05/06/2026
Out of Silence featured on . 🌳
Out of Silence, a sound installation by artist Hans Rosenstrom, is available at the on the hour, from 10 AM until 6 PM daily, except on Tuesdays when The Park is closed. Now through June 21, 2026!
Roger: If you’re visiting the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Four Freedom State Park at the southern tip of Roosevelt Island, and hear the linden trees speaking to you, trust me, you’re not imagining things.
It’s a site-specific voice-based sound installation from Finnish artist Hans Rosenström.
Hans: I always wanted to create something that also like asks for your attention and your attunement so that you would—especially slower beginning—that you kind of have to listen to your surroundings and find a relationship to it.
Roger: The installation, which features 14 speakers in the trees, is the result of a collaboration between Rosenström and independent curator Alina Girshovich, inspired by the music of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt and the architecture of the Park, designed by Louis Kahn, who was also born in Estonia.
Alina: I realized that there’s a lot of similarity and overlap in terms of how they approach each of their disciplines.
Roger: The Estonian vocal ensemble Vox Clamantis was also part of the collaboration. The piece runs around 14 minutes, and it’s played on the hour, from 10 AM until 6 PM [ET] every day, except Tuesday, when The Park is closed.
Rosenström says, since he’s not a musician or a composer, he did write text for the work.
Hans: It was important to work with people who know parts of music. Instead of giving them sheets. We went to the same room and we started to work on a soundscape together and just basically improvising and testing things, discussing the team.
Roger: The team hopes Out of Silence will provide a different tempo to the city’s pulse through
public art.
Alina: To be able to just walk into a piece and to enjoy it, is what we’re trying to do here.
Roger: Plan your visit at FDRFourFreedomsPark.org. On Roosevelt island, Roger Clark, New York 1.
