Quintron will conduct the Music Box symphony

by Brad Rhines

As Prospect.2 gears up for its city-wide opening on Saturday, a satellite exhibition by the New Orleans Airlift art collective is generating some serious buzz—not mention creaks, groans, clicks, and gongs. The Airlift has created its own little world on a previously razed lot at 1027 Piety Street in the Bywater, an installation of sound and structures dubbed “The Music Box: A Shantytown Sound Laboratory.”

NoDef got to check out the work in progress last month, as artists from around the country swarmed to New Orleans to build a veritable village of shacks and shanties from salvaged materials. Each structure is outfitted with electronics and amplification to create a unique range of sound, whether it’s creaking spring-loaded floorboards or a fully robotic Indonesian orchestra.

The Music Box is the first step in the Airlift’s collaboration with internationally renowned artist Swoon, who got her start on the streets of New York City before making a name for herself in museums and galleries around the world, including our own Museum of Art, where her giant screen print and cut paper goddess of the sea Thalassa dominated NOMA’s Great Hall this past September. Swoon is working with the Airlift to create a “musical house” in New Orleans, something Airlift director Delaney Martin hopes will be “a landmark sculpture” for the city. The Music Box gives the collaborators a chance to prototype the instrumentation of the house, experimenting with ways of combining sound and sculpture.

The Music Box opens with a performance Saturday night, the first of three over as many months. A group of musicians will take over the shantytown and perform a symphony of sound, conducted by master of swamp-and-synth Quintron. Shows will be at 6:30 and 8:30. Seating is limited, so come early, and the price of admission is a suggested donation. On non-performance weekends, the shantytown will be open to the public on Fridays and Saturdays, 12 - 5 p.m.