New Adventures in Sound Art (NAISA) is a non-profit organization, formerly based in Toronto but now in South River ON, that presents performances and installations spanning the entire spectrum of electroacoustic and experimental sound art. NAISA operates the NAISA North Media Arts Centre, located in the centre of the village of South River at 106 Ottawa Ave., a short distance from Algonquin Park, at the building formerly known as Renée’s Café and Bean There Café.

The NAISA North Media Arts Centre includes a large exhibition/performance space, a small café, and an artist residency space suitable for media art production/creation as well as visual art creation. The café offers fresh baked goodies by local baker Lois McLaren, homemade soup by Nadene Thériault-Copeland and serves Muskoka coffee by Muskoka Roastery Coffee Company.

NAISA’s annual events include: the Deep Wireless festival of Radio & Transmission Art from January 17 to mid-April, the Sound Travels festival of Sound Art from June to Labour Day, and the SOUNDplay festival from late-September to late-November.

The objectives of NAISA are to foster awareness and understanding locally, as well as nationally and internationally, in the cultural vitality of experimental sound art in its myriad forms of expression. This objective is achieved through the exploration of new sound technologies in conjunction with the creation of cultural events and artifacts.

Upcoming Events

Biidaaban: First Light, a virtual reality film
Produced by The National Film Board of Canada
October 4 – November 25, 2018, Thursday to Monday, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 106 Ottawa Ave, South River

An interactive virtual reality film directed by Lisa Jackson, 3D art by Mathew Borrett and produced by National Film Board..

Rooted in the realm of Indigenous futurism, Biidaaban: First Light is an interactive VR time-jump into a highly realistic—and radically different—Toronto of tomorrow. As users explore this altered city now reclaimed by nature, they must think about their place in history and ultimately their role in the future. Details here.

anyWare
By Jane Tingley
January 17, 2019, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 106 Ottawa Ave, South River

anyWare is an Internet of Things distributed sculpture comprised of three identical objects that are individually connected to the Internet and physically mirror each other. The anyWare sculptures are art objects that telematically connect different locations in the world and enable distal physical communication. The objects simultaneously respond to people who interact directly with them, as well as allow them to interact with each other through the sculptures. Structuring these interactions are a number of games and puzzles for people to play/solve, either individually or collaboratively. The objects transform in the experience of exploration (either with one person or potentially with many people) and in so doing reveal different levels of interactivity and aesthetic experience.

The Empty Room
By Christine Webster
November 29, 2018 to January 6, 2019
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 106 Ottawa Ave, South River
Pay by donation

The Empty Room explores new musical composition and spatialization methods in virtual 3D spaces. The user moves freely trough a virtual plateau in the middle of a giant hypercube orbiting over the earth. All around and inside the plateau a genuine 64-channel audio spatializer is combined to create an abstract and ever changing organic visual environment. The Empty Room is a real VR experience – not a 360° film.

Interactivity Workshop: Exploring The Touch Board, Electric Paint and Winter Sounds
By Jane Tingley and Darren Copeland
January 18 – 20, 2019
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 106 Ottawa Ave, South River, Canada.
$75 (1 day), $140 (2 days). Register Here.

Special guest artist Jane Tingley and NAISA Artistic Director Darren Copeland will lead a two part workshop on interactive sound art. Learn how to build an interactive electronic sound device using The Touch Board and conductive Electric Paint. Explore sound interactivity with the Touch Board using it to play and modify outdoor winter recordings made during the workshop in the beautiful Almaguin Highlands.

Click Here for full details. Advance Registration Required.

18th annual DEEP WIRELESS Festival of Radio & Transmission Art
www.deepwireless.ca
January 17, 2019 to April 1, 2019
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 106 Ottawa Ave, South River, Canada.

New Adventures in Sound Art is pleased to launch the 18th edition of its Deep Wireless Festival that opens with Art’s Birthday events on January 17 - 20 and continues until April 1, 2019. Deep Wireless is a celebration of Radio and Transmission Art presented by New Adventures in Sound Art that includes performances, special radio broadcasts, artist residencies, and workshops.

For more info, go here:
https://naisa.ca/festivals/deep-wireless/

To purchase advance tickets for ticketed events, go to https://naisa.ca/purchase-tickets/

Art's Birthday
January 17, 2019 to January 20, 2018
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 106 Ottawa Ave, South River, Canada.

Celebrate the 1,000,056th birthday of Art in South River with four days of creative and interactive fun for the entire family. The focus of NAISA's 2019 celebrations is the exhibition of anyWare by Jane Tingley, a distributed media sculpture that encourages group interaction and cooperation. There will also be a broadcast presentation on January 17, artist talk by Jane Tingley on January 18, a three day workshop intensive from January 18 to 20 where you can learn to make your own touch sensitive interactive object, and on January 19, a free South River-wide maker day for the entire family. Happy 1,000,056th birthday, Art!

For more info, click here