Big Listener
2024
Michael Legan
b. St Paul, MN 1989
Concrete, steel
It takes work to listen and even more effort to listen well.
Constructed from cast concrete, Big Listener’s specific, parabolic forms allow the sculpture to function as a passive amplification device, creating a mechanism for individuals to listen to a range of evident and subtle sonic components within Franconia Sculpture Park’s landscape, including both human and non-human entities. The piece invites questions about the labor of listening and what it takes to perceive our surroundings, each other, and even ourselves in an increasingly dynamic world. Visitors are invited to engage with Big Listener, individually or collectively, and explore how the sculpture shifts, reframes, and/or heightens their perceptions.
Michael Legan
Michael Legan is an artist and musician based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His interdisciplinary practice focuses on designing environments that excite awareness of space and that facilitate active listening and multisensory exploration through wide-ranging mediums such as sound, sculpture, installation, and performance.