Joseph del Pesco and I were invited by the Oakland Museum of California to develop a project which would reinterpret works in the museum's permanent collection. Working with the large metal sculptures that populate the museum's multi-tiered gardens, we created a sound project that marks the closing and renovation of the museum's art and history galleries. Starting January 2, 2008 and running through October, 2009 (or until renovations are completed), Sculpture Garden Carillon can be heard across the museum grounds and from the street outside the museum.

We started by digitally recording gong-like sounds emitted by twelve sculptures when struck with a fleece covered drum mallet (we were assisted by a museum conservator to insure the works would not be damaged). Using a computer program to update the museum's existing (decommissioned) carillon system, the “voices” of these sculptures sound out over the museum grounds every hour of the day and night. The number of times each sculpture rings tells the hour: one sculpture rings once at one o'clock, another rings twice at two o'clock, and so on, until a twelfth sculpture, accompanied by a chime, rings twelve times at noon and midnight. Posters distributed at the museum and in the neighborhood provide a key to the hourly chimes and their corresponding sculptures.

Listen to sampler: