Landscape Sculpture With Fog Horns

Sound sculptor Bill Fontana originally created his piece “Landscape Sculpture With Fog Horns” at Fort Mason in 1981. He placed eight microphones at points around the Bay, transmitting the sound to Pier 2, where it mixed with the live sound of water, birds and foghorns. The local public radio station in San Francisco, KQED, recorded a 20-minute version of the installation, which was first played on NPR in 1982.

Now, in conjunction with the San Francisco Art Institute, Fontana is installing a new version his piece at the original Pier 2 location, now San Francisco Art Institute’s Fort Mason campus. The work will be up at the Gray Box Gallery from February 16 through April 22, 2018, with an opening reception on February 16. This time, KQED’s 1981 recording will play in harmony with the waterfront sounds of the moment. The sounds recorded in 1981 will be heard along with today’s wind, birds, and those fog horns. We encourage you to see and hear “Landscape Sculpture With Fog Horns” for yourself. Follow this link for more information.

Bill will also be giving a presentation as part of our series “The Nature of Music,” on February 15, at the David Brower Center in Berkeley. For information and tickets to this event, click here.

To read an article on“Landscape Sculpture With Fog Horns” published in the San Francisco Chronicle by Jesse Hamlin on the piece, follow this link.

Another recent article surveying Fontana’s work, written by Lou Fancher and published on February 5, 2018, in the San Francisco Classical Voice, can be viewed here.