Airport Experience® News - Food & Beverage Issue 2024

BEFORE YOU TAKE OFF SMOOTH TRANSITION LAX’s “Soundscape” Adds Local Artistry To Passenger Throughways

BY SARAH BELING

Left: The Orchestrina features a curated modular music library from 30 local artists that progresses as travelers make their way through the post-security passenger tunnel.

scale or with the visibility of LAX, which we see as one of the portals to Los Angeles,” he adds. “So it is a great honor and responsibility - and simply just an exciting experience - that we’ve been given pleasure to do.” To create the exhibit, LAX and dublab explored how passengers move through the space, in addition to considering how employees would use the tunnel over and over throughout the day as they went about their work, says Cifarelli. “We wanted a sound installation that would be fresh and new every time a guest or employee journeys through the tunnel, whether it is their first time encountering the sound installation, or their tenth time that day,” he says. Welbourne notes that while tech for The Orchestrina was built on dublab’s previous projects, it was also “a first-of-its kind and novel approach to how we have worked.” Combining the linear experience of traveling through space with the linear experience of listening to a song, dublab managed to design a program that not only subtly showcases a cadre of LA artists but allows “the casual passerby within the airport to hear some pleasing, relaxing and reflective sounds, tones, bird calls, jazz flutes, synthesizers, drum solos, symphonic string arrangements, soft-spoken words and everything in between,” says Welbourne. Officially launched in July 2021, passenger reactions have been “very positive,” says Cifarelli, For dublab, the airport collaboration has opened up new ways of creating, Welbourne adds. The Orchestrina project “allowed us to consider the greater community of people within Los Angeles, all of the new works that are coming,” he says, “and how they can be applied to a non-traditional venue space.”

etting to the gate in time for boarding - it’s the “last mile” of making a flight, and more often

Orchestrina not only humanizes the travel experience, adds Cifarelli, but provides passengers with an incentive to learn more about the city’s vibrant cultural offerings. “For some passengers, seeing art at LAX may be their only encounter with LA’s art scene,” she adds. “Presenting works by Angelenos communicates our city’s collective identity, values and aspirations.” Working to create a transit-friendly artistic showcase, Cifarelli notes that the team initially considered installing visual art, but the tunnel’s concrete walls weren’t conducive to hanging pieces. The LAX team decided to work with sound instead, releasing an RFP in 2019 for a Musical Arts and Cultural Production Program. dublab - known for soundtrack work for the likes of LA’s Wende Museum and Skirball Cultural Center, among other global exhibits - quickly caught the airport’s eye. For dublab, the opportunity to take on a project with high-traffic exposure was attractive, says the station’s Eli Welbourne. “dublab has been in operation for 25 years working with various artists, organizations, institutions, venues, underground events, family gathering events, but nothing on the

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than not, one of the more stressful aspects of the travel day. But for passengers making their way through the West Gates at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)’s to Tom Bradley Terminal, there’s a soothing, immersive soundscape to guide them through, thanks to a collaboration with LA-based internet radio station dublab . The Orchestrina, which LAX describes as “a moving kaleidoscope of sounds from Los Angeles,” features a curated modular music library from 30 local artists that progresses as travelers make their way through the post-security passenger tunnel, allowing them to pause and remain in their own “loop” of sound. Or, the passenger can follow the custom composition to their next destination while bathed in a calming lavender light. The exhibit both acts as “LAX’s own DJ”, and “provides passengers with an initial first-hand experience of Los Angeles’ contemporary art scene,” says the airport’s art program director Sarah Cifarelli. A stark departure from many airports’ endless, drab passenger throughways, The

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AX NEWS JUNE 2024