Sounds Like Summer: Hirshhorn Museum Marks the Summer Solstice with Free Weekend Programming

a composite image of a purple, blue sky, a woman wearing a yellow kimono and long cornrowed braids, and a woman performing with a drum in dimly lit purple light.

Monday, June 17, 2024

Sounds Like Summer: Hirshhorn Museum Marks the Summer Solstice with Free Weekend Programming
Museum Partners with NASA, DC Listening Lounge and European Union, June 21–23

FILM SCREENING: LISTEN TO THE UNIVERSE
FRI | JUN 21 | 4:00–5:30 PM | RING AUDITORIUM 

FREE | Registration required

SOUND SCENE 2024: SOLSTICE

SAT | JUN 22 | 10 AM–11 PM | MUSEUM & PLAZA

SUN | JUN 23 | 10 AM–5 PM | MUSEUM & PLAZA

FREE | Registration recommended

STATE OF THE ARTS NIGHT × SOUND SCENE

SAT | JUN 22 | 5–11 PM | MUSEUM & PLAZA

FREE | Registration recommended

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, in partnership with NASA, Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, sonic collective DC Listening Lounge and the European Union announce its lineup of free programs for Solstice weekend (June 21–23), including a screening of Listen to the Universe; Sound Scene 2024 and State of the Arts Night. The free, three-day series of programs will showcase a variety of performances, workshops, demonstrations, film, and interactive audiovisual projects throughout the museum building and plaza, including an opportunity to visit the museum after-hours as part of Smithsonian Solstice.

SCREENING + CONVERSATION: LISTEN TO THE UNIVERSE
FRI | JUN 21 | 4:00–5:30 PM | RING AUDITORIUM 

Can you hear the stars? The documentary Listen to the Universe (2024) goes behind the scenes of NASA to introduce astronomy visualization expert Dr. Kimberly Arcand and the Systems Sounds team responsible for sonification of the data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The Chandra, a space telescope, orbits up to 200 times higher above the Earth than the Hubble to send back emissions from the hottest regions of the universe.

Experience how the wonder of the sonification of exploded stars and black hole matter can be for space enthusiasts who are blind or have low vision. A conversation between Arcand and science writer and NASA communications specialist Elizabeth Landau will follow the 27-minute film.

FREE | Registration required.

SOUND SCENE 2024: SOLSTICE

SAT | JUN 22 | 10 AM–11 PM | MUSEUM & PLAZA

SUN | JUN 23 | 10 AM–5 PM | MUSEUM & PLAZA

Sound Scene is the region’s premier, interactive sound and multi-sensory arts festival, a free, all-ages celebration of sonic and sensory arts featuring artists from Washington, D.C. and around the world.

This year, united by the theme of “solstice,” myriad free interactive installations, workshops, concerts and performance art pieces will run throughout the Hirshhorn Museum and Plaza.

Sound Scene programs includes:
• Distinguished New York ensemble, KHORIKOS will perform selections from their forthcoming album, Across the Open Spaces built around themes of distance, darkness and loneliness. The ensemble will sing in a series of spatial arrangements inviting audience encounters from different perspectives.
• Inspired by the history and mysteries of Oklahoma’s Spiro Mounds, Echoes of an Ancient Sun by MJ Alexander, Edward Knight and Kiegan Ryan engages audiences using GSP to immersive themselves in on-site field recording and an evocative soundscape.
• Epitaph of the Earth by Shinnosuke Komiya engages attendees to consider the Earth’s ancient elements by translating rocks’ characteristics into melodies.
•Trying It by DMV Kiki Nights’ artists VaJai Alston, Danyela J. Brown and Tony Bush which “troubles the notion” of an underground Ballscene as a land art collaboration.
• What Goes Around, Comes Around by David Greenfieldboyce is rooted in the endless repetition of days and weeks. Audiences are invited to contribute words, songs and sounds into an ambisonics mic that will pass their sound around a series of speakers to create a revolving living soundscape.
• The interactive performance, The Yin & Yang of the Sun, marrying modular synths with the movements of Tai-Chi will be presented by The Pseudoscientists, a consortium of Wu Shen Tao Martial Arts, Sam Miller, Julian Weaver, Kenny Chrzanowski and Alex Zito.

Museum educators will host two hands-on artmaking sessions for children, “Light Up Your Life!” on June 22, 10 am–1 pm and 6-9 pm, part of Hirshhorn Kids’ ongoing Art Cart programming.

Since 2007, Sound Scene has been curated and produced by the DC Listening Lounge. It is presented in partnership with the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden with support from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Find the complete list of featured works and performance schedule on Soundscene.org.

STATE OF THE ARTS NIGHT × SOUND SCENE

SAT | JUN 22 | 5–11 PM | ENTIRE MUSEUM

Artists from across the European Union, notably Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal and Spain, will present their work across the Museum campus between 5–11 pm. Find cross-cultural inspiration with performances, installations, and creative conversations from artists of Sound Scene and the EU. Cash bars will be available throughout the evening, and the Museum’s galleries will remain open until 10 pm. This after-hour event is part of Smithsonian Solstice. FREE | Registration recommended.

Visitors are welcome to explore the Hirshhorn’s exhibitions including the just-opened exhibition “Revolutions: Art from the Hirshhorn Collection, 1860–1960,” which includes more than 200 highlights of modern art, many paired with contemporary works that trace their influence.  Installations by art world heavy hitters Mark Bradford, Jessica Diamond, and Barbara Kruger are also on view as well as Laurie Anderson’s Four Talks, an immersive installation by the multihyphenate artist from her largest U.S. exhibition to date.

This arts festival-style weekend is free and open to the public; registration for June 22 and 23 is encouraged.

About the DC Listening Lounge + Sound Scene

Sound Scene began in 2008 and is still curated by the DC Listening Lounge audio arts collective and is now hosted by the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Sound Scene is an annual, free, two-day event, open to the public. In 2019, Sound Scene broke attendance records for the Hirshhorn Museum, attracting more than 14,000 attendees over 2 days. Sound Scene celebrates sound through multi-sensory art installations including sculptural, headphone-based, and multi-channel interactive exhibits. Our live stage features performances of dance, music, and spoken word. Sound Scene’s small group workshops invite audiences to explore acoustics, beat-making, sound production, sonic meditation, group improvisation, and more. Sound Scene features the creative work of artists from across the world. Visit soundscenefest.orgfor more information.

About the Hirshhorn

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is the national museum of modern and contemporary art and a leading voice for 21st-century art and culture. Part of the Smithsonian, the Hirshhorn is located prominently on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Its holdings encompass one of the most important collections of postwar American and European art in the world. The Hirshhorn presents diverse exhibitions and offers an array of public programs on the art of our time—free to all. The museum is open daily, 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m. For more information, visit hirshhorn.si.edu. Follow the museum on Facebook, Instagram, X, and YouTube.

 

Image credit: A composite image of  a sonification. Courtesy of NASA; Artist from Sound Scene. Courtesy of DC Listening Lounge; Gotopo, singer and composer, at EU State of the Arts Night 2023. Photo: Yuri Gripas.

 

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