An Evening with the Director: The Connection between Art and Music

The topic for our upcoming An Evening With The Director is the relationship between art and music, and as Bill Hennessey prepared for the Thursday, Jan. 12 evening event, he selected a new media installation by Jennifer Steinkamp as a source of inspiration.

The Steinkamp work covers four seasons in a fantasy forest in a mere three and a half minutes. Play the clip above and see if a particular piece of music comes to your mind. You can email us your thoughts, and we'll print some of your suggestions in coming days.

Steinkamp is often referred to as a video artist, though her process actually begins with drawing. For Orbit 3 she started with several sketches of different leaves and branches. Next, these sketches were loaded into a computer software program, in which Steinkamp digitally manipulated each leaf and branch in three dimensions. After carefully crafting the progression of each component, the work is compiled for projection onto empty gallery walls.

Which brings us to a very important point. A YouTube version does not do this magnificent work justice. It needs to be seen live. What's a low-resolution, 2D portrayal here becomes a sparkling, high-resolution immersive experience when seen live. Because even though it's an impressive technological achievement, at its heart, this is about nature. And it's nature—mysterious, awe-inspiring, and eternally relevant—that connects us all.

For information about becoming a Director's Circle Member of the Chrysler Museum, click here.

This piece was recently rotated out of view, as we routinely update our collection items on display. If you'd like to see this returned to a gallery space, please include that sentiment in your email about its possible musical accompaniment.