Listening to MP3s of sound from outdoor installations can be a bit like watching an Akira Kurosawa film on your laptop: less than faithful to the original. That said, as site-specific art with audio becomes more common, a seven-megabyte file sure does trump a roundtrip plane ticket for cost efficiency. Michael Samos created sound as part of a multi-speaker installation by sculptor Barbara Westermann, herself a specialist in audio-oriented art, like concrete-steel renditions of baby monitors and reliefs that suggest the music of the spheres. Their exhibit, Observatory Sounds, isn’t due for display until this coming autumn, at Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, New York. But there are already two ways to hear it. Pick up a copy of Loud5, a “sound magazine” with a focus on sound art (more info at loud5.com) or download a seven-minute excerpt of casual noise, cycling tones, chance field recordings and light sonic manipulations (MP3) from Samos’ website, michaelsamos.com.
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