Photo @ Nico Schinco
tea & sound
Sora
When you hear the splash of the water drops that fall into the stone bowl you will feel that all the dust of your mind is washed away.
- Sen No Rikyu
This piece of writing by tea master Sen- No Rikyu gave a voice to the concept we had for the temporary tea room. How both sound and tea can activate the parts of brain that calm the mind. Listening to music has always been more than a ritual. It’s allowed us to focus on the acts of listening and making tea-for our brains to zone in on the gentle hiss of the kettle, the clanking of ceramic cups. The same with the music that we were playing- we started to hear all aspects of the sound. Drinking tea and listening to music are one in the same.
Sora means sky, or empty in Japanese. In Korean, it means conch shell. For us, it encompasses both the significance of small and vast spaces, where we can find wonder and ultimate beauty. Light sculptures by Yuko Nishikawa will transform the space and a custom-made soundtrack created by sound artists Jenn Grossman, Camilla Padgitt-Coles, Alec Fellman, Maria Takeuchi, and Serena Stucke will be played while tea is served. Let’s take a moment to experience what we create with music, light, and tea. This is a special program for the Spring Blossom Party on April 29, 2023.
Curated by Serena Stucke/TETSU COLLECTIVE
Light Artist:
Yuko Nishikawa creates a fantastical environment with her colorful, textural lively forms. With a hands-on, exploratory approach, she makes paintings, lighting, mobiles and sculptures using a variety of mediums including clay, wire, fabrics, as well as repurposed materials such as recycled paper and used eyewear lenses.
Sound Artists:
Jenn Grossman is a sound/experiential media artist based in Brooklyn, NY. She's concerned with the psycho-spatial, surreal, affective, and transcendent potentials of sensory media. Her work has taken the form of sound sculpture, audiovisual installation, experimental performance, sound collage, light/video events, public interventions, ambient music, and spatial audio works. She's held residencies at I-Park Foundation, Harvestworks, presented at festivals, museums and conferences such as the Black Mountain College Museum, the Museum of the Moving Image and the New York Transit Museum, the Megapolis Audio Festival, the Global Composition Conference, the Women In/Women on Sound Symposium, along with unconventional public locations. She curates under WISE: Women Innovating Sound Experience, supporting women-identified/non-binary artists working with experimental sound and technology.
Camilla Padgitt-Coles is a Brooklyn-based multimedia artist creating with light, sound, and color in real time. Their work ranges from live audio-visual performances and visuals for live music to interactive installations and recorded musical releases. Recent work highlights the connection between color and sound in interactive installations that combine mixed media materials and software.
MA is the collaborative sound works of ÉMU + insomniac hotel. MA explores collaboration by way of offering neutral, minimal, wabi-sabi atmospheric ambient soundscapes.
Serena Stucke is an NYC based sound & visual artist and sonic tinkerer. She is one half of the intermedia art collective, Testu Collective. She hosts an online radio show Cinema for the Ear.