until Sunday September 25 2016
MAD - Museum of Art and Design
T : +1 (212) 299 7777
2 Columbus Circle
10019 New York
United States
Harry Bertoia’s Environment for Sound
In the 1960s, world-renowned sculptor and designer Harry Bertoia began exploring the potential relationship between sculpture and sound, and eventually created a significant oeuvre that would crown his life’s work.
Upon discovering the range of tones possible when pieces of wire or metal rods strike one another, Bertoia spent two decades crafting hundreds of “sounding sculptures” in pursuit of a simple instrument. Referred to collectively as “Sonambient,” these sculptures are interactive, kinetic, and audible forms consisting of bundles of metal rods that collide and set off radiant tones when agitated by wind or human touch.