it does not just take over the space. Rather Sun Boxes interfaces with the environment and collaborates with nature. It is the perfect combination of technology and nature that create art, an environment, and a metropolis." 

Participants are encouraged to walk amongst the speakers, and surround themselves with the piece. Certain speakers will be closer and, therefore, louder so the piece will sound different to different people in different positions throughout the array. Allowing the audience to move around the piece will create a unique experience for everyone. In addition, the participants are encouraged to wander through the speakers, which will alter the composition as they move. Given the option two people will take different paths through the array and hear the composition differently. Sun Boxes is not just one composition, but, many.

There are no batteries involved, so Sun Boxes are reliant on the sun. When the sun sets, the music stops and doesn't start until the sun rises. The piece changes as the length of the day changes. Since the amount of sunlight varies from day to day so does the composition of Sun Boxes.

We are all reliant on the sun. It is refreshing to be reminded of this. Our lives have filled up with technology. But we still need the sun and so does Sun Boxes. Karlheinze Stockhausen once said "using Short-wave radios in pieces was like improvising with the world." Similarly, The Sun Boxes are collaborating with the planet and its relation to the sun.

Confluence Events Continue

This Friday October 15
Walk-through of exhibition with the jurors
Gallery at Hallmark
85 Avenue A, Turners Falls
6 – 8 pm
Join  Lisa Thompson, Associate Director of A.P.E. at Windows in Northampton, and Loretta Yarlow, Director of The University Gallery at the Fine Arts Center at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst as they walk through Confluence and share thoughts, reactions, and observations about individual works of art and the overall exhibition.

Loretta Yarlow is the Director of The University Gallery of the Fine Arts Center at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, which presents contemporary national and international art and pursues a mandate of cutting-edge research in the field of the visual arts. Ms. Yarlow received her Bachelor’s degree from Sarah Lawrence College and a Master’s in Education and Fine Arts from Harvard University, specializing in museum education. Prior to her tenure with The University Gallery, for two years Ms. Yarlow served as Director of Exhibitions at Pratt Institute in New York City, and for 14 years as Director/Curator of the Art Gallery of York University, Toronto, Canada.

Lisa Thompson is the Associate Director of Available Potential Enterprises (A.P.E.), a Northampton-based non-profit arts organization established in 1977 that exists to support contemporary artists working in all disciplines by preserving and supporting the spaces in which they create, perform and exhibit their work. In 1996 Ms. Thompson joined A.P.E. in her current capacity. As associate director she works with founding director Gordon Thorne to identify and present the work of established and emerging, often experimental visual and performing artists. She initiates and manages A.P.E. programming, including monthly exhibitions of visual art, and fosters connections and collaborations with other arts organizations.

Photographs by Paul Teeling

Next Friday October 23: Confluence Convocaton

October 29: Fostering Art & Culture BUZZ + Water Dances

  This weekend! 

The Friends of Gill’s 18th Annual Gill Arts and Crafts Festival!, National Wildlife Refuge Week activities at the Great Falls Discovery Center. And 9^th Annual Fall Family Fun Day at Unity Park, not to mention Annie at the Shea, The Warblers at the Rendezvous, Hey Mama at Burrito Rojo and Rockit Queer's 3rd anniversary!  All the details here.

RiverCulture works to create a vibrant and connected Turners Falls community through innovative partnerships and cultural programming.

We are a community supported organization sustained through contributions from individuals, businesses, and organizations.  We'd like to thank our major supporters who have taken a significant investment in the vibrancy and livablilty of our community:

Massachusetts Cultural Council

Town of Montague

Western Massachusetts Electric Company

Hillside Plastics

Fostering Art & Culture Project

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