Paul Panhuysen Plays Tacoma's Municipal Dock

7pm, Saturday, September 11, 1993 - Free Admission (review)

See videos related to this event below.

The Dutch sound artist Paul Panhuysen will direct the construction of a long wire sound installation at the Municipal Dock building located at the foot of the 11th Street bridge in Tacoma. The Municipal Dock is a heavy timber, frame and truss structure which was built at the turn of the century during the age of massive wood beams and railroad bridge engineering. Because of its 200' continuous beams and an uninterrupted interior space of 300' by 100', larger than a football field, Panhuysen has expressed great interest in the possibility of "playing the building" building itself, a structure often characterized as the Tacoma Dome of its time. Panhuysen will be assisted by twenty-four local volunteers who will participate in performing his installation at the 8pm, Saturday, September 11 concert.

Paul Panhuysen (1934, Borgharen, The Netherlands) began his career as a visual artist but soon extended his interests to an interdisciplinary context. In the 1980s he was extensively involved with long wire installations world-wide in collaboration with Johan Goedhart also of Holland. With perception and the essence of sound an important aspect of his work, Mr. Panhuysen has produced remarkable sound installations utilizing unusual sound sources processed through specially designed sound boxes. His 1993 compact disc, for example, entitled "Singing the World into Existence", consists of recordings of canaries, a source used frequently in his 1990 installations. Most recently, he exhibited and performed a canary installation at the Exploratorium in San Francisco California and is currently working on a sound installation in Japan. In 1980 he founded Het Apollohuis, an interdisciplianary arts venue in Eindhoven Holland which he still directs.

Paul Panhuysen will arrive in Tacoma on Tuesday September 7 and be available for telephone interviews. The event is a presentation of Newsense Intermedium and made possible through the Newmarket Fund, City of Tacoma's Cultural Resource Division.

photo by Steve Wong






Installation Schedule + Video Documentation

Wall of Sound Installation, Seattle, see video
Tuesday-Friday, September 7-10: Installation set up at MUNY dock.

Friday, September 10: open rehearsal, 5-10pm.
Saturday, September 11: standing exhibit, 1-7pm
Saturday, September 11: concert, 7pm (MAIN EVENT) see Video
Mr. Panhuysen will follow his installation at the Municipal Dock with a lecture on Monday,
September 13 in the Poncho Hall at the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. see video