Flux Projects announces Cannupa Hanska Luger and Ginger Dunnill’s Here Song, a mobile app that allows users to trace the landscape and create tonal resonances – sonic stories that engage directly with the land.

“The custom of following the horizon as inspiration from the land is an ancient technology of Indigenous people that I believe is necessary for the survival of our species,” said Luger. “It creates a path for patient observation of place as an antithesis to the extraction of materials. We must reinforce our belonging to place, and this app may be a gentle reminder that the value of land is greater than the materials that make it up.”

Inspired by the tradition of Luger’s ancestors, the people of the Northern Plains Tribes of North America, the app aims to study horizon lines to create melody and other types of sonic experiences. This practice, known as “singing the horizon,” connected them to place and reinforced their relationship to the land.

“Flux Projects strives to give artists unique opportunities to realize work and grow their practices,” said Anne Dennington, executive director of Flux Projects. “In this effort, we ask artists what they have always wanted to do, but not had the resources, time, or support to realize. During our early conversations, Cannupa shared his desire to translate his tribe’s practice of ‘singing the horizon’ into an app that would allow a broader audience to experience the practice. It is an honor to support the realization of his vision.”

 The Here Song app is now available in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The project was developed through Luger’s participation in Flux Project’s Flux Exchange, an incubator series that invites artists to explore Atlanta as a site for a future large-scale public project.

This project was funded in part by Fulton County Arts & Culture’s (FCAC) Virtual Arts Initiative, which was created to support the creative community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through this initiative, FCAC offered operational support to enhance the arts sector’s ability to present virtual arts programs and creative engagement opportunities for Fulton County residents and visitors.