On September 9th, RETUR(N)INGS, a permanent electroacoustic sound art installation, was officially opened in Bobst library’s atrium. Every day around sunset, two loudspeakers on the 4th- and 8th-floor catwalks will emit a one-to-two-minute soundscape algorithmically-programmed from Bobst’s turnstile data. Bobst’s atrium was chosen as the installation’s setting for its distinct acoustic properties. The composition is designed to reverberate off of the library’s “digital waterfall,” turning the 150-foot grate into a cathedral-like resonator.
The installation is a collaboration between Elizabeth Hoffman, a professor in NYU’s Department of Music and the Co-director of the Waverly labs for Computer Research, J. Martin Daughtry, a professor of ethnomusicology in the Department of Music, and Kent Underwood, the director of the Avery Fisher Center. Learn more about the conceptual and technological innovation behind the installation through NYU’s official news release.