Coney Island boardwalk will host ‘musical architecture’ installation

Nonprofit art organization New Orleans Airlift is bringing their New Orleans-based public art project, Music Box Village, on tour through a new exhibition called Porch Life and this weekend, the interactive installation will touch down at the Coney Island boardwalk.

In New Orleans, Music Box Village consists of a dozen interactive “musical houses” that are inspired by the city’s music and architectural styles. The houses also function as an educational space that illustrates how houses can be “played as instruments” and features a variety of “architectural-based instruments” like whistling fans, drumming shutters, and reinterpretations of traditional horns and bells.

After launching a successful Kickstarter campaign in June, Airlift has partnered with the fundraising platform along with The Creative Independent to bring Porch Life NYC to Coney Island for just two days, where people can try their hand at making musical sounds within the installation. The multi-level art display will feature nine “new instrumental works of art,” which will be the most out of any of the musical houses within the art initiative.

After its stop in New York, Porch Life will head to Washington D.C., before heading back to New Orleans to become a permanent fixture within the Music Box Village.

Here’s a look at how Porch Life works: