Tune into Your Own Brain Waves with Steve Parker’s Suspended Constellations of Salvaged Brass

Many therapists advise patients to reconnect with their inner voice, a part of treatment that, as anyone who’s tried it can attest, is easier said than done. But what if you could tune into to your internal ups and downs in the same way you listen to a song?

In his Sonic Meditation for Solo Performer series, Austin-based artist and musician Steve Parker fashions immersive installations of salvaged brass. Suspended in clusters with their bells pointing every direction, the instruments envelop a single viewer, who wears an EEG brain monitor and silently reads a series of meditations. A custom software program translates the ensuing brain waves into a 16-part composition played through the winds. The result is a multi-sensory experience that wraps the viewer in the soft vibration of sound waves and makes their inner monologue audible.

Parker frequently incorporates unique ways to interact with instruments into his practice, including in the sprawling 2020 work titled “Ghost Box,” which produced sound in response to human touch. He recently installed the towering purple “Fanfare” sculpture in a Meridian, Idaho, public park, which similarly invites the public to listen to the sounds of the surrounding environment through small trumpet bells at the base.

For more of Parker’s musical works, visit his site and Instagram.

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