Maya Lin Unveils Newest Sculpture in Her Last Memorial
The "Sound Ring" spotlights extinct and endangered species
For release: June 4, 2014
Ithaca, N.Y.--Renowned artist Maya Lin has just unveiled the latest element in her final memorial. Located at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York, Lin's "Sound Ring" is a large, elegant oval made of sustainably harvested American walnut with hidden speakers that are meant to create what she calls a "spatial acoustic experience." The Ring is part of Lin's multimedia, multi-location "What is Missing?" memorial to extinct, endangered, or threatened species and habitats. Lin designed the Sound Ring as a gift to the Cornell Lab in recognition of its conservation efforts around the world.
 |
| Hidden Sound Ring speakers project the sounds of extinct and endangered species and habitats. Cornell University Photography photo by Jason Koski |
"To me, memorials represent a stepping-off point," said Lin during the May 30 unveiling of the Sound Ring. "We can't do anything about what has already been lost, but can we learn enough from the past to rethink a different and better future?"
"Viewers are drawn closer by the intriguing echoes of a huge singing ring," said John W. Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. "The sounds surround us with stories of beauty, fragility, vulnerability, and loss. They cry to us for help, lest they disappear forever."
Listeners can hear the haunting wails of loons on an Adirondack lake, a chorus of Indri lemurs in a Madagascar rainforest, and other wildlife from vanishing habitats. The sounds were provided by the Cornell Lab's Macaulay Library archive.
The Sound Ring joins other sculptures and videos by Maya Lin plus permanent and traveling exhibits that are part of the "What is Missing?" memorial. Binding it all together is the "What is Missing?" website (www.WhatIsMissing.net) which connects to conservation groups around the world, envisions living sustainably with the planet, and asks visitors to contribute their own stories of loss and of recovery in the natural world.
"As an artist, I want to get people to think outside the box and give them hope that there is something they can do as individuals," explained Lin. "The loss of species and habitats is all about land use and resource consumption. We have to make species protection through habitat conservation a huge priority because what we’re doing right now is spending our kids' and our grandkids' future."
The Sound Ring was designed by the Maya Lin Studio and fabricated at the Walla Walla Foundry in Missouri. Arup Associates created the sound design.
##
|
