The Unsung Chorus

Featuring the Columbia Collective
@ Foreland, 2022

9-channel video installation
4 minutes 38 seconds
excerpt: 1 minute 58 seconds
audio: open source found composite sounds

This work features the Columbia Collective while incarcerated on wing 3 of the Brookwood Secure Center for Youth. They wear augmented reality face masks to abide by state confidentiality laws while still being able to communicate individual expressions. The audio is sourced from found samples and pitch-shifted to mimic facility sounds. The title “Unsung Chorus” references the sonic dimension of space and “unsounded” realms cited by theorist Fred Moten. Most audio/video content isn’t permitted in secure facilities, this piece is a rare permitted artifact of an unseen/sounded world.