ARENA is a mobile, interactive, electroacoustic sculpture. The artist has assembled 320 used speakers with other recycled materials to form a multipurpose amphitheatre that encourages audience participation. The public can interact with this one-of-a-kind sound system using their phones (via Bluetooth, plugging in, or through a good old fashioned phone call) to create spontaneous performances or play music.
With this temporary installation, the artist fills public space with the community’s unbridled spirit of creativity. The work finds ways to reconcile electronic interactions with physical space, celebrating the performative nature of all our public interactions. As a metaphor for the multiplicity of voices vying for attention in our cities, Maubrey’s patchwork amphitheatre functions as a free megaphone that brings people together in space and time.
Special thanks: City of Kitchener, Rex Lingwood, and CAFKA (Contemporary Art Forum, Kitchener and Area).
benoitmaubrey.com
