Since 2001, Experimental Sound Studio has been commissioning composers and artists to create sound pieces for the Fern Room through its unique Florasonic sound installation series. This year, we are revisiting some of the past projects with a nine-month retrospective. Each month, you can hear a different artist’s work enlivening the soundscape of the Fern Room.

What you'll hear in the Fern Room is Requiem, a composition by Chicago artist Annie Feldmeier-Adams, with assistance from composer Steven Hess. The piece is an homage to a little known bit of the history of Lincoln Park: in the nineteenth century, this land was the city cemetery, but in subsequent years, many of the bodies were removed to new locations. This work was never completed, however, and the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed burial records and grave markers, so a number of bodies still lay under Lincoln Park to this day. Requiem is a tribute to those still buried. Its sparse and ephemeral sounds conjure a sense of absence, while its slow beat is like a pulse that continues unabated, reminding us that life—even in its most lush and fertile manifestations as we see in the Fern Room—is ultimately nourished by the death of organisms, and that each living thing passes on but nourishes future generations.