One of the many exhibits we’ve helped bring to the Kentucky State Fair over the years is Claira, an interactive sculptural game that teaches kids the importance of how their decisions affect the environment.

Built for Kentuckiana Air Education sponsorship area at the KY State Fair, thousands of kids played this game over during the highly anticipated end-of-summer fair.

The sculpture Tree of Life is the centerpiece of the installation. It stands as a reference to native tree symbols of life and the interconnectedness of the universe. The body of the tree is embedded with LEDs that gently pulse with energy and, when someone enters the exhibition space, the LEDs shift blue and sparkle with recognition. A floor projection of a river populated with animals from Chickasaw, Shawnee, and Cherokee origin stories swim around the installation.

Encircling visitors within the exhibition space of this new exhibit, an immersive 6.1 channel soundscape we’ve named The Emergence of the World envelopes listeners in a 12min audio track that weaves together hundreds of sounds, from the primordial formation of the Earth to the evolution of species over many thousands of millennia. You can hear low frequency rumblings of earthquakes evolve into ultrasonic bat echolocation chirps and, nearing the end as human culture emerges, recordings of Chickasaw conversations and Cherokee song, these sounds move around the perimeter of the room to transport visitors into the center of an ongoing natural drama.

A 6.1 surround sound system was design to deliver a 12 minute immersive soundscape that takes listeners through the elemental origins of the earth (earthquakes, lava, landslides) to thunderstorms and winds and rains to the emergence of life. Speakers placed in a circle around the installation allow wrap visitors in a soundscape filled with the sounds of local species of bats and insects woven together with bellowing elk that once frequently roamed the hills of Kentucky. One can hear the calls of whippoorwills, pileated woodpeckers, and common crows fly around the room as footsteps are heard circling the room, fire crackling, eventually voices emerge. Speaking in Native American languages of tribes historically residing in Kentucky (Shawneee, Chickasaw, Cherokee), these voices begin to talk, recite poetry, sing tribal songs, and play Native music.

Special Thanks to Maggie Boyett, a Shawnee artist and poet that allowed us integrate her Invocation Poem into the soundscape – you can hear her reading her poem in Shawnee in the latter part of the soundscape, representing one aspect of emerging creativity in human culture.

Audio engineering by Dave Givan.