Coral Voices

Abstract

Marlena Novak (visual artist) and Jay Alan Yim (composer/sound artist), under the collaborative name localStyle, have been making work that addresses environmental and socio-political concerns through the use of a wide range of media since 2000, particularly utilizing technological tools in their creative practice. Deep interest in understanding the contemporary conditions of non-humans and humans is informed by their engagement with publications and texts, attending, participating in, and hosting talks, panels, and screenings, and meeting with specialists and scientists regarding the topics of their research. Choral is a twelve-minute audiovisual installation commissioned by 150 Media Stream for a sculpturally unique LED panel display. This chapter describes the genesis of the project, from its inception as an artistic response to news reports of widespread coral bleaching events complicated by climate change, through a concerted phase to properly ground the project in scientific research, followed by an overview of the methodologies and resources used to realize the project, and including a discussion of the technical and conceptual challenges posed by working on a very large scale display medium in a public venue.