性视界传媒

School of Art鈥檚 Arcadia Installation Cultivates Green Consciousness

Body
Arcadia.jpg
Yassmin Salem, Coordinator of Murals at Mason, within the Arcadia installation
Photo by Evan Cantwell/Mason Creative Services

Arcadia, created by artist Sam Nester and offered in partnership with the School of Art鈥檚听听and听听initiatives. The groundbreaking exhibit, which features plants as musical composers and visual performers, opened in November 2020 and will be accessible through December 2021 via its dedicated Twitch livestream at听, as well as in person from听outside the Presidents Park Hydroponic Greenhouse on Mason鈥檚 Fairfax campus.

Arcadia uses modified biodata-sonification sensors to convert the natural, real-time biorhythms of Virginia native plants into Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) data. Data collected from the plants is sent to a computer that processes it with Ableton and Max MSP and then outputs real-time sound through a variety of MIDI instruments. Plant signals controlling the MIDI instruments also control an LED light display corresponding to the pitches of the MIDI instruments. The audiovisual experience creates a synesthetic art exhibition where the activation of one sense triggers other senses, evoking a state of wonder.

Arcadia听represents an inspiring fusion of worlds鈥攖he natural and the digital, the visual and the musical. This kind of boundary blurring speaks directly to a vision of a better future, and we are thrilled to share it with the Mason community,鈥 stated Rick Davis, Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

Arcadia makes sustainability a topic of inspiration and reflection for a wider audience. Environmental consciousness is a shared value at Mason and public art is a great tool for casual viewers to reflect on their relationship with nature. This exhibition will catalyze wonder through a variety of programs that use intersectional social justice as a frame to explore sustainability, environmental justice, healing, and consciousness.鈥

Arcadia applies contemporary artistic practice to engage cross-disciplinary research and inquiry. Over the course of the year, the exhibit will have a number of collaborators and research partners who will utilize the data, monitor the plants鈥 health, and manipulate the MIDI stream for a variety of activities and events. Two of these partners are the Center for Well Being and Counseling and Psychological Services, who are currently featuring听Arcadia听as an integral part of the 鈥淢indful Mason Moments鈥 guided meditation series. Similarly, Doni Nolan, the Greenhouse and Gardens Program Manager and current Biosciences PhD student, is making use of the exhibit to conduct research on the propagation of American ginseng (wild ginseng is a threatened plant in Virginia) and soil microbiome health鈥攂oth of which support her ongoing research about root rot in hydroponics and her development of an organic integrated pest management (IPM) program that adds beneficial microbes to prevent and treat root rot.

Arcadia鈥檚 integration of researching, saying 鈥淚 would like to see contemporary artists collaborating in all types of research, not only by influencing the research process, but by creating an accessible and communicable result: a work of art鈥攅specially studies of the environment, social justice, health, technology, psychology, history, community development, and political science, to name a few.鈥

Arcadia exhibition, all of the native Virginia plants will be relocated to various sites on Mason鈥檚 Fairfax campus. The medicinal plants will be transplanted to the Green Studio, in collaboration with Associate Professor Mark Cooley, and the edible plants will be moved to the Innovation Food Forest under the care of Greenhouse and Gardens Program Manager, Doni Nolan.

Arcadia invites us to wonder how we use technology to have an authentic relationship with the natural phenomena that surround us at all times. I urge all of us to consider how we can re-center ourselves at this crucial moment in our shared history.鈥

Arcadia are available听, including an introductory video. Additionally, the recording of a live听Mason Arts at Home听performance鈥攆eaturing Sam Nester, members of the Brass Project Ensemble, and fellow experimental musicians鈥攃an be viewed听.

Arcadia is made possible with generous funding from Mason鈥檚听Office of Research, Innovation, and Economic Impact;听;听; the听; the听;听; and听. Collaborators include Amanda Jarvis, MIX Maker Manager,听; Doni Nolan, Program Manager of the听; Mark Cooley, Director of the听; Dr. Andrea Weeks, Director of the听; and听, a New York City-based Lighting Designer, who helped Nester with initial lighting concepts.