[Photos] "Dive" Floods Park Avenue Tunnel With Marine Soundscapes

As part of the Summer Streets program, artist Jana Winderen transformed 33rd street through 40th street of the Park Avenue Tunnel into an immersive audio installation.

by The Creators Project

August 11, 2014, 2:20pm

All photos by Andrew Nunes

The Park Avenue Tunnel sounds a little different this summer. As part of its Summer Streets program, The New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) has commissioned Norwegian artist Jana Winderento turn 33rd St through 40th street into an "underwater gateway" in a public exhibition titled Dive. Between 7am and 1pm on August 2nd, 9th, and 16th, the 1,400 foot-long tunnel will transport visitors to eight sonic ecoystems, using 64 speakers and 16 subwoofers. The marine-focused soundscapes will be filled with the noises of foreign fish, mammals, and other exotic creatures.

Winderen obtained her source material during trips to Greenland, Sweden, Poland, Thailand, England, and the Caribbean, capturing field recordings of whales, crustaceans, and other critters with an underwater microphone. Various sections of the tunnel will highlight specific subterranean environments as visitors "dive" further in.

The artist commented in a press release:

“I hope to encourage curiosity and for people to become intrigued about life underwater by giving them another sense, that of listening. We are not used to listening underwater, so this offers a new and unique experience in a very special place. The space gives people room for concentrated listening.”

Dive follows Rafael Lorenzo-Hammer's interactive audio-visual installation Voice Tunnel, which The Creators Project documented in a video piece last summer. Winderen's exhibition is open to the public one more time on the 16th, but for those who can't make it, see some photos of the underground art project below: