Christopher Janney

Christopher Janney (1950- ) is an American composer/artist/architect known for his work on the interrelation of architecture and music. Sometimes he attempts to make architecture more like music as in his sound sculptures titled "Urban Musical Instruments" of which "Soundstair" (musical stairs) is one example. Other times, he develops performance projects which make music more like architecture as in his "Physical Music" series which includes "HeartBeat," a piece danced by Mikhail Baryshnikov. Much of Janney's permanent work has sought to create "permanent participatory soundworks for public spaces," including installations for airports in Dallas, Boston, Miami and Sacramento and the New York City Subway.

Janney has toured his "Sonic Forest" in both the US and Europe at major music festivals including Bonnaroo and Coachella as well as Glastonbury and Hype Park Calling in the UK.

A book on his work, titled Architecture of the Air was released in February, 2007.

He currently lives in Lexington, Massachusetts.

Biography

Janney grew up in Washington, D.C.. He received a B.A. degree (1973, Magna cum Laude) from Princeton University (where he studied with Michael Graves and James Seawright and Rosalind Krauss). After graduation, he studied percussion and music at the Dalcroze School of Music (see Eurhythmics) and Mannes College of Music in New York, performed jazz and worked with various artists and dance companies (including Merce Cunningham Dance and Sara Rudner 18th St. Company, Jack Yongerman, Claes Oldenburg).

He received an MS (1978) in Environmental Art at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; his thesis (under Otto Piene) was titled SOUNDSTAIR: The Nature of Environmental/Participatory Art.

While also a Research Fellow at MIT, Janney developed his own multi-media studio, PhenomenArts, Inc., in 1980, combining his interests of music and architecture. He has created numerous permanent interactive sound/light installations and performances, including Harmonic Runway at the Miami Airport and REACH:NY, 34th St. Subway in New York, HeartBeat:mb with Sara Rudner and Mikhail Baryshnikov, and "Sound Stair" (musical stairs) at the Boston Children's Hospital.

He has been awarded the Gryorgy Kepes Price from MIT (1986), "Sound Designer of the Year," by LDI/Theater Arts Magazine (1985) and the Edison Award from General Electric for Innovation in Design (1996).

His work ha been profiled on CBS Sunday Morning, HGTV, Architectural Record, Metrolpolis Magazine, The New York Times, and in a 30-minute award-winning documentary titled "Drum of Time."

Janney lectures widely on his work. He has been a visiting professor at both The Cooper Union School of Architecture and Pratt Institute School of Architecture, where he has taught his seminar "Sound as a Visual Medium".

He currently serves as Vice-President for the Institute for Performance Sculpture, Inc. and is President/Artistic Director for PhenomenArts, Inc which specializes in Environmental Arts and Design with studios in Lexington, MA and London, UK.

Christopher Janney’s website www.janneysound.com provides information for where to find the latest events.

Sonic Forest

Part of Christopher Janney’s series of “Urban Musical Instruments,” Sonic Forest consists of a number of cylindrical aluminum columns, each 8 feet high. Each column contains a series of photo-sensors, audio speaker, LED cone-light and star-strobe. By strolling among the columns, people trigger the photo-sensors, which activities the light and an ever-changing “sound score” of melodic tones, environmental sounds and spoken text.

At times, Sonic Forest will perform on its own. The entire installation will sound the time of day each hour or be triggered randomly for short intervals when no one has passed through it. To provide an added level of interaction, the work often incorporates a "riddle," which is written on a nearby board. The answer to the riddle is a specific path through the columns. Follow the path and Sonic Forest will respond with a "dance of its own."

“Christopher Janney's "Sonic Forest" which has really made the rounds at festivals offers continual aural and visual surprises to those with a healthy curiosity. It provided a totally populist delivery of a once-high-art concept of interactive random cut-ups that would do Marcel Duchamp proud.” --URB.COM

"Sonic Forest is the greatest thing ever," said comedian Aziz Ansari on his 2009 album track "Bonnaroo."

SoundStair: The Nature of Environmental/Participatory Art.

The original installation, his MIT thesis, Soundstair ©1978 is a permanent piece in the Boston Museum of Science.

Other permanent locations of Soundstair (the musical stairs):

• “Soundstair: Minnesota”- Minnesota Museum of Science, St. Paul, MN
• “Soundstair: Macon”- Macon Museum of Arts and Sciences, Macon, GA
• “Soundstair: Charleston”- South Carolina Aquarium, Charleston, SC

Other major projects

• "Harmonic Runway"- Miami Airport, 1995
• "REACH:New York"- 34th St. Subway, New York, NY, 1997
• "Turn Up The Heat"- An interactive scoreboard for the Miami Arena, Miami, FL, 2000
• "A House Is a Musical instrument," Kona, Hawaii, 2000
• "Whistle Grove: The National Steamboat Monument," Cincinnati, OH, 2002

See also

• Environmental art
• Environmental sculpture
• Sound art

External links

• Official website
• Christopher Janney, Sculpting Sound on NPR
• Christopher Janney at Cooper Union
• REACH New York, An Urban Musical Instrument (1996) Location: 34th Street – Herald Square; New York City Subway station
• Nations Largest Public Art Installation at Logan Airport WBZ-TV video report
• Christopher Janney interview on MomCulture
• Sonic Forest Article in the New York Times

Reference works

• Christopher Janney, Ellen Lampert-Greaux, Beth Dunlop, Sir George Martin (Foreword); Architecture of the Air: The Sound and Light Environments of Christopher Janney; New York: Sideshow Media, 1997. ISBN 978-0978814304

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Name	Janney, Christopher
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Date of birth	1950
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