The Upper Peninsula is also known as the warehouse district. Over Halloween in 2015, Enough Pie and our sponsor at BoomTown presented SOUND + LIGHT, a warehouse art installation in darkness by artist Craig Colorusso at 1505 King Street Extension in the Upper Peninsula.
An immersive, experiential installation in a cavernous darkened space, the 80,000+ square foot warehouse was illuminated through shadows, light and meditative sounds to create a peaceful, haunting and unforgettable experience.
About Sound + Light
Warehouses are central structures in Charleston’s Upper Peninsula, and they are the inspiration for Enough Pie’s SOUND + LIGHT fall program showcasing a collection of pieces by Southern artist Craig Colorusso, winner of the 2014 ArtFields®. The installation includes five pieces: C U B E M U S I C, MOON PHASES, SUN BOXES, MB 89 and a short film entitled INSTALL. Collectively these pieces span over a decade of work.
C U B E M U S I C is a sound and light piece that consists of 6 4’ aluminum cubes with geometric cutout shapes. Each cube has three light sources inside that glow and decay at different intervals so they cast shadows within space. Also from each CUBE a different four-note guitar chord swells in volume. The whole room resonates with low notes that pull the viewer in as the shadows begin crisply but fade into each other slowly over time. The sounds and shadows are C U B E M U S I C but the whole space becomes the piece. It creates an environment that a person can enter and exit at will.
MB 89 is an attempt for the artist to play a continuous piece of music that spans the greater part of his life. Set within 3 large glowing 10’ cylinders, the artist plays a composition with no discrete beginning and ending that may be played over and over. MB 89 is a composition played once, continuously; spaces between performances are to be treated as musical rests. Instead of many starts and finishes there is constant music. Thus MB 89 is a reference point in his ever-changing life
MOON PHASES is a kinetic sculpture that plays music based on the fullness of the moon. It’s a pre-recorded minimal guitar piece that drones in cycles, as constant and as hauntingly as the moon itself. The piece will begin in silence with the New Moon and slowly get more dense, adding notes until at its fullest during the Full Moon.
INSTALL is a short film that enters the world of installation artist Craig Colorusso transforming shared environment through sculpture, light, and sound. A series of audio interviews with the artist accompany a wide breadth of footage that transverses the New England landscape to capture three installations: MB 89, C U B E M U S I C and Sun Boxes, never before experienced together in one environment until the Upper Peninsula of Charleston, SC
SUN BOXES (OUTSIDE THE WAREHO- USE) is a solar powered sound installation comprised of 20 speakers each playing a different guitar note. Collectively these notes play a Bb 6 chord. The sounds of Sun Boxes have been described as both soothing and energizing. There are no batteries involved, so Sun Boxes are reliant on the sun. When the sun sets the music stops and doesn’t start until the sun rises. The piece changes as the length of the day changes. Since the amount of sunlight varies from day to day so does the composition of Sun Boxes. SUN BOXES are a sonic mobile set that will travel throughout Charleston prior to the warehouse opening to excite the community to the Upper Peninsula warehouse installation - literally bringing art to the people. This allows Enough Pie and partners to engage and invite viewers to see SOUND + LIGHT in one of the Upper Peninsula’s most well-known warehouses.
Thank you to our Title Sponsor: BoomTown
This project was funded in part by the City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs and the City of North Charleston Arts Program through their joint administration of the Lowcountry Quarterly Arts Grant Program and the South Carolina Arts Commission which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John and Susan Bennet Memorial Arts Fund of the Coastal Community Foundation of SC.