New York City
NYC contains untold numbers of unique resonant spaces. We are featuring six spaces over two days — April 14 and 21 — with live performances by six percussionists (Mantra Percussion) playing music on wooden 2x4s (a composition called Timber by composer Michael Gordon). Explore the spaces we have chosen below, and please submit unknown, unusual, unique NYC spaces you know about!
Castle Clinton
Battery Park, Manhattan
April 14 @ 3pm
Located at the southern tip of Manhattan, Castle Clinton stands where New York City began. Initially intended to prevent a British invasion in 1812, the space is now used for live performance and more with its incredible natural acoustics. Castle Clinton exemplifies a unique Resonant Space!
Federal Hall Rotunda
Wall Street, Manhattan
April 14 @ 6pm
Federal Hall near Manhattan’s Wall Street, is the site where George Washington was inaugurated and was home to the first Congress, Supreme Court, and Executive Branch offices! Its main rotunda is gloriously resonant — the all-stone interior and curved walls define the rotunda as an incredible Resonant Space.
DUMBO Archway
DUMBO, Brooklyn
April 14 @ 8:30pm
The Archway under the Manhattan Bridge is a spectacular plaza, and one of NYC's most unique spaces. At 45' high, the cathedral-like Archway is a truly awesome Resonant Space! For decades, Water Street ran through the Archway. Now the archway is a civic center for DUMBO with live performances and markets.
46th St. 7-train Viaduct
Sunnyside, Queens
April 21 @ 12pm
One of the resonant spaces that inspired this project is the Queens Boulevard IRT (7 train) Viaduct. Completed in 1917, the viaduct runs for an eighth of a mile along the center of Queens Boulevard between 32nd Pl. and 47th Street. Its most defining feature is the hundreds of arches with a mysterious resonance that changes from the center of each arch to their edges; at points the echoes overlap, propelling the resonance back and forth between each arch — something that can only be experienced to believe. This Resonant Space is a NYC treasure.
Endale Arch
Prospect Park, Brooklyn
April 21 @ 3pm
The Endale Arch opened to the public in the 1860s. One of the first architectural elements constructed in Prospect Park, the arch was envisioned by park creators Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux as a transporting entrance from the urban hubbub of Grand Army Plaza to the pastoral tranquility of the mile-long Long Meadow. For our purposes, the arch’s natural acoustics creates a mesmerizing resonance. In our acoustic experiments at the arch, we found that at either end of the arch we could play music, but hear each other as if we were standing inches apart.
Monument Plaza Stairway
Fort Greene, Brooklyn
April 21 @ 6pm
The Prison Ship Martyrs’ Memorial is the final resting places for over 11,000 American prisoners of the Revolutionary War. The memorial was dedicated by President Taft in 1908. The plaza stairway provides a solemn resonance that reflects sound from the stone stairs and echoes through the surrounding trees.