Liz Phillips facts for kids

Liz Phillips (born 1951) is an American artist who creates amazing sound art and interactive art. She was one of the first to make interactive sound sculptures. Her art installations use electronic sounds to connect with people and nature.

Phillips' work has been shown in many famous places. These include the Whitney Museum of American Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Ars Electronica. She has also worked with other artists like Nam June Paik and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Her art has been featured by groups like the Cleveland Orchestra.

Early Life and Learning

Liz Phillips was born in New Jersey in 1951. She has shared that her childhood experiences in nature, especially near the Hudson River, shaped her interest in sound, water, and space. She once felt torn between making art and studying nature.

Visiting museums in New York helped her decide to become an artist. But her deep love for nature has always been a part of her artwork. She started college at Bennington College in 1969. There, she studied music and art and earned her degree in 1973.

Her Art Projects

Since 1969, Phillips has been creating art that invites people to interact. In 1971, she wrote that her goal was to make "a new kind of environmental space where the structure of the space was defined by human interaction."

She became known for sound environments built around people eating together. Phillips would "wire" a dinner table. The sounds from the dinner would then create an electronic soundscape. This soundscape would change based on what the people at the dinner were doing. She explained that people became like electronic parts in a circuit. Their movements and presence would create sounds.

Sound Structures (1970)

In 1970, Phillips made a piece called Sound Structures. This art used a special radio field created by a piece of metal under a rug. AM radios placed around the room would pick up sounds. These sounds would start and change as people walked through the field. Their bodies acted like conductors, changing the sounds. As people moved closer to the center, the sound frequency from the radios would get higher. This created interesting new sounds. Phillips wanted people to play and form groups spontaneously in this environment.

Electronic Banquet (1971)

In 1971, Phillips showed Electronic Banquet at the Eighth Annual Avant Garde Festival of New York. This festival also featured other artists like Yoko Ono. Phillips later worked with Nam June Paik and dancer Robert Kovich on a special art piece.

Sum Time (1974)

In 1974, Phillips worked with artist Yoshi Wada to create Sum Time at the Everson Museum of Art. This interactive sound installation used radio frequency fields. Speakers created invisible sound waves that only became active when people moved through the space. The system also used sound storage and delay to create complex effects.

City Flow (1977)

In 1977, Phillips created City Flow in a pedestrian area in New York. This artwork used sounds from people walking by and traffic from a nearby street. It was even written about in The New Yorker magazine.

Windspun (1980)

At the New Music America festival in 1980, Phillips created Windspun. This was one of her first artworks that used wind to make sounds. Windspun used many anemometers (devices that measure wind speed). Each anemometer made sounds get stronger or fade. The sounds changed depending on the wind's direction and speed. Slow winds made single tones, while stronger winds created large groups of sounds. Phillips thought of this process like how sand dunes form and move.

A second version of Windspun was installed in New York in 1981. It used a wind turbine. Later wind-activated artworks include Zephyr (1984) and Whitney Windspun (1985).

Sun Spots (1981)

In 1981, Phillips installed Sun Spots at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. This was another "responsive space" artwork. It used special radio frequency fields, copper tubing, and a bronze screen. When people moved around the space, they changed the sounds. One reviewer said it created "tinkly sounds like Chinese wind chimes" and "cascades of sound that spill like water." A second Sun Spots was shown in 1982.

Graphite Ground (1988)

Phillips installed the interactive sound sculpture Graphite Ground at the Whitney Museum in 1988. Visitors could interact with sculptural objects to create sounds. Video documentation shows people playing with the art.

Echo Evolution (1999)

In 1999, Phillips showed Echo Evolution at The Kitchen in New York. Like her other works, people's participation was key. The art used electronic sensors to track movements. This connected people to an audio soundtrack and neon lights. Echo Evolution was shown again in 2002.

Beyond/In (2010)

In 2010, Phillips updated Beyond/In, an artwork first shown in 1974. The original used recorded sounds of wind and water. For the new version, Phillips used modern technology. She created an interactive sound environment where people's movements triggered sounds from the Niagara River.

Biyuu (2012)

In 2012, Phillips introduced Biyuu. This piece was shown at a performance in New York City. She worked with Butoh dancer Mariko Endo. The artwork combined Endo's movements with Phillips' live sound and image processing. It created a responsive sound environment that included video projected onto a weather balloon.

Relative Fields in a Garden (2018)

In 2018, Phillips worked with her daughter, artist Heidi Howard, on Relative Fields in a Garden. This large art installation was at the Queens Museum. It combined Howard's colorful paintings with Phillips' sound art. The mother and daughter worked together, with Howard relating her brushstrokes to Phillips' sounds. In 2020, they even released a video game version of their installation.

Awards

Phillips received the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in 1987. She has also received grants and commissions from groups like the National Endowment for the Arts.

Biography

Phillips lives in New York City. She is married to the composer and musician Earl Howard. Their daughter is visual artist Heidi Howard.

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