Porch Swing Orchestra is a project by Austin-based artist Barry Stone. Simply put, it is a webpage with one image and an embedded audio track play button. Another crucial component is an email from Stone when the next installment is up. The single website images are typical of Stone’s pictures — landscapes, sometimes with a figure — that are often modified by way of manipulating the digital image’s file code. You can hear a short audio clip of (most likely) Stone playing guitar, and the atmosphere of his surroundings. It sounds something like an accidental field recording, or something you’d find in your Voice Memo recordings. It’s not amateurish or casual — it has the feel of a personal experience, a recording you would make for yourself and not something to be shared for “likes.” Stone’s project is rooted in a critique of the production of “likes” as part of the larger commodification of digital content — both personal and as fine art. –Chad Dawkins for Glasstire

Since 2018, I have posted site-specific musical recordings and accompanying images at PorchSwingOrchestra.org. Mostly recorded on his front porch in Austin, Texas, PSO has occasionally traveled to such far-flung places as Spiral Jetty and coastal Maine.

The website has no archive, meaning that each week a new image and recording displaces the previous upload. Featuring guitar-playing, ambient sound, and collaborations with other artists, the project is an exercise in time, place, and impermanence.

Featured Orchestra Collaborators: Gregory Brooks, Bob Warner, Emily Scarlet Kramer, Rainey Knudson, Ryan Lauderdale, Tamara Gonzales, Katy Chrisler, Gibson + Recoder,  Paul Stautinger, Sarah Hennies, Eric Zimmerman, Matt Bauer, Sandy Carson, Ryan Rhodes, Rebecca Marino, Shannon Spurgeon, Aaron Winslow, Ivy Stone, Ryan Sprott, and Brad Tucker.