This month, Lower Manhattan's New Museum, a soundproof structure, will premiere the "chants of an imagined ancient lament" on the various floors of the building.
The production is supposed to transport modern-day New Yorkers back to ancient Assyria in the year 612 B.C.
Italian composer and artist Roberto Cuoghi, plans to sing Šuillakku Corral while playing myriad instruments including a ram's horn, African lute, coconut shells and an Indian elephant bell.
But it continues.
On another floor, ten strumming guitar troubadours will sit (or stand) on furniture to emulate the famous sex scene from a 1977 Icelandic cult film. Those performers are known as Ragnar Kjartansson's spatial music piece Take Me Here by the Dishwasher--Memorial for a Marriage.
Per Art News:
The riot of sounds bursting from every floor of the New Museum reflects the tremendous breadth of music that visual artists are incorporating into their practices right now. From primordial incantations to operatic melodrama to the beats of the street, they are exploiting the elemental language of music to communicate across cultural boundaries. This sonic diversity also echoes the multifarious tastes of Gioni, who curated last year's acclaimed Venice Biennale show "The Encyclopedic Palace."
If you're interested at all, Classicalites, make your way to the museum's website for more information.
To gain some perspective, here's a brief mission statement from the directors of the New Museum.
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