Artist Talk with Stephen Vitiello and Paul Park

Artist Stephen Vitiello and writer Paul Park speak on their collaboration that led to the long-term installation All Those Vanished Engines. The dynamic duo will tour through the Boiler House and a discussion of their partnership follows in MASS MoCA’s beer garden.

Sound artist Stephen Vitiello created All Those Vanished Engines especially for the MASS MoCA Boiler House. A relic from the industrial past of the site it was once used to heat the factory buildings that now make up the museum. Starting with the inherent resonance of the pipes and metal drums in the space Vitiello built a layered sound installation that can be explored throughout the first two floors of the building. All Those Vanished Engines is a long-term installation that is open seasonally from May to October.

The narrative and title for All Those Vanished Engines came from a commissioned short story by the novelist Paul Park. The text serves as the thematic structure and blueprint for Vitiello’s installation. The building is viewed as a facade for a secret experimental project to explore the industrial production of sound. Told by two narrators visiting a fictional worker of the Boiler House Park’s story recalls the history of the building as both a producer of sounds as well as a structure haunted by its production. Park writes “After all sound was what had animated the entire structure in memory and in the actual past and was still animating it for example right now.

In July 2014, Parks expanded version of this story was published. The writer will read excerpts from All Those Vanished Engines and will be on hand to sign copies.