Fulcrum Arts
Fund: $40,000
Fulcrum Arts will present artist Lawrence English’s project Sirens during its AxS Festival starting November 2, 2018. English will create a site-specific installation utilizing some of the remaining 160 civil defense sirens from the cold war that are scattered across Los Angeles. In Sirens, English re-appropriates the devices, employing sound as a means to create a spatial mapping, reconfiguring Los Angeles’s geographic, political, and historical landscapes. Broadly, English’s works call into question how sound is used on and around us; with Sirens he examines use of sound as a cultural signifier, first codified by its role in civil defense then contrasted by its shift today as a so-called “non-lethal” weapon. English’s interest in the weaponization of sound is fueled by his research around listening and the role audition plays in our understanding of place at all levels—reengaging listeners by shifting sound to reshape our orientation within physical and metaphysical spaces. A publication will accompany the installation.