Dream House (installation)

Dream House is a sound and light installation, and occasional performance venue, created by minimalist composer La Monte Young and multimedia artist Marian Zazeela. The installation features Young's continuous sine wave drones and Zazeela's symmetrical magenta lighting.[1]

Not to be confused with Dream House 78' 17".
Dream House
Dream House, located at 275 Church Street, New York since 1993.
Artist
Year1969 (1969)
TypeSound and light

Since its conception in the 1960s, several versions of the Dream House have existed in various locations; a current version housed above Young and Zazeela's Church Street loft in Tribeca dates back to 1993.[2]

Media

Young's drone composition bears a 107-word title that begins “The Base 9:7:4 Symmetry in Prime Time” and consists of 32 sine wave tones produced on a Rayna synthesizer with precise microtonal capabilities;[3] these frequencies can be experienced differently as the listener moves throughout the room.[3] In addition to Zazeela's magenta lighting, produced by filtered red and blue light, the Dream House features several light sculptures, including the four-piece mobile sculpture “Imagic Light” (1993).[3] According to Zazeela, "together, the sound and light can be experienced as a new form, or new media [...] The experience of the two mediums together as one requires a new, or at least different, mode of attention."[3]

History

Beginning in 1962, La Monte Young had begun formulating the concept of a continuous sound environment.[4] In a 1964 program note for his Theatre of Eternal Music collective, Young describes "Dream Houses [that] will allow music which, after a year, ten years, a hundred years of constant sound, would not only be a real living organism with a life and tradition of its own, but one with a capacity to propel itself by its own momentum."[3] The first continuous electronic sound environment was created in his and Marian Zazeela's loft on Church Street, New York City (where they still live) in 1966 with sine wave generators and Zazeela's lighting.[1] Their intention was to create an immersive environment where "where all the sensory information is unusual and outside your normal frame of reference."[3]

Versions of Dream House were presented in various locations of Europe and the United States.[1] It premiered publicly in 1969 in a Munich gallery.[5] A version existed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1971.[1] Other locations have included Stockholm, Kassel, and Cologne.[6] The couple's subsequent installations were supported by the Dia Art Foundation, which was founded in 1974.[4] In 1975, the concept was firmly established during the Dream Festival, a two month series in SoHo.[4] Between 1979 and 1985, a Dream House was located at a mercantile warehouse on Harrison Street in Tribeca; this location was closed following the downturn of the oil market.[1]

Current iterations of Dream House are currently run by Young and Zazeela's MELA (Music Eternal Light Art) Foundation.[3] In 2015, a unique version of Dream House was established by the Dia Foundation at West 22nd Street in New York.[2] A long-running version of the exhibition at 275 Church Street is open to the public for lounging, immersive listening, and meditation.[3] This version has recently employed a new configuration and musical piece featuring Young and Zazeela's associate Jung Hee Choi,[7] titled Ahata Anahata, Manifest Unmanifest X and featuring alternate visuals.[8]

In 2015, the MELA Foundation's primary financial backer pulled its funding.[2] In 2020, the MELA Foundation began a fundraiser to save the installation and help pay back $150,000 worth of back rent following the 2020 pandemic.[2]

Reception

Artforum called Dream House a "landmark conceptual artwork."[2] The New York Times referred to it as "a living expression of Mr. Young’s ideas about the importance of experiencing certain kinds of mathematically composed sounds over long periods," noting that it has "sometimes functioned as a kind of urban refuge."[1]

See also

References
  1. Kennedy, Randy. "A 'House' Finds a New Home". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  2. "MELA Foundation Launches Campaign to Save La Monte Young's New York Dream House". Artforum. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  3. Howard, Ed. "Dream House". Stylus. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  4. Battaglia, Andy. "Celebrating 40 years of La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela's Dream House". frieze. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  5. Wilson, Michael. "Dream a Little Dream". Artforum. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  6. "Dream House Sound and Light Environment Press Release". Mela Foundation. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  7. "Dream House Press Release". MELA Foundation. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  8. Eileen, Townsend. "Inside 'Dream House': NYC's Trippy, Hidden Meditative Art Space". Thrillist. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
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