"Events, actions arise, that must be sung, that will sing themselves. Who can doubt that poetry will revive and lead in a new age, as the star in the constellation Harp, .. shall one day be the polestar for a thousand years."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson, The American Scholar
Inspired by Emerson's call for a new American voice, Ann Hamilton's public project for Dialog:City will sound the vowel O with a choral composition by John Kuzma and the participation of The Spirituals Project, The Colorado Children's Chorale, and the Montview Presbyterian Church Choir.
Please join us in singing at The Denver Center for the Performing Arts public plaza on Monday, August 23rd between 5:30pm and 6:00pm to sing Circles of O. O which stands as the eye in a never ending circle, whose primary form is both an enclosure and an opening, a horizon and a globe, a space where the O of silence and the O of calling meet. A graphic representation that is both number and letter, the chemical symbol for oxygen, a human blood type, O denotes everything and nothing and is for Hamilton not only the shape of the mouth opening to sound but also the sound of possibility. This participatory gathering continues Hamilton's multi-disciplinary practice and inquiry into how the reciprocal acts of speaking and listening become the materials of our public voice.
Ann Hamilton is a visual artist internationally recognized for the sensory surrounds of her large-scale multi-media installations. Noted for a dense accumulation of materials, Hamilton's installations create immersive experiences that respond to the architectural presence and social history of their sites. She has forged a reputation as a perceptive, poignant observer whose art explores the places and forms for live, visceral face-to-face experiences. Influenced by the disciplines of sculpture, photography, textiles, poetry, video and performance, her installations often involve impressive arrangements of materials: a room lined with small canvas dummies, 48,000 used blue work shirts layered on a platform, a floor covered in a 'skin' of 750,000 copper pennies and honey. Known to utilize sound, found objects and spoken word, Hamilton's environments are sensory explorations of time, language and memory.
A native of Columbus OH, her work has been widely exhibited in America and abroad, including major installations at La Maison Rouge, Paris, France; Museum, Washington D.C.; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY and Musee d'art Contemporain, Lyon, France. She is the recipient of some of the professions highest honors, including a MacArthur Fellowship, United States Artists Fellowship and Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship. Hamilton has twice been selected to represent the United States at major international contemporary art exhibitions- The Venice Biennale in 1999 and The Sao Paolo Bienal in 1991.
