ABOUT
WITHINTHERIVERWITHIN is a visual embodiment and a sonic collection of memories from Nico’s two week retreat to Ancient Ponies Farm in Shutesbury, MA. There, they communed with a gentle stream - cleansing within it after tending to the farmland and animals, resting every night beside it in a screened-in porch, and finding moments for reflection with the sounds of the water rushing by. By being present within this “river,” they unlocked a profound love for themselves, releasing the turbulence of loneliness and conflicted self-worth rooted in the pandemic, and allowing inner peace to radiate within, no longer questioning where skin ends and the water begins.
What is it that you hold on to, and what can the river wash away, if you let it?
The light and sound installation uses 1600+ addressable LEDs, lenticular lenses, wooden structures, sound exciters, humidifiers and custom software. The experience is intended to be an individual journey: the participant is invited to walk within the path lined by illuminated river structures as they rise from the ground. The lenticular lens creates whirlpools of interweaving threads of light that can be found within the waves. At the end of the path, they are greeted by a sound-reactive pool of water. Laenz’s composition of sampled sounds from Nico’s field recordings generates intricate patterns of the varying frequencies within the body of water.
Sound Design
“Upon receiving Nico’s album of videos and hearing about their time at the farm, I wanted to recreate their memory of coming to a moment of internal quietude. The footage provided sounds of crickets, water in multiple forms, and reverie on a lake. Layering and manipulating these sounds, I worked in a progression of high to low frequencies, building energy through a percussive bed of sampled door swings and motorboats. While it gets quite intense —an inverse storm before the calm— the end is drawn out in delayed bell-like tones. Over roughly five minutes, wisps of Nico’s farm archive weave in and out, mimicking a strange fever dream that dissolves into a state of mesmeric renewal.” - LAENZ
COLLABORATORS
LAENZ
Sound Design
Anthony Vazquez
Production
Cy Kim
Sound Technician
Eliot Park
& Aaron DE LANTY
Fabrication
Process
Context
Ancient Ponies Farm in Shutesbury, Massachusetts. Video recordings of varying bodies of water: Adams Brook, Atkins Reservoir, Lake Wyola, Laurel Lake, Chesterfield Gorge.
Software
TouchDesigner: Audio visualization and generative color rendering
madMapper: LED mapping
Fusion360: 3D modeling to prepare vector files for CNC routing
Nico is a recipient of the City Artist Corps grant provided by NYFA and NYC Cultural Affairs.
