SOLSTICE
SOLSTICE is an evolution of the collaborative relationship we started with Mount Auburn Cemetery in 2020 to reimagine their traditions of light, remembrance, music, and connection to one’s life and the kaleidoscopic world at the Winter Solstice. In 2022 we took monumental steps on this path through the invitation to compose this year’s event with four site-specific media artworks and to illuminate the vast landscape architecture that weaves all of the elements together.
When approaching the artworks of SOLSTICE: Reflections on Winter Light, we researched celestial moments and the cemetery to understand how the landscape, history, and seasonal moments can evoke creative expression. All of the installations are site-specific to Mount Auburn. Woven together, the artworks invite guests to deepen, reflect, and connect as they embody their own cycles within the SOLSTICE experience.
View and learn about the artworks below.
SOLSTICE
Created by MASARY Studios
Presented at the Mount Auburn Cemetery
Cambridge, MA
2022
ARTWORKS
ECLIPSE
ECLIPSE
Hazel Dell is a unique dip in the landscape of Mount Auburn wreathed with gorgeous trees, brush, and memorials that frame a natural stage for presenting works of art. From light, to dark, to light; this artwork is inspired by the celestial phenomenon of an eclipse, inviting guests to participate in a moment of solace and passage into an elegant pocket of shadow surrounded by light in the quiet of the natural dell. Composed with sculpture, light, haze, and silence, the artwork is an invitation to slow down, meditate, and enwrap yourself within the passage of light and darkness.
PHASE GARDEN
Phase Garden
The round form of the Asa Gray Garden landscape is traced with 12 towers, each an independent channel of light and sound. Visitors are welcome to wander throughout, sit, spin, dance or just be in the garden for any amount of time. The artwork is based on a process of connecting cosmic ratios to light and sound events in an immersive environment. The melodic scale, color palette and frequency (rhythm) of these events are all derived from the periodic relationships of the earth, sun, and moon at various and combined scales.
This work is an expression of the ecstatic math that exists in the universe, and our work to visualize and sonify that math is an effort to deepen our relationship to these cycles and combinations. The events described in this artwork are compressed and organized in such a way to allow a more direct and intimate connection to their phasing, frequency and coincidence. A space for visitors to reflect on the cosmic rhythms all around us, deepening a connection to the cosmic clock that is our earth’s solar journey.
BINATE & 2-Flowered
Bigelow Chapel, a prominent facade on the grounds, is painted with site-specific animation and light composed with metaphors and poetry of seasonal change and illuminated motifs that embody the release of light and darkness. The interior of the space hosts the candle lighting service and timeless live music, which is the core of the Winter Solstice tradition at Mount Auburn. The facade installation includes two unique compositions Binate and 2-Flowered.
BINATE
2-Flowered
Story Chapel is the beginning of one’s SOLSTICE journey, an introduction into the sonic and visual atmosphere that cascades into the landscape and artworks. Guests are invited to inscribe cards with messages and offerings as a collective release before exiting and continuing their experience.
Thought Artist Offering
In the wing of Story Chapel is a theater presenting a video of the Mount Auburn Winter Solstice tradition of “Thought Artists”, directed by Aram Boghosian. For 30 years, Mount Auburn Cemetery has brought the community together at the Winter Solstice for a candle lighting service. As part of this tradition, speakers of different faiths and customs have joined them to offer reflections on memory, light, and the cycles of life. This year we invited local Thought Artists Amanda Shea, Alex Klein, Sara Seager, and Regina Harrison to continue this tradition in sharing their perspectives on these same themes.
The sonic composition featured in Story Chapel and the Thought-artist Video includes original recordings of crystal singing bowls by Marlene Boyette.