SunCatchers Arizona Science Center, Phoenix.1997

5 wind-driven musical sculptures installed at the Arizona Science Center in Phoenix. Fabricated of stainless steel, glass and Lexan. Each 20' x 6'x 6' (entire site 180' X 70') SunCatchers denote five way stations on the passage through the desert. Driven by the power of the wind, they connect its rhythms to the rotations of propellers spinning out a mirrored landscape and sky. Each station spins out one note of a musical scale generating a melodic ambience as a counterpoint to urban drone by focusing the listeners' attention to desirable rather than unwanted sounds. Walking from one station to the next, one hears harmonic overtones ringing out in all directions; casting the music back to the winds. SunCatchers defines a processional link with the architecture of the Science Center.

SunCatchers (detail)

Suncatchers are tuned to a pentatonic scale, universal to African, Asian, and American Blues musical traditions. Note timings and sequence are determined by wind speed and direction generating an aleatory (chance) composition.A chaos factor built into the mallet mechanism causes it to "skip" on some rotations, introducing periods of silence into the musical composition. Prismatic Vanes: Triangular vanes shift in the breeze; changing color as they reflect in the air and on to the ground. As the vanes shift together in the wind, they change from one color to another simultaneously. Each vane appears to have a single hue (clear, blue, green or red) until the next movement. These transitions are especially frequent viewed from the perspective of pedestrians or moving vehicles.