Jonathan Harris

Jonathan Harris is a composer and installation artist whose work uses timbre, objects, and space as a means of exploring acoustic and perceptual phenomena. This work typically involves the creation of immersive environments that embrace sound as a physical medium and investigate its engagement with architecture and the listener. It often takes the form of site-specific installations whose sonic elements evolve without notions of beginning and end, allowing audiences the freedom to engage with a given composition as one might with sculpture or image, with the belief that spatial composition—given sound’s constancy, and the way we use hearing as a means of making sense of the physical environments we inhabit—has the unique ability to provoke listening practices that can facilitate reengagement with our real-world habitats. Jonathan has presented this work in group shows and at gallery spaces in greater NY, the Hudson Valley, and the Catskills, including Fridman Gallery, Lenfest Center for the Arts, Mount Tremper Arts, Eonta Space, ChaShaMa, and the Neuberger Museum.

Jonathan graduated from SUNY Purchase in 2020 (summa cum laude) with a dual major in Composition and Performance (double bass) and a minor in Visual Arts, studying closely with Liz Phillips, Nic Scherzinger, Greg Spears, Laura Kaminsky, and Timothy Cobb, and undertaking intensive coursework relating to acoustics, auditory perception, music programming, physics, and sound-based installation art. From 2017-19, Jonathan attended annual workshops on spatial audio at EMPAC, and has taken courses on field recording with sound artists Chris Watson and Jez riley French, and on microtonality and intonation theory with Jacob Adler. Before attending SUNY Purchase, Jonathan studied harmony and aural theory at The Juilliard School.

Jonathan is presently working toward an MFA in Sound Art at Columbia University.