New Adventures in Sound Art

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. 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, the Sound Travels Festival of Sound Art, the SOUNDplay festival and Springscapes.

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

My Place Here and Now (Who am I Today?)
By Sandy McLennan
June 3 to Sept 20, 2021 (outdoor exhibition open during daylight hours, indoor exhibition open Thur-Mon 10 am to 4 pm)
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 106 Ottawa Ave, South River

Port Sydney photographer and filmmaker Sandy McLennan has created a new interactive installation from workshops with students from the South River Public School. It can be experienced outside on the porch windows of the NAISA North Media Arts Centre (and inside the gallery when COVID health restrictions permit).

Sounding Bodies
By Jonathan Tyrrell
June 17 to Sept 6, 2021
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 106 Ottawa Ave, South River

Somewhere between an electroacoustic instrument and architecture, Sounding Bodies: Eutopia, is a spatial audio installation that transforms sheet metal panels into inhabitable loudspeakers. Tremoring with sonic vitality, these everyday materials offer polyphonic reflections on the village of South River and surrounding area; fragments of speech taken from interviews with long-time residents and newcomers alike slowly orbit the installation, pondering the poignant cycles of change and the ineffable mystery of place.

The title of the work was inspired by a phrase from one of the interviews: “it’s still a good place”, capturing the ambiguous etymological origins of ‘utopia’, which in addition to meaning ‘non-place’ can also be written with the prefix ‘eu’, meaning ‘good place’.

The Mycorrhizal Rhythm Machine
By Tosca Terán (aka Nanotopia)
July 29 to September 20, 2021, Thursday to Monday, 10am – 4pm
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 106 Ottawa Ave, South River

This interactive sculpture turns a Grow Room into a Fungi and Sprout music generator. Fine electrodes placed within roots of Endo (and some Ecto) mycorrhizal plants, receive bio-data and translate this activity into notes which trigger actuators that strike, strum and rattle creating a symbiotic symphony of sound!

Creating by Eye, Ear, and Your Own Hand
By Sandy McLennan
August 7, 2021, 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 106 Ottawa Ave, South River
General $15, Students FREE, Advance Registration Required

Sandy McLennan and NAISA Artistic Director Darren Copeland will lead a hands-on workshop outdoors on August 7th at the NAISA North Media Arts Centre in South River for people of all ages and abilities to learn how to make pinhole photographs and digital soundscape recordings.

Create an impression from scratch the old/new way: photograph something that grabs you, with a pinhole camera and develop it in the darkroom. Record the sound of an object in the environment that interests you using a handheld digital recorder. Experience excitement and joy, creating by eye, ear and your own hand.