In June of this year, our office put out a call for a sound artist to create an integrated, sound-based artwork on the Elliott Bay waterfront. The call was in collaboration with the Seattle Department of Transportation as part of the redevelopment of Seattle’s Central Waterfront and is one of a series of calls for permanent and temporary artwork for the area.

We’re pleased to announce that Stephen Vitiello has received this commission. Born in New York City, Vitiello lives and works in Richmond, Virginia, where he is Associate Professor in the department of Kinetic Imaging at Virginia Commonwealth University. He began his career as a punk guitarist and composer, and moved into sound as an artistic medium around 1990. In 1999 he was artist-in-residence in the World Trade Center, resulting in a widely presented field-recorded installation. Recent solo exhibitions include All Those Vanished Engines, MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA (2011-2016) and A Bell For Every Minute, The High Line, NYC (2010-2011). Vitiello’s work is featured in the current MoMA exhibition Soundings, the first major US museum survey of sound art.

Working with the sound-filled setting of the Seattle Waterfront, Vitiello will use sound as a major component in a new work that will expand visitors’ experience .

Top: Smallest of Wings installation, Broadgate Arena, London; Bottom: A Bell For Every Minute, High Line, New York City. Images courtesy of Stephen Vitiello.