SOUND TREKKING

SOUND TREKKING is an interactive sound installation that encourages every visitor to become a composer, empowered to create unique sequences of soundscapes inspired by the land and its stories.

The innovative public art project leverages the power of art, nature, technology, and collaboration to create a portal to an immersive virtual musical world along the winding paths and surrounding trails of Andrews Park, the oldest preserved green space in downtown Norman, Oklahoma.

Awakening when visitors cross its sonic threshold, the GPS-activated work fuses spoken word, original music, and sound design into an audio tapestry inspired by the history and landscape of the very spot where visitors stand.

The soundscapes — accessible 24/7 through a free custom-designed smartphone app — respond to visitors’ movements and moments of rest as well as to changing conditions such as the weather and time of day.

Surprise musical discoveries are embedded along the way, unlocked only through serendipitous combinations of loops and trails.

SOUND TREKKING has been honored as a 2022-23 Mid-America Arts Alliance Innovation Winner, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Norman Arts Council.

The work is the brainchild of OPUS 46, an Oklahoma-based creative collaborative specializing in site-specific public art that reveals and celebrates untold stories of people and places.

Headed by Canadian-American interdisciplinary artist M.J. Alexander and award-winning Oklahoma composer Edward Knight, OPUS 46 projects amplify and illuminate facets of our collective shadowed history.

SOUND TREKKING builds on IN THEIR WORDS, Alexander’s 2021 public art installation of Andrews Park path engravings and steel stencil sculptures celebrating insights from Norman residents over the past century.

Both projects aim to spark civic pride, bolster an authentic sense of place, and ignite the imagination by expanding the boundaries of where, when and how communities encounter art. The installations offer new perspectives in familiar surroundings and beckon visitors to participate as creative partners, collaborating on designing and re-designing new experiences through repeated exploration.

In tribute to Norman’s long history of international friendships, satellite technology will link the soundscapes of Andrew Park’s Peace Circle with the center of Parco della Fortezza Medica in Norman’s Italian sister city in Tuscany. Visitors standing in designated spots in Norman and Arezzo will experience the same meditative SOUND TREKKING soundtrack, synchronized to play as one.