The artists behind the Downtown Iowa City sonic art installation "The Parking Spaces" will be a part of a panel discussion to give insights on their unique public art project.

The discussion begins at 5 p.m. July 18, 2022, inside Meeting Room A at the Iowa City Public Library, 123 S. Linn St. Learn more about the panel at the Library's website.

"Parking Spaces" is an asynchronous public art project that features audio pieces made up of 11 tracks that are coordinated with parking spots throughout the Downtown area. Using headphones and a smartphone, people can walk to each location and listen to stories and sonic poems that give new depth to locations we may have walked past dozens of times. 

The project asks: How can we use sound to slow down and listen to the everyday, public spaces we pass through. If we were to listen, what might we learn? What might we notice? 

"Parking Spaces" is a public art project created by Stephanie Miracle (choreographer and interdisciplinary artist), Ramin Roshandel (composer & sound designer), and Steven Willis (poet and actor). It also features audio contributions by over a dozen individuals and groups. It was one of several local art projects that received a Public Art Matching Grant from the City's Public Art Advisory Committee. 

Participating listeners can access a map of all 11 “Parking Spaces”  and streamable tracks through an interactive website theparkingspaces.com. And although the spaces are numbered, listening can occur in any order and in one day or over a longer period of time. QR codes are available at each location to direct people to audio. Transcripts are also available through the website