HYPERSPACE, a sound sculpture created by Yang Bao, rises at Donum Estate.
HYPERSPACE, a sound installation, rises at Donum Estate.
Yang Bao (@yangbao_) and I sit in a small room at Donum Estate (thedonumestate.com), where art worth millions keeps us company. Bao is about to perform a small concert for 50 people, playing a Steinway in front of a lavender field that frames HYPERSPACE. The latter is a sound sculpture that uses mirrors and music to blend seamlessly into the rolling hills of Donum, which produces excellent single-vineyard, single-appellation pinot noir and chardonnay in Sonoma
Bao tells me he has always been able to see music and continues to search for clues regarding the forms that sounds become. “The inspiration for HYPERSPACE was to create something that allows us to hear and see music—and provide a memory for all of this beauty,” he says, referring to the estate. “Creating this installation felt like the most natural thing in the world—to bring my music into its physical form.”
Donum Estate includes sculptures from artists like Ai Weiwei, Keith Haring and Yayoi Kusama.
The sound sculpture, a pyramid crafted from 24k gold-coated stainless steel, holds a space organ constructed of nine mirror-finish stainless-steel sculptures that project bright, warm piano melodies that feel familiar and otherworldly.
Of course, we visit vineyards to taste the land’s fruit. Yet, more than a decade ago, Donum’s owners, Allan and Mei Warburg, began assembling an art collection that rivals the world’s finest galleries. Roughly 60 sculptures from artists like Yayoi Kusama, Ai Weiwei, Doug Aitken, Lynda Benglis, Keith Haring and Subodh Gupta rise from the 200-acre estate. The effect is simultaneously cinematic and surreal, or, as Allan tells me after Bao’s concert, “The blend of nature, incredible art and great wine affects everyone. It’s magic.”
Yang Bao performs in front of his new sound installation HYPERSPACE.
Bao, who lives in New York City, spent lots of time in Vermont and still has an 802 area code on his cell phone. “I know that place to my core—the sound, smells and people,” he says. “I wanted to achieve the same thing with HYPERSPACE. I hope guests leave this place with a memory through sound. I don’t think there’s anything quite as beautiful as Mother Nature. My work is about reflecting what’s already stunning.”
Photography by: COURTESY OF DONUM ESTATE; BY MICHAEL MCCARTHY; COURTESY OF DONUM ESTATE
