Sonic Mountain (Sonoma) by Doug Aitken.
Photo: Jamie Barron

Artist Doug Aitken Installs Massive Wind Chime at Sonoma’s Donum Estate

The sculpture park and vineyard also boasts pieces by Yayoi Kusama, Keith Haring, and Ai Weiwei

Oenophiles will have another reason to visit California wine country this fall, when a striking site-specific work by Los Angeles artist Doug Aitken makes its debut at the Donum Estate, an open-air sculpture park and vineyard founded by Hong Kong–based collectors Allan and Mei Warburg. Situated amid a grove of eucalyptus trees on the 200-acre Sonoma compound, a life-size wind chime titled Sonic Mountain (Sonoma) creates a harmony of soothing sounds when activated by the weather.

Detail of Sonic Mountain (Sonoma) by Doug Aitken. Photo: Jamie Barron

Recommended: Doug Aitken’s Hot Air Balloon Sculpture Takes Its Final Flight in New England

This latest installation joins major works by the likes of Ai Weiwei, Louise Bourgeois, Anselm Kiefer, and Tracey Emin that can be found throughout the estate’s rolling hills, vineyards, and 150-year-old olive trees. Since purchasing the award-winning winery in 2011, the Warburgs have been slowly realizing their dream of pairing a love of winemaking with a passion for art. “If you take art, put it into a beautiful landscape, and at the same time enjoy it with a glass of great wine,” Warburg has said, “the experience is much larger than if the three are enjoyed separately.”

See below for more standout works at the Donum Estate.

Zhan Wang, Artificial Rock No.126, 2007. Photo: Robert Berg
Yayoi Kusama, Pumpkin, 2014. Photo: Robert Berg
Lynda Benglis, Pink Ladies, 2014. Photo: Robert Berg
Keith Haring, King and Queen, 1987. Photo: Anthony Laurino
Ghada Amer, The Words I Love the Most, 2012. Photo: Robert Berg
Elmgreen & Dragset, The Care of Oneself, 2017. Photo: Robert Berg
Anselm Kiefer, Mohn und Geda êchtnis, 2017. Photo: Gregory-Gorman
Ai Weiwei, Circle of Animals Zodiac Heads, 2011. Photo: Anthony Laurino

A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2019 Late Fall Issue in the section “The Artful Life.” Subscribe to the magazine.

Cover: Sonic Mountain (Sonoma) by Doug Aitken.
Photo: Jamie Barron

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