From the echo of bats underneath a bridge to the sloshing of water, Steve Parks is captivated by sounds. And as a musician and artist, he creates work that honors both of his passions. His latest installation “Invisible Music,” is now on view at City Place, a sprawling complex for work and entertainment in Spring. There, he’s created floating and land-based musical sculptures that play a one-of-a-kind musical composition featuring natural soundscapes from Texas and compositions by Erik Satie.
Do you remember your first piece of art that you were proud of?
“One that sticks out in my mind is a piece that I created in 2016 called ‘Batman.’ In Austin, Congress Avenue Bridge is home to the largest urban bat population in the world. Every night there’s a community spectacle, where people gather and observe the bats taking off for the evening. So, working with different community members and a few different organizations, we had a number of workshops we developed that explored different facets of the Mexican free-tailed bat, and developed this large-scale performance together that took place at sunset under the Congress Avenue Bridge.”
What inspired your new art installation at City Place?
“I was really struck by my visit to City Place and the sounds that I heard. If you’ve been before, it’s this kind of an interesting intersection of the natural and the human-built world. I was interested in how the space is framed by these bodies of water, and you could hear wildlife and human activity. I wanted to create a musical composition [that] incorporates aspects of natural sounds and ambient music.”
What’s your artistic process?
“I have two young kids, and I work whenever there’s space in the margins. Sometimes, it’s an hour or two in the morning when I have time. Often, it’s when I find myself alone and have time to think or read about different things. The way I work varies from project to project, sometimes it’s research-based, and other times it’s more experimentation with forms. I really don’t have one strict method.”
