March 6 – June 2, 2007
New Music Concert Series
Phill Niblock – March 6, 8 pm
Ryan Hill – March 31, 8 pm
Charlie Fox – April 7, 8 pm
Carrie Gates – June 2, 8 pm
Jon Vaughn – June 1 & 2, 8 pm
Extended Programming: Katherine Liberovskaya
Curator’s Intro
In a time when the mass distribution of music is made possible by the Internet and the MP3 file, the decision to present new music and audio art in a gallery context draws attention to numerous critical inquiries. Among them are discussions about live art creation involving cross-disciplinary research based in new music and digital technologies as well as an acknowledgment of electroacoustic and experimental music belonging, with visual art and interactive installation, to an inquiry about physical and aesthetic space, presence and absence.
With this continuing series, we enter into discussions about audio art as technology, on the musical and cultural implications relating to the design and development of new performance technologies, of live electronics as composition and performance, of sound art and design, of hybrid instrument design, on human-computer interaction, algorithmic art, of performance practices including sound diffusion and laptop improvisation and as regards the emergence of multi-site networked performance and collaboration made possible by translocal networks and the Internet.
In tandem with its media arts lab, Soil, Neutral Ground presents an ongoing series of works that supports practice-led research in the arts to emphasize musical composition and new media that encompasses a wide range of activity in the time-based arts. In this diverse and eclectic program, we will present work which is exploratory and speculative at compositional, design and performative levels and will integrate projects that challenge and engage discourses about technology based artistic practices.
In terms of cultural theory, the new music programs engage discussions about world music and recombinant forms, audio art aesthetics, the relationship of new music to popular culture, the entertainment industries and other alternative cultures viewed as an analysis of the culture of the everyday, of cultural materialism and with media consumption as a symbolic, and politically meaningful activity. Within this series and throughout concurrent programs, we will seek to explore new interfaces for musical expression, musical robots, interactive sound, live electronics, improvisation and live video, computer- aided composition, site-specific sound installations and generative music as it portrays the inhuman ease of the machine-made.
Brenda Cleniuk
Phill Niblock makes thick, loud drones of music, filled with microtones of instrumental timbres which generate many other tones in the performance space. Simultaneously, he presents films / videos which look at the movement of people working, or computer driven black and white abstract images floating through time.
Phill Niblock is an intermedia artist using music, film, photography, video and computers. He makes thick, loud drones of music, filled with microtones of instrumental timbres which generate many other tones in the performance space. Simultaneously, he presents films / videos which look at the movement of people working, or computer driven black and white abstract images floating through time. He was born in Indiana in 1933. Since the mid-60’s he has been making music and intermedia performances which have been shown at numerous venues around the world among which: The Museum of Modern Art; The Wadsworth Atheneum; the Kitchen; the Paris Autumn Festival; Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels; Institute of Contemporary Art, London; Akademie der Kunste, Berlin; ZKM; Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard; World Music Institute at Merkin Hall NYC. Since 1985, he has been the director of the Experimental Intermedia Foundation in New York where he has been an artist/member since 1968. He is the producer of Music and Intermedia presentations at EI since 1973 (about 1000 performances) and the curator of EI’s XI Records label. In 1993 he was part of the formation of an Experimental Intermedia organization in Gent, Belgium – EI v.z.w. Gent – which supports an artist-in-residence house and installations there. Phill Niblock’s music is available on the XI, Moikai, Mode and Touch labels. A DVD of films and music is available on the Extreme label.
Extended Program – Katherine Liberovskaya
Thursday, March 8 at 8:00 pm
Presented by Soil Digital Media Suite
For more details of the extended program read the details here:
Performances:
Jon Vaughn
Friday, June 1, 2007, 8:00 pm
Jon Vaughn & Carrie Gates
Saturday, June 2, 2007, 8:00 pm
Workshops with Carrie Gates
Introduction to VJing
Friday, June 1, 2:30 – 4:00 pm
Have you ever wondered how VJs create their artwork? Have you ever wanted to create a custom visual projection to work with a dance or theatre piece? Have you ever tried adding live visuals to a band’s performance or a DJ set? We can show you how!
In this fun and fast paced workshop, participants will be guided through the basics of VJing (live video mixing), including an overview of basic analogue video mixer features, configuration of live performance setups, and a quick sampling of some of the software options available for digital VJing. We will discuss how to capture, edit, and compress video to optimize it for VJ applications. If time allows, we may also take a look at some experimental methods using live cameras or no-input mixers.
Participants are encouraged to bring their own laptop computers, if possible. Soil can provide a limited number of desktop computers. The demos for the VJ software applications can be installed on laptops beforehand to maximize workshop time.
Contact Mic Construction and Found Object Improvisation Workshop
Saturday, June 2, 2:30 – 4:00 pm
In this workshop, participants will learn how to make their own contact microphone and use it in live improvised music performances or as an alternative microphone for doing field recordings. Contact microphones are an interesting way of amplifying the vibrations within objects, rather than sensing the sound vibrations in the air as a normal microphone does. Contact microphones allow you to amplify objects such as windows, balloons, or plastic wrap, exposing a surprising world of sounds that cannot be heard through conventional means. The first part of the workshop will take participants through the steps of putting together their contact microphone from basic electronic components and the rest of the workshop will focus on exploring the potential of using everyday objects as amplified musical instruments in a fun and informal collaborative setting. Participants are welcome to bring objects and instruments to experiment with. Curiosity is necessary, experience is not!
Bios:
Carrie Gates‘ diverse art practices span the realms of VJing, experimental turntablism, sound art, sculpture, performance art, digital media, and the catylization of provocative interactive situations. Her work is unified by a pluralist vision and an appetite for teasing the uncanny from the familiar, critically yet playfully using and abusing any media she encounters. Recently, Gates has been working with creating innovative VJ performances using Max/MSP/Jitter and Arkaos software, sharing her findings with her peers through workshops and artist talks to encourage others to reclaim digital media as a tool for personal artistic expression and social change. Since 1996, she has been performing regularly at electronic music events, noise and experimental music shows, new media festivals, and art galleries. She runs the BricoLodge net.label with Jon Vaughn and works at the Division of Media and Technology at the University of Saskatchewan. Her performances, compositions, videos, and research work have been shown across Canada as well as in Germany and the USA.
Jon Vaughn is a Saskatoon-based audio-visual artist, DJ, writer, events coordinator/programmer/curator, and student at the University of Saskatchewan, majoring in Art History. His work often explores the politics of difference that emerge when clashing concepts or media together, and how this mixing transforms our perception and experience of our “known”, “everyday” or “normal” world and opens up gateways into new, unknown and/or sub-worlds. Vaughn has been active as a DJ since September, 2001.
