Orchestral Fireworks, 2019
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Project Overview
Acrylic, monotype, relief print on hand-cut paper, PVC conduit, papier mache, light
Orchestral Fireworks was installed in the Edyth B. Lindner Grand Foyer at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for Friday Orange, March 2019.
Samantha partnered with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra to create a visual experience to accompany Janacek's Sinfonietta, accentuated by 25 blazing brass instruments and a bombastic performance of The Midday Witch.
Views from Below and Above
Suspended in the Grand Foyer, paper forms expand vertically from the floor to fill the second level with an explosion of movement, static as if frozen in time. The installation takes on the fluid qualities of music by filling the air with fractals.
Paper on the Floor
The foyer floor is pictured here, covered in shreds of paper cut out from between painted marks on the forms overhead.
The artist’s studio was depicted in a performative act of cutting at a table on the symphony floor. The table was then removed, leaving shards of paper across the center of the space. Guests could observe the slow nature of the process in real-time compared to the visual quickness of the final piece—a metaphor for the composition versus fleeting experience of music.
“[Samantha] is known for brightly colored, lush installations composed of hundreds of precisely-cut and artfully curled paper silhouettes. Viewers [are] transformed into a beautiful, other-worldly scene.”
Photos courtesy of Waltz Photography, LLC.