From 2005 through 2012 I rented a dark studio apartment off of the 40th Street/Lowery stop on the 7 subway line in Sunnyside, Queens. In this section of Queens, the 7 train travels on a concrete Art Deco viaduct over Queens Boulevard from 33rd Street to 52nd Street, before turning into a steel girder elevated at 61st Street. I became fascinated by the echo and reverberation under the viaduct between 40th and 44th Streets. Because of the arches that define the viaduct, the experience of the resonance and the delay is completely dependent on where one stands underneath a given arch. It is a sonically living space that absorbs, amplifies, reflects, and rejects sound depending on where the sound source and listener are placed.
Seven was funded by the Queens Council on the Arts (co-produced by Ensemble Ipse) and was composed specifically to be performed under the elevated 7 train subway line in Sunnyside, Queens. This piece is in open form, and of open duration, although it should last at least 45 minutes. It can be performed by any heterogeneous ensemble of 14 or more performers. The excerpt below begins 26 minutes and 30 seconds into the hour-long performance.
