Atmosphere for Enjoyment: Harry Bertoia’s Environment for Sound

3 May - 25 September '16

Atmosphere for Enjoyment: Harry Bertoia's Environment for Sound takes a close look at Bertoia's sounding sculptures. He began to create these as well as gongs in the late 1960s during a quest to examine the relationship between sculpture and sound that would last the rest of his life.

Collectively described as "Sonambient," these sculptures consist of bundles of metal rods that set off radiant tones when agitated by wind or human touch. The exhibition includes an immersive four-channel sound installation by John Brien created from Bertoia's extensive archive of Sonambient recordings; interactive sounding sculptures made by Bertoia's son, Val Bertoia; a selection of monotypes that capture the artist's vision for the Sonambient forms; and more.

Complementing the exhibition is a series of live performances in the gallery by contemporary sound artists Lizzi Bougatsos and Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe that explore the legacy of the Sonambient barn, recordings and sounding sculptures as an important influence on sound, music and art today. Every final Friday throughout the run of the exhibition, MAD also invites musicians to create recordings with the installation of sounding sculptures in the gallery.

Presented in conjunction in MAD's Tiffany & Co. Jewelry Gallery is Bent, Cast & Forged, which displays Bertoia's jewelry, exploring his investigations of form and material during his early days as an artist and designer at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. It comprises jewelry works and monotype prints, and offers an early glimpse of a creative vision that would crystallize as his career matured.

Atmosphere for Enjoyment: Harry Bertoia's Environment for Sound is organized by MAD's William and Mildred Lasdon Chief Curator Shannon R. Stratton, and Curatorial Assistant and Project Manager Sophia Merkin.

Bent, Cast & Forged: The Jewelry of Harry Bertoia was organized by the Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and curated by Shelley Selim, Jeanne and Ralph Graham Assistant Curator. It was secured for the Museum of Arts and Design by William and Mildred Lasdon Chief Curator Shannon R. Stratton with the support of Curatorial Assistant and Project Manager Sophia Merkin.

Museum of Arts and Design
The Jerome and Simona Chazen Building
2 Columbus Circle, New York City