The multimedia installation, entitled In the Sky, is an exploration into the sharing of the senses and the interconnectedness between perception and sensation as experienced through visual, aural, and physical realms.

In the Sky will populate the gallery with strands of metallic beaded-chain hung in patterns from the ceiling, creating a spatial architecture through which visitors navigate. This web will force the individual to slow down the body so that the senses can become more aware of changes in tactile, visual and aural experiences while at the same time generating waves of movement, reflections and shadows. The audio portion of the installation presents six separate channels of sound, progressively laid out from the front to the back of the gallery. On the back wall of the gallery a video screen will show the work of hands weaving and unweaving a tapestry, or the movement of an acrobat winding and unwinding his body on a rope. Overall, the installation explores the notion of repetition, the weaving and unweaving of time and memory, so that the senses can rise to a greater awareness of the space around them.

The Abahunis have always worked as a team. “As twins we are born collaborators” says Nicole, and Leesa continues: “Collaboration is at the root of our thinking and our work. We believe that the active forging of tactile, aural and visual perception between humans and in collaboration with technology asks questions that can yield ways of better understanding, seeing and hearing natural order.”

Opening night, November 29th 2006, will include a half-hour performance of a new composition created specifically for this installation by New York-based avant-garde musician Elliott Sharp, with four percussionists. Using MAX/MSP software that generates and manipulates sound, the musicians will create an aural environment that responds to the movements of the people within the space. The performance will be recorded and the resultant selection of sound files will be used as audio components throughout the duration of the installation.

A second performance is planned for Saturday January 20th 2007: an acrobat will perform with technologically enhanced fabric materials that will be wired to trigger and modify video feedback in the installation. This performance is being organized in collaboration with Harvestworks. Leesa and Nicole Abahuni participated in Location One’s 2005-2006 International Residency Program, with support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Arts. In the Sky has received funding from the Peter Norton Family Foundation and Harvestworks.

The performance and exhibition will be live-streamed and archived on Location One’s website, and a monograph on the artists will also be produced as part of our Unbound Series.