Whispering Bayou Interactive Installation

Whispering Bayou

Interactive Installation

Whispering Bayou is an immersive multi-media installation, a collaboration between Houston-based filmmaker, interactive multimedia producer, and community activist Carroll Parrott Blue; French composer and multimedia artist Jean-Baptiste Barrière; and New York-based composer and computer interactive artist George Lewis.

The installation consists of a video triptych and a multi-channel soundscape composed of the sounds, voices, and images of Houstonians and their city. The work draws particular resonance from the Brays Bayou watershed, which connects nearly three-quarters of a million inhabitants who exemplify this global city’s rich diversity in which over 100 languages are spoken. Whispering Bayou transforms these sonic and visual memories and histories of the city into a metaphorical, virtual bayou, an ever-evolving kaleidoscope of impressions that interact with visitor movements in space, producing a vibrant emotional experience that stimulates memory and imagination

The artists, consultants (Jason Moran, Damon Holzborn, Thomas Goepfer), and a local advisory team with strong and diverse Houston roots (Rosalinda Mendez, Krist Bender, Jamal Cyrus, David Dove, Johnny Hanson, Katy Atkiss, Rachel Kagan, Shelley Scott Wharton, Jason Woods) have gathered field recordings of the region, as well as video and audio interviews with residents past and present.

Whispering Bayou transforms these sonic and visual memories and histories of the city into a metaphorical, virtual bayou, an ever-evolving kaleidoscope of impressions that interact with visitor movements in space.

Prospective visitors to the installation can participate via the Web by uploading sounds, images, and memories (in any language) representative of what Houston means to them to this website.

Whispering Bayou produces a vibrant emotional experience that stimulates memory and imagination.

Exhibition

Contemporary Art Museum of Houston, July 31st, November 1st, 2015

Lead Artists

Carroll Parrott Blue, George Lewis, Jean-Baptiste Barrière

Lead Programmers

Damon Holzborn (Music), Thomas Goepfer (Image)

Artists – Researchers

Rosalinda Mendez, David Dove, Jason Moran, Johnny Hanson

Katy Atkiss, Jamal Cyrus, Shelley Scott Wharton, Jason Woods

Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

Bill Arning, Director
Valerie Cassel Oliver, Senior Curator