Part of An Environmental Music Series from Metro Art and Leaving Records
“To All Trains” takes its inspiration from Union Station as the largest railroad terminal hub in the western part of the U.S. with approximately 110,000 people passing through every day. The piece begins by exploring the perspectives of being an individual navigating a crowd while simultaneously viewing the organized chaos of a swarm from a distance, such as observing a beehive. As Union Station connects travelers to local and international destinations, the soundscape expands in frequency range and instrumentation to explore the harmonies of being a part of a complex system with many moving parts.
Resisting the binary of ‘natural’ and ‘artificial,’ the soundscape merges digital and acoustic sound sources and processes. “To All Trains” is an expression of striving to fathom the full scope of the interdependent networks that our species inhabits, creates and embodies, as a foundation for sustainability.
Presented in collaboration with Leaving Records.
Written, performed, and produced by Celia Hollander
Celia Hollander is a Los Angeles based composer and artist working with audio, scores, performance, installation and text. Her work critically engages ways that audio and the act of listening can shape temporal perception, generate narratives, question cultural infrastructures and cultivate social connection. Her work has been performed or installed at institutions and venues including MOCA, The Getty, Skirball Cultural Art Center, Various Small Fires, Human Resources and Zebulon. Her discography includes releases on Leaving Records, Recital and Noumenal Loom and she is a resident dj on Dublab Radio. She holds an MFA from California Institute of the Arts where she studied music composition.
About An Environmental Music Series from Metro Art and Leaving Records
This year, Metro Art teamed up with Los Angeles-based Leaving Records to ask four musicians who draw inspiration from the landscape to create original music soundscapes evoking experiences of nature and transportation in Los Angeles with historic Union Station at its center. The first, Waiting in the Light by Nailah Hunter, was inspired by the morning light in Union Station’s Historic Ticketing Hall. The second, Palmy, the sidewalk palm tree, shared a plant’s eye view of a journey to Union Station. Look for one more this summer!
Metro Art Presents showcases an exciting year-round array of arts and cultural events at historic Union Station. From music and dance performances, film screenings and poetry readings to experimental and mixed-media presentations, the programs creatively activate downtown’s primary transportation hub for all ages. For more information about how Metro enriches the transit experience through innovative, multifaceted arts and cultural programs, visit metro.net/art, Instagram and Facebook.