05 — A Sonic Afternoon at NOoSPHERE Arts

This event is part of Sensing Change, a citywide Festival presented by Art Switch Foundation and Transparent Eyeball.

This year’s edition explores how humans and more-than-humans perceive and participate in change – exploring ecological systems and geological shifts to embodied knowledge and cultural transformation. Drawing from process philosophy and resilience thinking, Sensing Change invites new ways of knowing - beyond screens and data sets, through collaboration, intuition, attention, and care.

The afternoon at NOosphere Arts will kick off with a live musical performance by MA, exploring and amplifying the hidden sonic life of the rooftop garden, creating an immersive, subtly changing soundscape in confluence with the natural sounds already present. Using sensors and microphones to capture the microcosm of this green refuge within the city, along with acoustic and electronic instruments, the duo weaves together layers that attune us to the environmental shifts happening around us.

We will continue with an activation by artist Riitta Ikonen, inviting visitors to a participatory afternoon on a New York rooftop, marking the seasonal transition as the garden and city prepare for the coming winter. Participants will be introduced to a series of large, hand-sewn wool blankets shaped like autumn leaves. These wearables invite visitors to wrap themselves in, rest beneath, or simply observe the changing elements of the outdoor space. Accompanied by a sound bath healing by Mel Rio, the gathering explores the interplay between human and environmental cycles, attuning to yourself and the subtle indicators of seasonal change.

Reception will follow until 6pm.

PERFORMANCE by MA

MA is the collaborative sound works of ÉMU + insomniac hotel.

ÉMU aka Maria Takeuchi creates sonic and visual poems, merging organismic soundscapes with generative art and illuminating objects inspired by nature. Maria plays and conducts the sound-objects with a delicate yet intentional focus. The subtle sound textures created by sand, dry leaves, and shells on the handmade instruments, processed for added aesthetic atmosphere.

insomniac hotel is the music of surfaces, where synthetic and organic tones gather and build micro-worlds of sound. Crafted from modular synthesizers, field recordings, and various instruments and objects, these sonic landscapes become spaces unto themselves to think, feel, and listen.

ARTISTIC ACTIVATION by Riitta Ikonen

Riitta Ikonen is a four-time Telluride Mushroom Festival Costume Competition winner, and her interdisciplinary collaborations explore contemporary humans blundering in the terrestrial realm. Ikonen’s first book (created with Karoline Hjorth), Eyes as Big as Plates, was nominated for Best First Photobook in the World at the Paris Photo / Aperture Awards. She has exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma in Helsinki, the London 2012 Olympic Park, and the PyeongChang Olympics, among other venues. Born in 1981 in Finland, Ikonen completed her BA at the University of Brighton and her MA at the Royal College of Art, London, UK. She is a member of the American Stinkhorn Society (A.S.S.) and spearheads the ongoing @seachanges_rockaways series while lecturing, exhibiting, and performing around the world.

SOUND BATH by Mel Rio

Mel Rio is a featured Teacher/Instructor, Sound and Vibrational Healing Practitioner, Tibetan and Himalayan Singing Bowl Consultant & Merchandiser. Responsible for hosting and performing both private and group sound bath sessions, sound meditations, sound healing classes, and reiki healing sessions.