Angeles-Ridgecrest-Biodata-Session, 2020, Site-specific biodata sonification and modular synthesis recording session
Angeles-Ridgecrest-Biodata-Session, 2020, Site-specific biodata sonification and modular synthesis recording sessionACTivate Resident 2026
Skooby Laposky is a sound designer, educator, DJ, and artist based in Cambridge, MA, and Hudson, NY. He has shaped the personalities of consumer robots, produced original music for couture runway shows, remixed tracks for major label artists and global brands, and added emotional depth to documentary films through field recordings and original scores. His recent work centers on deep listening and biodata sonification, creating experiences that support restorative practices and foster environmental stewardship.
Recent projects include the public art installation Hidden Life Radio and his ongoing site-specific collaboration Palm Reading with Los Angeles–based guitarist Charles Copley. Palm Reading’s debut location releases, Malibu: Point Mugu and Joshua Tree, were issued on the Real: music label, followed by Walden Pond, a collection of compositions recorded in the woods made famous by Henry David Thoreau. Upcoming releases will feature recordings from the Angeles National Forest and at oases in Palestine and Israel.
Hidden Life Radio received the New York Foundation for the Arts’ Tomorrowlands Project Award in 2022 and broadcast throughout 2023 from New York’s Hudson Valley. In 2025, Laposky was named one of WBUR’s The Makers and previously served as a Luminary in the Neighborhood Salon program at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. His work [ ] (The Storm Remembered / Reactivated), a sonic reimagining of the stolen Rembrandt painting Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee, premiered in March 2025 in the Gardner Museum’s Dutch Room to mark the 35th anniversary of the infamous art heist.
2026
ACTivate Residency
Project Statement
Untitled 2026 (Recipe/Requiem/Remix) is a social artwork by Skooby Laposky that will function as a Thai pop-up restaurant, sound installation, and restorative space within the Cyclorama. Inspired by Rirkrit Tiravanija’s cooking-based artworks, the project invites the Greater Boston public to share in a communal meal and a moment of reflection.
Working with Brooklyn-based artist Daniel Pravit Fethke, Laposky will prepare a selection of his late mother Oratai Boonlorm’s favorite Thai recipes featuring horapa (Thai basil) as the central ingredient. The basil will be growing onsite in Aerogardens, surrounding the cooking space and connecting guests directly to the living plants. Meals will be cooked on electric woks identical to those used by Tiravanija, blending homage with personal narrative. The basil plants will be connected to Laposky’s custom biodata sonification system, generating ambient music in real time based on the plants’ physiological responses to human interaction.
This evolving sound “requiem,” incorporating recordings of Laposky’s mother’s khaen, will be presented through a multi-channel speaker system. Visitors are invited to rest, listen, and reflect, nourishing both body and spirit through food, memory, and sound.