Concept
Saturn Walk is an immersive performance and community experience that invites people to rediscover listening through the body. Combining improvisational dance, sound, sculpture, installation, and Feng Shui, the project explores how deep listening can reconnect us to ourselves, to each other, and to the larger world around us.
At the heart of the work is a prompt-based movement score that guides dancers and participants to sense more fully: feeling gravity, noticing space, and responding to subtle shifts in the environment. Instead of traditional choreography, movement emerges from awareness itself.
The sound field of the work features music created from my discovery of the sounds in Saturn’s rings for NASA. These celestial tones invite a kind of listening that expands outward, inspiring participants to dream beyond the self and step into a more spacious, imaginative field.
Visitors move through a hand-built labyrinth installation made from simple, natural materials arranged through Feng Shui principles. This environment encourages contemplation, grounding, and flow.
Music
Venice Biennale 2024
Saturn Walk-Deep Listening Plaza, Kingston, NY
Saturn Walk, a 20-foot diameter, hexagonal labyrinthian sound walk is inspired by the unusual 6 sided cloud pattern over Saturn’s North Pole. While walking the route the pedestrians will hear (from a local speaker) the composition inspired by the sonics of Saturn’s rings that China Blue discovered for NASA. She composed it with Lance Massey the creator of the T-Mobile ringtone.
Presented at the Deep Listening Plaza, Kingston, NY.
Midtown Arts Festival
By pacing the labyrinth pedestrians are grounded in an ancient maze while they meditate on the sounds of the cosmos. This multifaceted work energizes the body, improves mental health and bridges societal gaps.
•People are energized by the simply walking.
•Through the engagement in mindful meditation the participants’ mental health is improved, happiness is increased while inspiration and creativity is stimulated.
•By focusing on the distant planets people are reminded of the importance of bridging the increasing gaps of societal differences.
Jane Street Gallery-Saugerties, NY
Saturn Walk exhibited in China Blue’s solo show at the Jane Street Gallery, 16-foot diameter.
Design: The labyrinth is outlined on the floor, a speaker system and the sound work that was inspired by the sonics in Saturn’s rings will accompany the participants on their journey.
Programming: Multiple performances were created by the Canadian Andrea Naan, choreographer.
DRAW Kingston
Accolades
“Cassini’s Dreams (at the Venice Biennale) …is a remarkable visual arts and sound project that is partly scientific and partly poetic,”
says Lilly Wei, NYC Art Critic
“as China Blue demonstrates…nothing is still nor silent, the void is filled with the sounds of in-commensurable invisible forces that can be heard by those who listen to them.”
states Stephanie Jeanjean, NYC Art Historian
“China Blue’s work… has returned to the subject matter of nature … create(ing) new metaphors…”
Jill Conner, New York Editor, Whitehot Magazine and contributor to Art in America and Sculpture
“China Blue (is) a forerunner in the … contemporary sound art movement.”
Edward Rubin, Sculpture magazine
“The panel was unanimously enthusiastic about awarding this applicant the Fellowship Award. The works employ technology in new and interesting ways.” RISCA Panel