A Curious Symphony
Boston Children's Museum, Boston MA
Summer 2015
PRESS RELEASE:
Artist Floor van de Velde’s Gallery Installation at Boston Children’s Museum Celebrates Music Using Instruments and Other Sound Making Objects.
March 19, 2015
BOSTON, MA – Every culture celebrates life with music. In A Curious Symphony, Floor van de Velde explores the Museum’s extensive musical instrument collection to create an installation that gives museumgoers a glimpse into the shapes and sounds of instruments from all corners of the earth.
Rather than representing the instruments in an encyclopedic approach, A Curious Symphony celebrates the universal language of music as told through the diversity, imagination, and ingenuity of the builders and players of the Museum’s fine collection of curious sound objects.
Visitors can interact with the sight and sounds of the Museum’s collection through custom-made listening booths, sound sculptures, visual material, and musical instrument displays.The Museum’s collection of musical instruments includes a wide variety of objects, from fine instruments to noise makers to animal bells and many unexpected things in between. The items span from Asia, Africa, Polynesia, Australia, England, Mexico, Caribbean, parts of South America, the United States, and several Native tribes in North America.
“We are always excited to showcase collections in new ways. Seeing such a diverse array of objects together really highlights the depth of the Museum’s collection and the variety of hidden treasures we have,” said Museum Collections Manager Rachel Farkas. “Floor has brought new life to these instruments with her installation, introducing many unique pieces to our audience that span place and time, as well as tapping into a sense of nostalgia with some of the more familiar objects included in the displays.”
