Arca has composed an ever-mutating soundtrack for MoMA's lobby

The AI-aided installation will be in place for the next two years.

Arca has composed music for a new installation inside the lobby of New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

The project, titled ‘Echo (Danny the Street)’, was led by French multimedia artist Philippe Parreno ahead of the cultural institution’s reopening next week on October 21 and will be in place for the next two years. In an interview with design and architecture publication Wallpaper, Parreno explained that the brief initially handed to him was to make the newly expanded and renovated lobby a “real public space”. The result was a semi-sentient “creature” that reflects and reacts to data pulled from its surroundings, from light to movement to sound.

According to the article, Parreno and sound designer Nicolas Becker approached Arca to perform a song that Becker had produced. With the help of AI company Bronze, Arca created a soundtrack that will never play the same way twice. “It’s a live transmission forever in mutation,” she described it on Instagram.

“It’s amazing to think of how many people that don’t know about my work will have my sounds passing through their body as they pass through the space into the MoMA,” she added. “I was happy to suggest the word Echo based on the myth of Narcissus and Echo—look into how it unfolds, it’s one of my favorite myths!”

View this post on Instagram

For 2 years my music will be playing in the lobby of the newly reopened @themuseumofmodernart . It’s such an honor to be able to compose for an AI that will never make the music play the same way twice – it’s a live transmission forever in mutation— check out the brilliant https://bronze.ai for more info ——— Durante 2 años mi música va a sonar en el lobby del @themuseumofmodernart q ha reabierto sus puertas nuevamente. Es un honor haber podido componer para una inteligencia artificial que nunca repetirá mia composiciones de la misma manera- es un flujo siempre cambiante. Investiguen sobre el brillante proyecto https://bronze.ai for more info ——— Thanks to the Parreno studio for trusting me and giving us carte blanche throughout the composition process, it’s amazing to think of how many people that don’t know about my work will have my sounds passing through their body as they pass through the space into the MoMA. Thanks to everyone involved especially @damienqd ! It’s an honor 💖 The piece is titled Echo (Danny the Street) by Philippe Parreno who was commissioned to produce the work and he asked me to create this entity together with him. I was happy to suggest the word Echo based on the myth of Narcissus and Echo— look into how it unfolds, it’s one of my favorite myths! Thanks Philippe! @themuseumofmodernart ps the mirror vid is me responding to @jordanmatthewolfson mirror tran ce

A post shared by ⚧ (@arca1000000) on Oct 16, 2019 at 9:05am PDT