Christopher Janney
Encyclopedia
Christopher Janney is an American composer/artist/architect known for his work on the interrelation of architecture and music. Sometimes he attempts to make architecture more like music as in his sound sculptures titled "Urban Musical Instruments" of which "Soundstair" (musical stairs) is one example. Other times, he develops performance projects which make music more like architecture as in his "Physical Music" series which includes "HeartBeat," a piece danced by Mikhail Baryshnikov
. Much of Janney's permanent work has sought to create "permanent participatory soundworks for public spaces," including installations for airports in Dallas, Boston, Miami and Sacramento and the New York City Subway.
Janney has toured his "Sonic Forest" in both the US and Europe at major music festivals including Bonnaroo and Coachella as well as Glastonbury and Hype Park Calling in the UK.
A book on his work, titled Architecture of the Air was released in February, 2007.
He currently lives in Lexington, Massachusetts
.
. He received a B.A. degree (1973, Magna cum Laude) from Princeton University
(where he studied with Michael Graves
and James Seawright
and Rosalind Krauss). After graduation, he studied percussion and music at the Dalcroze School of Music (see Eurhythmics
) and Mannes College of Music
in New York, performed jazz and worked with various artists and dance companies (including Merce Cunningham
Dance and Sara Rudner 18th St. Company, Jack Yongerman, Claes Oldenburg).
He received an MS (1978) in Environmental Art at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
; his thesis (under Otto Piene
) was titled SOUNDSTAIR: The Nature of Environmental/Participatory Art.
While also a Research Fellow at MIT, Janney developed his own multi-media studio, PhenomenArts, Inc., in 1980, combining his interests of music and architecture. He has created numerous permanent interactive sound/light installations and performances, including Harmonic Runway at the Miami Airport and REACH:NY, 34th St. Subway in New York, HeartBeat:mb with Sara Rudner and Mikhail Baryshnikov, and "Sound Stair" (musical stairs) at the Boston Children's Hospital.
He has been awarded the Gryorgy Kepes Price from MIT (1986), "Sound Designer of the Year," by LDI/Theater Arts Magazine (1985) and the Edison Award from General Electric for Innovation in Design (1996).
His work ha been profiled on CBS Sunday Morning, HGTV, Architectural Record, Metrolpolis Magazine, The New York Times, and in a 30-minute award-winning documentary titled "Drum of Time."
Janney lectures widely on his work. He has been a visiting professor at both The Cooper Union School of Architecture and Pratt Institute School of Architecture, where he has taught his seminar "Sound as a Visual Medium".
He currently serves as Vice-President for the Institute for Performance Sculpture, Inc. and is President/Artistic Director for PhenomenArts, Inc which specializes in Environmental Arts and Design with studios in Lexington, MA and London, UK.
Christopher Janney’s website www.janneysound.com provides information for where to find the latest events.
At times, Sonic Forest will perform on its own. The entire installation will sound the time of day each hour or be triggered randomly for short intervals when no one has passed through it. To provide an added level of interaction, the work often incorporates a "riddle," which is written on a nearby board. The answer to the riddle is a specific path through the columns. Follow the path and Sonic Forest will respond with a "dance of its own."
“Christopher Janney's "Sonic Forest" which has really made the rounds at festivals offers continual aural and visual surprises to those with a healthy curiosity. It provided a totally populist delivery of a once-high-art concept of interactive random cut-ups that would do Marcel Duchamp proud.” --URB.COM
"Sonic Forest is the greatest thing ever," said comedian Aziz Ansari on his 2009 album track "Bonnaroo."
Other permanent locations of Soundstair (the musical stairs):
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Nikolaevich Baryshnikov is a Soviet and American dancer, choreographer, and actor, often cited alongside Vaslav Nijinsky and Rudolf Nureyev as one of the greatest ballet dancers of the 20th century. After a promising start in the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad, he defected to Canada in 1974...
. Much of Janney's permanent work has sought to create "permanent participatory soundworks for public spaces," including installations for airports in Dallas, Boston, Miami and Sacramento and the New York City Subway.
Janney has toured his "Sonic Forest" in both the US and Europe at major music festivals including Bonnaroo and Coachella as well as Glastonbury and Hype Park Calling in the UK.
A book on his work, titled Architecture of the Air was released in February, 2007.
He currently lives in Lexington, Massachusetts
Lexington, Massachusetts
Lexington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 31,399 at the 2010 census. This town is famous for being the site of the first shot of the American Revolution, in the Battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775.- History :...
.
Biography
Janney grew up in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. He received a B.A. degree (1973, Magna cum Laude) from Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
(where he studied with Michael Graves
Michael Graves
Michael Graves is an American architect. Identified as one of The New York Five, Graves has become a household name with his designs for domestic products sold at Target stores in the United States....
and James Seawright
James Seawright
is a modernist sculptor who was born in Jackson, Mississippi in 1936. As a boy, he discovered machine tools at a friend’s house, which launched his lifelong love of making objects by hand...
and Rosalind Krauss). After graduation, he studied percussion and music at the Dalcroze School of Music (see Eurhythmics
Eurhythmics
Dalcroze Eurhythmics, also known as the Dalcroze Method or simply Eurhythmics, is one of several developmental approaches including the Kodaly Method, Orff Schulwerk, Simply Music and Suzuki Method used to teach music education to students. Eurhythmics was developed in the early 20th century by...
) and Mannes College of Music
Mannes College of Music
Mannes College The New School for Music is The New School university's music conservatory. While the university's main campus is located in Greenwich Village, New York City, Mannes maintains its main academic building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan....
in New York, performed jazz and worked with various artists and dance companies (including Merce Cunningham
Merce Cunningham
Mercier "Merce" Philip Cunningham was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of the American avant-garde for more than 50 years. Throughout much of his life, Cunningham was considered one of the greatest creative forces in American dance...
Dance and Sara Rudner 18th St. Company, Jack Yongerman, Claes Oldenburg).
He received an MS (1978) in Environmental Art at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
; his thesis (under Otto Piene
Otto Piene
Otto Piene is a German artist. He lives and works in Düsseldorf and Groton, Massachusetts.-Biography:...
) was titled SOUNDSTAIR: The Nature of Environmental/Participatory Art.
While also a Research Fellow at MIT, Janney developed his own multi-media studio, PhenomenArts, Inc., in 1980, combining his interests of music and architecture. He has created numerous permanent interactive sound/light installations and performances, including Harmonic Runway at the Miami Airport and REACH:NY, 34th St. Subway in New York, HeartBeat:mb with Sara Rudner and Mikhail Baryshnikov, and "Sound Stair" (musical stairs) at the Boston Children's Hospital.
He has been awarded the Gryorgy Kepes Price from MIT (1986), "Sound Designer of the Year," by LDI/Theater Arts Magazine (1985) and the Edison Award from General Electric for Innovation in Design (1996).
His work ha been profiled on CBS Sunday Morning, HGTV, Architectural Record, Metrolpolis Magazine, The New York Times, and in a 30-minute award-winning documentary titled "Drum of Time."
Janney lectures widely on his work. He has been a visiting professor at both The Cooper Union School of Architecture and Pratt Institute School of Architecture, where he has taught his seminar "Sound as a Visual Medium".
He currently serves as Vice-President for the Institute for Performance Sculpture, Inc. and is President/Artistic Director for PhenomenArts, Inc which specializes in Environmental Arts and Design with studios in Lexington, MA and London, UK.
Christopher Janney’s website www.janneysound.com provides information for where to find the latest events.
Sonic Forest
Part of Christopher Janney’s series of “Urban Musical Instruments,” Sonic Forest consists of a number of cylindrical aluminum columns, each 8 feet high. Each column contains a series of photo-sensors, audio speaker, LED cone-light and star-strobe. By strolling among the columns, people trigger the photo-sensors, which activities the light and an ever-changing “sound score” of melodic tones, environmental sounds and spoken text.At times, Sonic Forest will perform on its own. The entire installation will sound the time of day each hour or be triggered randomly for short intervals when no one has passed through it. To provide an added level of interaction, the work often incorporates a "riddle," which is written on a nearby board. The answer to the riddle is a specific path through the columns. Follow the path and Sonic Forest will respond with a "dance of its own."
“Christopher Janney's "Sonic Forest" which has really made the rounds at festivals offers continual aural and visual surprises to those with a healthy curiosity. It provided a totally populist delivery of a once-high-art concept of interactive random cut-ups that would do Marcel Duchamp proud.” --URB.COM
"Sonic Forest is the greatest thing ever," said comedian Aziz Ansari on his 2009 album track "Bonnaroo."
SoundStair: The Nature of Environmental/Participatory Art.
The original installation, his MIT thesis, Soundstair ©1978 is a permanent piece in the Boston Museum of Science.Other permanent locations of Soundstair (the musical stairs):
- “Soundstair: Minnesota”- Minnesota Museum of Science, St. Paul, MN
- “Soundstair: Macon”- Macon Museum of Arts and Sciences, Macon, GA
- “Soundstair: Charleston”- South Carolina Aquarium, Charleston, SC
Other major projects
- "Harmonic Runway"- Miami Airport, 1995
- "REACH:New York"- 34th St. Subway, New York, NY, 1997
- "Turn Up The Heat"- An interactive scoreboard for the Miami Arena, Miami, FL, 2000
- "A House Is a Musical instrument," Kona, Hawaii, 2000
- "Whistle Grove: The National Steamboat Monument," Cincinnati, OH, 2002
External links
- Official website
- Christopher Janney, Sculpting Sound on NPRNPRNPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
- Christopher Janney at Cooper UnionCooper UnionThe Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly referred to simply as Cooper Union, is a privately funded college in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States, located at Cooper Square and Astor Place...
- REACH New York, An Urban Musical Instrument (1996) Location: 34th Street – Herald Square; New York City Subway station
- Nations Largest Public Art Installation at Logan Airport WBZ-TVWBZ-TVWBZ-TV, virtual channel 4, is a CBS owned-and-operated television station, located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WBZ-TV's studios and office facilities, shared with sister station WSBK-TV , are located in the Allston-Brighton section of Boston, and its transmitter is located in Needham,...
video report - Christopher Janney interview on MomCulture
- Sonic Forest Article in the New York Times
Reference works
- Christopher Janney, Ellen Lampert-Greaux, Beth Dunlop, Sir George Martin (Foreword); Architecture of the Air: The Sound and Light Environments of Christopher Janney; New York: Sideshow Media, 1997. ISBN 978-0978814304