9/18/19 - 12/22/19

Neil Leonard

Sonance for the Precession is a site-specific sound installation created by artist, musician, and composer Neil Leonard for the Berkshire quad on the Williams campus. The electroacoustic composition, played for 30 minutes each day half an hour before sunset, explores ancient ideas connecting the precession, or movement, of the equinox with the harmonic series. The composition provides a context to reflect on how Hindu and Greek theories of astronomy and acoustics developed through intercultural exchange as far back as prehistoric times. The installation highlights the historic Hopkins Observatory situated adjacent to the Williams College Museum of Art and questions how astronomy can inform contemporary artistic practice.