The second installment of the Audible Interruptions sound art series features work by St. Louis-based artists Nathan Cook and Andrew James. Using site-specific installations that infuse the Museum’s utilitarian spaces with art, Audible Interruptions brings unique and unexpected auditory experiences to familiar areas such as hallways, restrooms, and elevators.

Nathan Cook: Transmutation Passages transforms CAM’s elevator into a laboratory for sonic investigation. The four-part work, which will present a new selection each month, explores themes related to movement, space, and our relationship with machines. For example, in part one—Driving: Spatial Displacement—sounds of driving evoke horizontal movement, contrasting with the vertical path of the elevator, while a later part calls to mind the up-and-down movement of a water fountain.

In Andrew James: Toss and Turn Toss and Turn—which takes place in the first-floor hallway—the artist attempts to replicate from memory the various riffs, sounds, and melodies that sometimes creep into his head while falling asleep. From songs heard during the day and rhythms developed in the studio to snippets from commercial jingles, the infectious auditory patterns are looped into a cacophony of abstract conversations.

Nathan Cook (b. 1980, West Plains, Missouri) lives and works in St. Louis. A sound artist, graphic designer, and visual artist, Cook is a member of Close/Far, an artistic collective and recording label. Cook’s work often considers the sound qualities of physical settings, and he thinks of sound as a subtle, duration-based medium that requires extended attention and audience participation. He performs solo as N.N.N. Cook and is active in many artistic collaborations.

Andrew James (b. 1975, Knoxville, Tennessee) lives and works in St. Louis. Since 2008, James has operated Good Citizen Gallery and billboard project. His work has been featured in numerous exhibitions, including at Isolation Room, the Luminary Center for the Arts, the Foundry Arts Center, and the St. Louis Artist Guild in St. Louis as well as at the Applebee Gallery at MacMurray College, Jackson, Illinois; Lump, Raleigh, North Carolina; the National Ornamental Metals Museum, Memphis, Tennessee; the Berkeley Arts Museum, Berkeley, California; and the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery.

Kevin Harris (b. 1975, Oklahoma City) lives and works in St. Louis. The former proprietor and curator of Floating Laboratories, a St. Louis multimedia performance space, Harris’s most recent artwork uses multi-channel audio and video synthesis to present complex sensory environments.

Audible Interruptions is guest curated by St. Louis-based artist, musician, and engineer Kevin Harris. Coinciding with the tenth anniversary of CAM’s building, the series takes place from September 2013 through August 2014.