The Sonicycle: Layers of Community

The Sonicycle: Layers of Community, a multimedia exhibition that explored cultural technologies and sense of place through an interdisciplinary approach to ethnographic fieldwork and documentation, was on view in the Eisenberg Gallery at Visual Arts Center of New Jersey from January – June 2023. 

Cultural Technologies: The repurposing of an existing piece of equipment or the reconceptualizing of a ritual/cultural practice to achieve one’s purpose within a community-based context.

A part of the Visual Art Center of New Jersey’s Olas Caribeñas/Caribbean Waves initiative that surveyed visual art and folklife traditions of the Caribbean diaspora in New Jersey, this installation activated and interpreted cultural documentation of New Jersey’s Union City and West New York neighborhoods collected by a team of participatory action fieldworkers.

Proudly showcasing The Sonicycle, our mobile audio-visual unit that engages communities in sharing stories, music, and cultural traditions, the exhibition also featured documentary images captured throughout the Union City area displayed on hanging photo fabric transfers throughout the gallery. A soundscape recorded on, and re-played via The Sonicycle, utilized audio documentation and stories from artists, performers, and community members to create the sense of layered movement so central to evolving communities and neighborhood cultures.

Taking inspiration from the various picós and sonideros found throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, The Sonicycle is a truly unique example of public folk art. This bicycle-driven interactive digital caravan is fully outfitted with DJ turntables, speakers, audio players, a projector, and recording equipment. Made entirely from recycled materials and devices, The Sonicycle also reconceptualizes the cultural practice of mobile sound systems for practical purposes, turning a messaging platform into a tool that explores how people relate to sound, place and each other. These details and more were shared via a custom fanzine and interactive video display.

Through the light and shadows, we see our communities; the neighborhoods we call home. Always changing day-to-day. Never static. Rather, these places are layered constants we come to know as integral parts of who we are and how we interact with others.

Naomi Sturm-Wijesinghe, Los Herederos Founding Executive Director

Education

The Sonicycle: Layers of Community also included an arts education program via an institutional partnership with the Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy (Elizabeth Public Schools). 

Our unique Sonicycle-based high school curriculum utilizes the principles of interdisciplinary ethnography and interview techniques, to inspire youth narrated album artwork and intergenerational storytelling. From the first days of learning to spin vinyl on the Sonicycle decks, to creating their very own record covers inspired by family stories and interviews, the students did a great job of contributing to the installation and adding to its communal experience.

Public Programming

In an effort to expand this experiential and interactive exhibition beyond the four walls of the gallery, The Sonicycle: Layers of Community featured multiple Sonicycle activations (inside and outside of the gallery) and live musical performances by some of New Jersey’s leading Cuban and Colombian traditional artists. 

In addition to hosting community-based DJs, we mobilized the Sonicycle as a storytelling device during the Olas Caribeñas Community Day and recorded live testimonials and personal narratives by fellow exhibiting and performing artists. This material became the basis for an expanded audio soundscape, which continued to play via the Sonicycle for the remainder of the exhibition. 

From custom media produced as part of exhibit programming to the more ephemeral quality of live Afro-Cuban rumba and rhythms from Colombia’s Caribbean coast, all of the artists and practitioners who visited the gallery, literally and figuratively added to its “layers of community.” In this way, we created a living, breathing exhibition steeped in the everyday wisdom of the communities who came together to create it.    

Listen to recordings of the Roman Diaz Ensemble live from the gallery with a selection of Afro-Cuban songs that traverse the secular to the sacred.

Contributing Artists: Naomi Sturm-Wijesinghe, Mauricio Bayona, William Bonilla, Julia Guttierez-Rivera, Alexander Bustamante, Camilo Correa, Alejandro Navarro, Andres Aceves, Marcela Artunduaga, Antonia Zennaro, Juan Pablo Varela, Killiam Agudelo, Juan Caballero, Mickey Perez, Roger Consligio, Kevin Darmenie, Jairo Alfonso,  the Roman Diaz Ensemble and Kike Banquez y Sus Tambores.

This exhibition was made possible by the Visual Art Center of New Jersey with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, the Wilf Family Foundation, and the New Jersey Council on the Arts.