In 2017, the founders of Case Gallery ventured through Pioneertown and purchased a few hundred acres of expansive desert land with breathtaking views of the bouldered hillside and mountain ranges where they planned to create an oasis for artists to display their works of art. The first artist to contribute in initiating this vision is Sébastien Léon. His sculpture The Diffracted Symphony, inspired by the rib cage of a whale washed ashore, was originally conceived as a sound sculpture playing an altered version of Verdi's Requiem, turned into a funeral mass for the biological state of the world. Léon pleads for us to recognize that the challenge of our time is for humanity to understand its power for both destruction and preservation, and our urgent need to act as the caretakers of the Earth's balance.
Commissioned by Nancy A. Nasher & David J Heamisegger Family, with the Dallas Symphony
Contributors: Stephen Dewey (Sound Design and Composition), Jason Francesco Heath, Ph.D. (Composition), Fife Metal Works (Fabrication)