Aldona Jonaitis, director of the museum, commissioned John Luther Adams, the avant garde composer and a Fairbanks resident, to create the installation for the striking and newly renovated facility, which has doubled in size thanks to a $42 million capital campaign. ''I said it would be wonderful if we could have something communicate the sense of place of Alaska through sound," Jonaitis said.
As you enter the relatively small, irregular space that houses ''The Place Where You Go to Listen," sound embraces you the way warm air wraps around chilly limbs as you step inside from the cold. Initially, you hear one steady sound that's pleasing without being terribly engaging. As you acclimate, you notice two bars of light on one wall that gradually change color. Then the sound captures and holds your attention. It is diverse, constantly changing, and utterly unpredictable.
Adams, 53, is a committed environmentalist whose compositions for orchestras, solo percussionists, and other groups reflect the influence of American minimalist composers Morton Feldman and John Cage. After growing up on the East Coast, Adams has lived in Alaska for more than 30 years and his affinity for the Alaska Native population has prompted him to include their language and songs in his work. ''The Place Where You Go to Listen" is the literal translation of the Inupiaq place name Naalagiagvik, which refers to a sacred location on Alaska's Arctic coast.
This is Adams's first museum installation. ''This is a whole new medium for me. And it requires a whole new way of working," he said.
Drawing on years of interviews with scientists in various fields, Adams selected five natural events to audibly illustrate: earthquakes, the aurora borealis, the positions of the sun and the moon, and sky conditions.
