Sun Boxes installation on the Hoval
The Cantor Art Gallery presents 'Sun Boxes' at the Hogan Campus Center
Musician and artist Craig Colorusso harnesses the sun's power to create an interactive sound installation
Event update: Sun Boxes event today? Maybe, but rescheduled for Sunday, May 6 and Monday the 7th, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Mother Nature has intervened! Craig Colorusso will set up Sun Boxes this afternoon, May 2 if the cloud cover clears -- cancelled for tomorrow, May 3 due to the prediction of rain. We hope you will join us on Sunday or Monday, same location and time as first advertised!
The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery at the College of the Holy Cross will present the temporary sound installation "Sun Boxes" by musician and artist Craig Colorusso in the campus' recently constructed outdoor space in front of the Hogan Campus Center on Wednesday, May 2 and Thursday, May 3, from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Colorusso, who will be on-site both days, describes himself as a musician who began to explore ways to migrate from the stage to create sound environments, to explore sound, "outside of the song."
"Sun Boxes" was first created in 2009 for a residency "Off the Grid" at Goldwell Open Air Museum in Ryhiolite, Nev., and has since appeared at dozens of locations, including many colleges and universities across the country, as well as institutions such as the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Lincoln, Mass.
"Sun Boxes" is an interactive soundscape that visitors are able to enter and exit at will, and may immerse themselves in by walking in and around the boxes, altering the way it is experienced. The installation is comprised of 20 speakers operating independently, each powered by the sun via solar panels. A different loop of a recorded guitar note is set to play in each box continuously. These guitar notes collectively make a Bb chord. Because the loops are different in length, once the piece begins there is a layering of sound, with the piece slowly evolving over time.
Working on this project over the past couple of years has made Colorusso very aware of nature and he says, "I am humbled by nature constantly. When I wake up in the morning it's either a good day for 'Sun Boxes' or not, when the clouds cover the sun sometimes the sound of 'Sun Boxes' stops. Sometimes you don't get what you want when you want it. It's nice to be reminded of this."
Roger Hankins, director of the Cantor Art Gallery, says the newly constructed "Hoval" (the outdoor space at the lower level of the Hogan Campus Center) "will provide the perfect area for students, faculty, staff and visitors to engage with the musical atmosphere of the 'Sun Boxes,' and to celebrate the most elemental of resources-the sun."