Disabled Door (current) is a multi-media installation. In its simplest form, an automatic door. But under the guise of a simple ‘push button equals door open’ world, the door misbehaves. What good is a disabled door? This installation will include physical computing, sound design and door media. This piece will be part of the PLAY! Festival produced by urbanSTEW in Tempe, AZ in March, 2012.
Four Scenes from the Urban Southwest (2011) created for the Arts and Business Council of Greater Phoenix’s 2011 awards breakfast. It is meant for a general arts going audience, takes recordings from the urban Southwest and expands upon their musical nature. The four scenes are subtitled: Day, Dusk, Darkness and Dawn. This is a project of urbanSTEW .
Four Scenes from the Urban Southwest (composed by Robert Esler and Lisa Tolentino)
Atonement (2010) is a performed sound installation for bells, low drums, water and salt. It derives its material from historical data of the war-related deaths of the 20th century. Atonement is creates a space in which people can atone and remember those who gave their lives through acts of war.
Nightingale (2009) is for percussion and recorded nightingale. It is inspired by a similar work by Bernhard Wulff, a German percucssionist from Freiburg. The piece is very free in its presentation but the percussion should ever so slightly accent and contour the phrases of the bird. This piece is also performed as a duo with Lisa Tolentino and our group Rules of Play.
Sustained Metal (2007) is a performance sound installation for tam-tam, gongs, sympathetic vibrations, and live analysis. The material for this work is derived from data taken from ice core samples that record the earth’s temperature over the course of thousands of years.
Sustained Metal by Robert Esler
Desert, Forest, Tundra (2006 – 2008) was an experiment and performative artistic work that took place over two and half years and three locations. Desert took place in Carrizo Badlands in the Anza Borrego State Park in California, Feb. 26th, 2006. Forest took place in Sandwich, NH on the property of Jerry Dodge, a family friend, September 30th, 2006. Tundra took place somewhere near the McClaren Lodge in the Denali Plain, central Alaska, June 25-26th, 2008. Desert, Forest, Tundra was at its core about experience.
Performing Sustained Metal