Exhibition: Brian Harnetty: Moonshine Parade (2014)
Opening reception location, date and time: It Looks Like Its Open (13 E. Tulane Ave. 43202) | May 17 2014 | 7:00pm – 10:00pm
Sound artist Brian Harnetty will be exhibiting his work Moonshine Parade (2014), a 30-minute looped 6-channel sound installation.
About the work (listen to an excerpt here):
I walk along Main Street in New Straitsville, Ohio, during the “Moonshine Festival,” and fragments of many conversations come in and out of focus: “…So he sent a guy out there, see what’s goin’ on,” “Ah, you know what we didn’t bring?” “You know buddy, I’ve never been pulled over…” I walk past booths selling t-shirts and food trucks selling funnel cakes and onion petals. A parade begins, mostly of local fire trucks, a few muscle cars, and a host of festival queens from around the state. The announcer’s sing-song baritone voice provides a running commentary as he introduces each queen: “And here’s our very own Moonshine Queen… That is one serious dress you’ve got on right now…” The festival highlights one of the ways the region remembers and defines itself, deriving names from different industries, histories, and attractions, such as the “Railroad Festival,” “Old Settlers Reunion,” “Ohio Hills Folk Festival,” “Coal Festival,” and “Indian Mound Festival.”
I continue to listen and walk toward a parking lot where there are a number of temporary carnival rides set up. As I move away from the parade its sounds do not disappear all together, but rather merge and overlap into the noise of machinery, chains moving, and mostly empty cages whirling overhead. There are more fragments of conversation: “Hey hey hey, you ready to play? I’ll let you win today!” A child yells above the din of machinery, “I wanna go on the rocket! I wanna go on the rocket!” as another says, “Hey, can you buy me a wristband?”
These are the sounds of the “Moonshine Festival,” and this installation evokes and celebrates the movement, variety, and interaction of the people that are in attendance.