Looking down the tower's center to the pool of water below

In 2007, tower · Oliver Ranch opened with Meredith Monk and members of her ensemble. Monk later returned with the performance, Songs of Ascension, made in collaboration with Hamilton.

Click here to see video excerpts from this performance.

Meredith Monk and her ensemble rehearsing for a performance at tower · Oliver Ranch in 2007

Conceived as an object in the landscape and a vocal chord to be animated by a series of commissioned projects, the 80 foot concrete tower contains a double helical staircase that ascends and descends from opposite sides of the tower to spatially suspend the audience and performer in an alternative to a traditional face to face performance. Other artists who have performed in the tower include choreographer Joe Goode, The Kronos Quartet, Shahrokh Yadegari and The Pacific Mozart Ensemble.

The full schedule of performances at the tower can be found here. For an in-depth look into the construction of Hamilton's tower · Oliver Ranch, please see the KQED Spark television documentary here. (Original air date: July 2007. Running Time: 14:35)

Ann Hamilton's tower · Oliver Ranch, which measures 80' hight and 24' in diameter

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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