Previous Exhibitions

Working with sounds recorded from Virginia environments, artist Stephen Vitiello created an exhibition of sound installations, photographs, and a video. Audiences were invited to pay close attention to the simultaneously strange and comforting soundscapes of Virginia. Vitiello also debuted a new work at MOCA: Slow Planes, a site-specific sound installation about the sound of jets in Virginia Beach.

Slow Planes is based on field recordings of jets and airplanes from inside and outside of CAC and near the Naval Air Station Oceana. Despite the politically-charged issues of zoning, land development and local economy surrounding the presence of the F18 Hornets, Vitiello’s focus is on the experience and quality of the sounds themselves. “I think there’s (at least) two ways to hear the planes that roar over Virginia Beach," said Vitiello. "One is to hear them as unbearable and intrusive noise. Another is to think of them as an exciting, charged blast of sonic energy.” Vitiello’s enjoyable transformation of the sounds blend with the real-time sounds of jets passing over the museum. Read more from the exhibition didactic panel. Purchase Stephen Vitello’s exhibition catalogue at MOCA’s Museum Shop.