stuart collection – UCSD-TV Blog

The Trees are the Instruments

“I’m profoundly influenced by the natural world and a strong sense of place…I hope to explore the territory of sonic geography–that region between place and culture…between environment and imagination.”
– John Luther Adams

John Luther Adams has been hailed by the New Yorker as “one of the most original musical thinkers of the new century.” After studying at the California Institute of the Arts, Adams embarked on a prolific career encompassing a variety of genres and media, including television, film, children’s theater, voice, acoustic instruments, orchestra, and electronics. His Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award-winning orchestral composition, Become Ocean, has become one of the most popular concert pieces in the modern repertoire.

Much of John Luther Adams’ work as a composer and, increasingly, a conceptual artist is rooted in his love of nature combined with what he calls the “resonances” of a particular environment. For the Wind Garden, his installation commissioned by the Stuart Collection at UC San Diego, that environment is a eucalyptus grove located in the campus Theater District. Based on a carefully determined site plot, 32 accelerometers were attached to the highest branches, measuring the movements of the trees in the wind. As the velocity of the wind changes so, too, does the amplitude of the sound. Tonal variations and harmonic colors are provided by two virtual “choirs,” a Day Choir tuned to the natural harmonic series, and a Night Choir tuned to the sub-harmonic series. The results are broadcast by 32 small loudspeakers hidden among the trees. Both volume and pitch change in real time throughout the day and with the sun’s movement over the course of the seasons.

Because the composition is driven entirely by wind and the sun’s light, it never repeats itself. The listener is surrounded by sounds that vaguely recall bells, voices, strings, and other acoustic instruments, but it’s impossible to describe them in just those familiar terms or to know their exact source. Like some of Adams’ other recent pieces, the Wind Garden has been described as “indeterminate,” but the composer argues that it’s more accurate to call it “self-determining,” not reliant on musicians or conventional instruments. Rather, Adams notes that “the trees are the instruments” while acknowledging the sophisticated technology employed to “give voice” to the trees.

Adams hopes that each unique encounter with the Wind Garden and its rich, ever-shifting harmonic palette will encourage both “deep listening” and an enhanced appreciation of the natural environment.

Watch The Wind Garden by John Luther Adams – Stuart Collection at UC San Diego

Pay Attention – New Documentary Features UCSD’s Stuart Collection

An eternal question: What is “public art?”

The definition of public art continues to evolve, but at its most basic level public art can be defined as “work created by artists for places accessible to and used by the public.” In other words, there’s no velvet rope ‘twixt the art and the patron. It’s worth noting that the art/public art field distinguishes between “public art” and “art in public places.” The former term implies a contextual, often collaborative approach to the creation of art that takes the site and other local factors into account, while the focus of the latter is on the art itself, not where it will be sited. Put another way, “public art” is site-specific, or designed for a particular environment – for instance, a university campus.

“UCSD may not have a football team, but it does have the Stuart Collection.”
– A UC San Diego student

Established in 1982 by retired businessman James Stuart DeSilva, the Stuart Collection of public art at UC San Diego is unique in several respects:

Commissioned Works

Whereas other collections – for example, UCLAs Murphy Sculpture Garden – consist of acquisitions, all works in the Stuart Collection are commissioned; prominent contemporary artists are invited to survey the campus and develop proposals based on their site selection. Proposals are reviewed and approved by an Advisory Board, and most of the works are constructed on-site rather than in a studio.

Self-Funded

The Collection also differs in its funding model. Other collections, such as the J. Michael Bishop Art Collection at UCSF Mission Bay, typically rely on a percentage of construction budgets (1% is common) allocated for public art, but the Stuart Collection is entirely self-funded by grants and donations.

Variety of Forms

An unusual emphasis on variety is another hallmark of the Stuart Collection. Unlike a conventional sculpture garden the works span a variety of forms, materials, genres, etc., and are often “one of a kind” in relation to the artist’s body of work. As the pieces are varied, so too are the artists themselves, ranging from painters (Elizabeth Murray) to installation artists (Nam June Paik) to composers (John Luther Adams). Several of the artists who’ve created pieces for the Collection are not otherwise known for public art (John Baldessari, William Wegman, Terry Allen).

However varied in their form and function, all of the pieces in the Stuart Collection share a common goal. They don’t proselytize or attempt to define “good art” but, in the words of artist Bruce Nauman, they do ask the viewer to “pay attention,” to regard their familiar environment in a different way and, in the process, perhaps see themselves in a new way as well.

Watch Pay Attention: The Stuart Collection at UC San Diego, then browse more programs that explore UCSD’S Stuart Collection.

Monthly Highlights- March 2012

Featured This Month
Program Highlights
New to Video On-Demand

FEATURED THIS MONTH

UCTV Launches YouTube’s First University-Run Original Channel

It’s official! UCSD-based UCTV has made history with today’s launch of UCTV Prime, YouTube’s first university-run original channel. Each week, UCTV Prime presents 15 minutes of fresh content — ranging from in-depth documentary mini-series to election analysis, commentary and reports on the latest research developments from throughout the UC system. New programs are uploaded Tuesdays and Fridays at www.youtube.com/uctvprime, with bonus material, blog posts and more available at the UCTV Prime website. Make sure to subscribe to UCTV Prime today and follow us on Facebook and Twitter for upcoming interactive features.

UCTV Prime makes its YouTube debut with “Naked Art,” a four-part mini-series exploring the preeminent art collections at UC San Diego, UCLA and UC San Francisco. The premiere episode explores UC San Diego’s Stuart Collection, a unique collection of site-specific works by leading artists of our time, including Do Ho Suh, whose latest piece, “Fallen Star,” features a small house that’s been picked up by a mysterious force and “landed” on a building, seven stories up.

Also coming soon, UCTV Prime: Vote, a recurring, 5-minute series offering election analysis and commentary by UC faculty and experts (premieres March 13), and UCTV Prime: Cuts, another regular 5-minute segment reporting on research developments, entertaining events and interesting personalities on the campuses and beyond (debuts March 6). Stay tuned in April for our next mini-series, “The Skinny on Obesity,” examining the obesity epidemic and how UC San Francisco researchers are working to combat it.

The Upright Ape

Why are we the only two-legged creature to develop an exclusively upright gait? And what did it mean to the development of the human species? In this new three-part series, the Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny (CARTA) at UC San Diego brings you foremost experts to explore the many facets of these questions in this fascinating series.

CARTA: The Upright Ape: Bipedalism and Human Origins

Let’s Get Comical

Join UCSD-TV behind the scenes of San Diego Opera’s production of Donizetti’s comic masterpiece, Don Pasquale.

Opera Spotlight: Don Pasquale

Stars in the Salon: Don Pasquale

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

All programs repeat throughout the month. Visit the Program Schedule on our web site for additional air dates and times.

University of California to Launch YouTube’s First University-Run Original Channel

We’re thrilled to announce that on March 1, University of California Television (UCTV) –which is co-located with UCSD-TV–will launch a new YouTube original channel, UCTV Prime, the first university-run channel to be included among YouTube’s new production partnerships with recognizable brands like The Wall Street Journal, Madonna and TED. Each week, UCTV Prime will debut 15 minutes of fresh content from throughout the University of California at www.youtube.com/uctvprime and www.uctv.tv/prime.

UCTV Prime’s programming will draw on the tremendous knowledge resources available on the ten University of California campuses, five medical schools, three national labs and other affiliated institutions. Like the UC system itself, UCTV Prime will be a lively place to find new ideas, spark the imagination and discover diverse voices on just about every subject. With documentary mini-series, interviews, commentaries and video shorts each week, UCTV Prime aims to bring to light the innovations, trends, issues and personalities that shape our world.

YouTube users can subscribe to UCTV Prime to keep up on the latest programs and browse related playlists populated by content from UCTV’s robust YouTube channel and other UC YouTube channels. The UCTV Prime website will complement the channel with direct viewer engagement through related blog posts, viewer polls and other interactive features.

The UCTV Prime channel will be anchored by a collection of in-depth, 10-minute documentary mini-series. The channel’s March 1 debut will feature the first installment of “Naked Art,” a four-part mini-series exploring UC’s preeminent public art collections, including UC San Diego’s renowned Stuart Collection.

Then, on April 6, UCTV Prime will debut a three-part series examining the obesity epidemic and how UC San Francisco researchers like Dr. Robert Lustig, whose 2009 UCTV video, “Sugar: The Bitter Truth,” has become a YouTube hit with over two million views, are working to combat it.

The channel will also feature “UCTV Prime: Vote,” a recurring, 5-minute segment offering election analysis and commentary by UC faculty and experts, and “UCTV Prime: Cuts,” another 5-minute recurring series reporting on research developments, entertaining events and interesting personalities on the campuses and beyond. “UCTV Prime: Cuts” premieres March 6 with a look at innovative canine cancer research and treatment taking place at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, and how it translates into cancer care for humans. “UCTV Prime: Vote” kicks off March 13 with UC San Diego’s Peter Gourevitch on who’s driving the debate between austerity and spending, UC Merced’s Jessica Trounstine on factors that decrease incumbents’ responsiveness to voters, and UC Davis’ Giovanni Peri on the economic impact of immigration.

UCTV Prime is one of around one hundred original channels on the YouTube platform created specifically for today’s connected viewers around the world. The new advertising-supported channels feature well-known personalities and content producers from TV, film, music, news, and sports, as well as some of the most innovative new media companies in the world and some of YouTube’s own existing partners, including UCTV, which operates one of YouTube’s most popular education channels, with 50,000 subscribers and over 4,800 videos.

“With technology and viewer habits changing so fast, the whole nature of ‘television’ is evolving,” said Lynn Burnstan, UCTV’s director. “We’re thrilled and honored to take part in YouTube’s ambitious effort to shape the future of the medium. Since UCTV’s beginning twelve years ago, we have continually developed new and innovative uses of television and, today, the future is more exciting than ever.”

Based on the UC San Diego campus, UCTV presents educational and enrichment programming from the campuses, national laboratories, and affiliated institutions of the University of California. UCTV delivers science, health and medicine, public affairs, humanities and the arts to a general audience, as well as specialized programming for health care professionals, teachers and researchers. UCTV is available worldwide via live stream, video archives and podcasting, on YouTube at www.youtube.com/uctv and www.youtube.com/uctvprime, on iTunesU in the Beyond Campus section, and on cable in select cities throughout California. For a complete list of UCTV’s outlets, visit www.uctv.tv/wheretowatch.

Beaming in Bronze

No, that’s not a tan you’re seeing (it is only February, after all).

We’re all bronzed out after learning that four UCSD-TV produced programs have received Bronze Telly Awards, a competition honoring the very best film and video productions, groundbreaking online video content, and outstanding local, regional and cable TV commercials and programs.

Our arts producer, John Menier, has his hands full with three of the stunning statues in three different categories:

“La Jolla Symphony & Chorus: Color” took home the bronze in Live Events;

“San Diego Opera Spotlight: Faust” won in Documentary;

and “Star Struck,” a preview of artist Do Ho Suh’s new Stuart Collection installation,“Fallen Star,” took home the bronze in the Cultural category.

Jennifer Ford, our prolific health producer, also nabbed herself a bronze Telly in the Health and Fitness category for her moving documentary, “Parkinson’s Disease: A Dose of Hope.”

Congratulations to Jennifer, John and the entire UCSD-TV team!

FEATURED THIS MONTH

UCTV Launches YouTube’s First University-Run Original Channel

The Upright Ape

Let’s Get Comical

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

Health & Medicine

Science

Humanities

Public Affairs

Arts & Music

Check out the latest additions to our online video archive