Martin Roth transformed a ruin in New York into a garden for a plant concert

The abandoned City Club building in Newburgh, New York, is set to be transformed into a living art installation, fulfilling the vision of late artist Martin Roth. Roth, who passed away in 2019, imagined the Victorian building as a space where plants could “sing” through bio-sonification, a process translating plant vibrations into musical notes. Inspired by the structure’s natural overgrowth, Roth planned to introduce colorful plants and a winding path, echoing the romantic landscape designs of Andrew Jackson Downing, whose work shaped the City Club’s surrounding grounds.

Kelly Schroer, founder of the nonprofit Strongroom, collaborated with Roth before his passing and is now bringing his concept to life. The project aims to amplify the “heartbeat” of plants, allowing visitors to engage in an immersive experience as plants respond musically to human touch and environmental changes. Roth had previously experimented with plant music in a 2015 “plant concert” at the Hessel Museum, using a similar bio-sonification system.

The City Club building, designed by Downing and Calvert Vaux, has endured years of neglect and a devastating fire. Roth’s vision honors its history by incorporating a path reminiscent of Downing’s landscape design, allowing visitors to wander among the greenery and listen to the plant-generated sounds. A Kickstarter campaign has successfully funded the project’s opening, with additional fundraising ongoing to expand public programming. Schroer hopes the project will spotlight Roth’s artistic legacy, emphasizing his unique ability to blend natural and constructed worlds and redefine art’s possibilities.

“It’s sad to say, but often when an artist passes away, that’s when people realize he was a visionary, when he is already gone,” Schroer said. “There’s very few artists that make you reconsider what art can be. That’s how I feel about Martin.”

Curated by Kelly Schroer | Source: Hyperallergic.Com, Kickstarter