AN IMMERSIVE AUDIO EXPERIENCE
SONIC TRAILS
exclusive APP EXPERIENCES featuring:
MICHELE-ELISE BURNETT & local native and first nations musicians & storytellers
rhiannon giddens, yo-yo ma & silkroad
the holladay brothers
kronos quartet
paul d. miller aka DJ SPOOKY
Sonic Trails is a visionary series of site reactive audio experiences presented in a mobile app. With a hyper-local and global perspective, Sozo and Artpark have joined forces to bring together some of the most influential BIPOC voices in music to cultivate aural storytelling exploring the unique geological and historic Earl W. Brydges Artpark State Park in New York. Throughout the summer, audiences will have the opportunity to explore Artpark to the accompaniment of a variety of artistic worlds for free, right in their own pockets - an immersive choose-your-own-adventure.
Her Moccasins Talk is a matriarchal and Indigenous journey exploring our relationship with gratitude, based on the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address, curated by Indigenous bridge builder Michele-Elise Burnett, local native and First Nations musicians and storytellers.
Grammy Award-winning musician, historian and Silkroad Ensemble Artistic Director Rhiannon Giddens, in collaboration with celebrated Grammy Award-winning cellist Yo-Yo Ma, will debut Juneteenth: From The Past To The Living Present, a guided walk centering the contributions of African Americans on American culture, music and history.
Composers, multimedia artists and pioneers of location-aware experiences, The Holladay Brothers presents Cover The Water, an original music composition they birthed out of pandemic limitations and during their artistic residency at Artpark.
Kronos Quartet and select composers from its series of global commissions, 50 for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire weave together an intricate musical legacy of tradition and innovation. The experience focuses optimism, beauty and discovery to compose a global story of interconnectedness. Featuring composers Susie Ibarra, Aftab Darvishi, Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté, Nicole Lizée.
Paul Miller AKA DJ Spooky brings his unforgettable transcendental sound to Artpark trails with a high energy electronic music experience, premiering three news tracks for the park visitors to hear first. You can take these heart racing beats for a run or bike ride through Artpark to experience the trails in a whole new way.
Sonic Trails is a visionary series of site reactive audio experiences presented in a mobile app designed by The Holladay Brothers, and curated and co-produced by Sozo Creative. With a hyper-local and global perspective, this unique interactive app brings together some of the most influential BIPOC voices in music to cultivate aural storytelling exploring the historic Earl W. Brydges Artpark State Park in New York.
“As this project was conceived, it was intrinsically clear to cultivate space for the original and current stewards of the land, while centering voices of color. The highly collaborative approach to this experience is also posed to support an awakening to a greater ecological consciousness of interspecies relations at the center of these teachings, inspiring us all to imagine a meaningful transformation in the ethos of Indigenous education, artistic practices and the potent power of imagination.”
Chisa Yamaguchi, Co-curator/producer, Sozo Creative
ABOUT THE APP
“How can we create the feeling of humanity and connectedness within this new reality?”
The Holladay Brothers are renowned for their location-aware composition: music created and mapped to a physical space, released exclusively as apps, using a mobile device’s GPS to dynamically alter the music as the listener traverses a landscape. Their first production in 2011, “The National Mall” mapped to the park in Washington, DC, was described by the Washington Post as “magical… like using GPS to navigate a dream” and was included in their list of the year’s top albums (a first for an app).
They have since gone on to create site-specific app experiences for:
Central Park, New York, NY
Downtown Austin, Texas, in partnership with SxSW Interactive
Washington Square Park, New York, NY, in partnership with NYU Skirball Center
The Fairmont Orchid, Big Island, Hawaii, in partnership with IBM
The grand opening of the new US Embassy, London, UK, in partnership with the US Department of State
Osseghem Park, Brussels, Belgium, in partnership with BOZAR I Love Science festival.
The location-aware app is tailored not only to the landscape, but it also serves as a community building tool which engages the unique local narratives and talent. Field recordings and works by guest artists, local composers and spoken word artists can be integrated into the app, as well as collaboration with computer programmers and engineering students for technical support and maintenance.
Ryan Holladay’s TED Talk on location-aware music “To hear this music you have to be there. Literally” has been viewed 1.3M times.
Contact us.
We are currently working on commissioned app experiences for partners ranging from Michigan Tech to Texas A&M. We are seeking to collaborate with local indigenous communities, local artists and students.
Please email us at: info[at]sozomedia.com