Music Ph.D. brings the sounds of the Gulf Coast to the Granoff Center
James May, a Ph.D. student in Brown's Music department, presented an immersive installation inspired by his hometown of New Orleans in April 2026. In a featured video, May describes the project, the ideas that animate him, and how he translated those ideas into Eventually There's Nowhere.
Eventually There's Nowhere
A series of windows sourced from New Orleans find a temporary home in the Fishman Studio during James May's sound project.
Where in space are you?
How are you related to the space you're in?
What happens to sound when it is transmitted through an unexpected medium?
What does the sound of a swamp do to a listener, when it's presented right beside to the sound of a train?
These are some of the questions that propelled composer and sound artist James May, who is pursuing his Ph.D. in Music at Brown, as he developed Eventually There's Nowhere. In this video by ArtsCrew member Jerrie Lyndon-Sylvia, May articulates these questions as he describes the creative process of the piece, including sourcing the installation's window panes, transforming them into speakers, and creating a story through space and sound.
Eventually There's Nowhere was presented in the Fishman Studio at the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts on April 9 and 10, 2026.