SAM NESTER: ARCADIA

/ Hydroponic Greenhouse, GMU Fairfax/

ARCADIA Project Intro Video

An environmental public art installation tapping into plants to generate sound and light

A year-long project on Mason’s campus from November 2020-December 2021, Arcadia created a stream of ever-changing music and light by capturing the natural biorhythms of plants and converting them through a Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) into sound and light signals. The installation was housed inside the President’s Park Hydroponic Greenhouse on GMU’s Fairfax Campus and accessible 24/7 via live stream.

At the nexus of art, nature, self care, and sustainability lives Arcadia.

“We are surrounded with images of nature that fluctuate between the polar extremes of untouched purity and exploited devastation. These images provide a framework for our understanding of nature as ultimately passive; either always falling victim to or being saved by humans. In recent decades, research has begun to uncover the incredibly complex communication network that plants develop in concert with other species below the soil. As we learn more, it seems appropriate to search out new ways to represent the complexity (we might even say intelligence), of nature and our position within it. The species with which we share this world are active beings, and not passively awaiting their fate at the hands of humans. Sam Nester's Arcadia is at the forefront of developing new, more constructive ways that we may reimagine our interdependent and necessary relationship with the species that do no less than provide the oxygen we breathe. In this particular version of Arcadia, plants have been selected, some rare, that have medicinal properties for humans. This choice only refines the direct connection between the health of plants and the health of humans. In the case of American Ginseng, it is telling that the rarity of this amazing plant is due to overharvesting for the herbal supplement industry. American Ginseng is a symbol of relationships wounded by the greed of humans, and one which can be healed. This exhibition not only provides a human made sanctuary for this and other plants to grow but provides an innovative and powerful way that we might not only listen to but also participate in nature's songs.” — Mark Cooley, Director of the Green Studio at GMU

Arcadia incorporated Native Virginian medicinal plants: Black Cohosh, Wild Indigo, Butterfly Weed, Maidenhair Fern, and Pink Azalea. 

Arcadia also aided in campus research on root rot, plant propagation, and plant conservation, by incorporating American Ginseng, Goldenseal, Echinacea, Witch Hazel, Red Bud, Flowering Dogwood, Paw-Paws, Figs, Blueberries, Alpine Strawberries, Dwarf Thornless Raspberries, Currant Shrubs, and Serviceberry. (Thanks to Harding’s Ginseng Farm, United Plant Savers, and GMU’s Greenhouses and Gardens Program).

Arcadia’s plants will be transplanted to new homes on campus, including the Innovation Food Forest and the Green Studio. 

Continue enjoying Arcadia with the playlist below:

Keep scrolling to view 3 concerts featuring professional and student artists’ original works inspired by Arcadia, and learn how Arcadia was used in campus research.

ARCADIA: HEAR NATURE’S SONGS WITH ARTIST SAM NESTER

On December 15, 2020, Mason Arts at Home hosted a concert with Arcadia titled Hear Nature’s Songs featuring original performances by Kirk Knuffke, Isabel Lepanto Gleicher, Clara Warnaar, Julius Schwing, and Sam Nester with The Brass Project. 

The performance by Nester and the Brass Project premiered an original composition by Nester entitled ‘Hector’, inspired by the Hector thunderstorm that occurs every day above the Tiwi islands in Australia between the months of September and March each year. The piece is accompanied by the beautiful film work of Australian landscape photographer Murray Fredericks.

EARTH DAY: ARCADIA MIXTAPE

On April 22, 2021, Mason Arts at Home hosted a concert with Arcadia titled Earth Day: Arcadia Mixtape featuring a variety of Mason students that perform to or compose original works inspired by the Arcadia Twitch stream. The event features the Mason Steel Pan Ensemble performing a score composed by Victor Provost, Jaelin Mitchell (Sophomore Music Education and Vocal Performance) singing an original song, School of Dance major CC Milbrandt performing a modern dance choreographed by fellow School of Dance student Anna Ticknor, Brianna Camp (BFA School of Art) creating an intuitive painting, and Sarah Sylvan (BFA Creative Writing) reading an original poem.

ARCADIA VARIETY SHOW

On November 17, 2021, Mason Arts at Home hosted the Arcadia Variety Show featuring a variety of Mason students that perform to or compose original works inspired by the Arcadia Twitch stream. The event features Nicolette Cash and Yemar M. Marcano Rivera, who are both presenting their individual projects from their Sound Art class with Dr. Thomas Stanley in Spring 2021; Nadya Steare creating a gouache painting inspired by Arcadia; Bobby Lacy II and Kendell Haywood performing an original song inspired by Arcadia; Dr. Michael Nickens (aka Doc Nix) performing a tuba improvisation in the Hydroponic Greenhouse with Arcadia; and Doni Nolan performing an aerial routine with Arcadia. For more information about the performers, visit our virtual program: https://issuu.com/cvpa/docs/behindthearcadiavarietyshow?fr=sNDU1OTQzODM2NDk

Research using Arcadia by Doni Nolan, George Mason University PhD Candidate

About the Artist

Artist Sam Nester

Australian-born trumpet player Sam Nester is a performer and educator. Nester has performed for Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival & Lincoln Center Out of Doors, the Beijing Modern Music Festival, Paris Opera Ballet, Wordless Music Orchestra, Mark Morris Dance Group and the Festival of New Trumpet Music, John Cale (Velvet Underground) and John Zorn. He is currently the Artistic Director of Bridge Arts Ensemble in New York City. Nester has been a Fulbright Scholar, a recipient of the Australian Music Foundation Award and Brian Boak Outstanding Performer Award and an American Australian Association’s Dame Joan Sutherland Fund grantee.

Artist Website: samnester.com

Artist:
Sam Nester

Project Leaders:
Yassmin Salem, Murals at Mason Program Manager
Don Russell, University Curator

Project Collaborators
Paige Seber, Lighting Designer
Doni Nolan, Manager of the Greenhouses and Gardens Program
Chongha Peter Lee, Technical Maintenance
Amanda Jarvis, Mason Innovation Exchange (MIX)
Mark Cooley, Director of the Green Studio

Institutional Donors
Office of Research, Innovation, and Economic Impact
Patriot Green Fund
Center for Well-Being
Counseling and Psychological Services
Provisions Research Center for Social Change