Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg creates art that explores our relationships with nature and technology. Her latest installation, Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg – Machine Auguries: Toledo, explores this relationship by simulating a dawn chorus using generative adversarial networks – two neural networks that work in a ‘call and response’ and are sometimes used to create lifelike but fake images.
New art installation simulates birds and sounds at dawn using generative sound
Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg Explores Artificial Sound with Danley Sound Labs
Calibri (Body)
“The work is really about making a copy of the natural world,” said Ginsberg in a recent interview. “We focus so much on innovation and the things we can do, but there’s intelligent life outside in our natural world that we depend on to exist.”
The installation at the Toledo Museum of Art represents Ginsberg’s first solo presentation in the United States and her largest indoor installation to date. Taking place over 12 minutes, the experience features the growing light of an artificial dawn and foregrounds our current environment where habitat destruction, climate change and the effects of noise and light pollution are disrupting the dawn chorus. This exhibition is organized by Superblue and Jessica S. Hong, curator of modern and contemporary art at the Toledo Museum of Art.
Making these sorts of installations happen are no small feat. The artist partnered with a variety of technical consultants from Europe and the United States including Great Lakes Sound, Engineers Ltd, LightLab and Aurelia Sound Works, amongst others.
“The audio system features 24 Danley Sound Labs Cube loudspeakers individually zoned using DAS INTEGRAL-MA1604 amplifiers and networked over Dante,” said Conner Owen of Great Lakes Sound. “The lighting utilizes 69 Encapsulite (UK) 1.5M long LED tubes hung at a raking angle throughout the room. eldoLED 180D drivers and 200W power supplies are hidden in a sub grid above the ceiling all custom painted to blend in with their surroundings.”
According to Owen, the entire system is then triggered via an iPad using Q-Sys Core Nano and CueCore3.
“Everything about the products we offer are about experience,” said Jay Andrews, eastern regional sales manager at Danley Sound Labs. “Danley loudspeakers and subwoofers are frequently used in the arts and entertainment industry. Our speakers provide incredibly natural and high quality sound, making them perfect for an installation like Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg – Machine Auguries: Toledo.”
Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg – Machine Auguries: Toledo is available at the Toledo Museum of Art April 29 through November 26, 2023. For more information, visit toledomuseum.org.
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