Campo Box (Santa Maria Nova) on view at Totah
Melissa McGill’s Campo Box (Santa Maria Nova), a sound installation, is on view at Totah, 183 Stanton Street, NYC, through April 21st, 2019.
The Campi is a sculptural sound project that invokes the Venetian Campo: an open, irregularly shaped public square that is the historic heart of the neighborhood. The architectural footprints of five different campi are translated precisely into three dimensions, taking the form of a series of elegant black lacquered wooden boxes, reminiscent of music boxes. When closed, each box murmurs softly until the viewer lifts the lid to release a world of everyday ambient sounds recorded in that particular campo, capturing the imagination as it conjures up the rich environments of these centers of Venetian living architecture. The sense of sound transports the listener, evoking both aural and visual memory.
THE CAMPI, Venice, Italy, was first exhibited on May 8, 2017 coinciding with the opening week of La Biennale di Venezia – 57th International Art Exhibition.
Image above: Melissa McGill, Mapping Campo Santa Maria Nova, 2017, digital rendering