Performances
Storytelling Celebration on Art’s Birthday
January 17, 2025, 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 313 Highway 124, South River, Ontario
FREE
On January 17, come for cake and listen to stories told by South River Seniors. Seniors in the local community have been gathering every Wednesday night since September to share stories and memories. These sessions have led to a weekly Podcast and NAISA Radio program South
River Seniors Telling Their Stories. January 17 is also Art’s Birthday, a celebration of Art around the World. To experience other Art's Birthday parties visit the Arts Birthday Mesh.
January 17, 2025, 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 313 Highway 124, South River, Ontario
FREE
On January 17, come for cake and listen to stories told by South River Seniors. Seniors in the local community have been gathering every Wednesday night since September to share stories and memories. These sessions have led to a weekly Podcast and NAISA Radio program South
River Seniors Telling Their Stories. January 17 is also Art’s Birthday, a celebration of Art around the World. To experience other Art's Birthday parties visit the Arts Birthday Mesh.
Tree Frog - Sla-dai-aich
Radio Art Performance for online and in-person audiences
By Ben Donoghue
February 1, 2025, 6 pm (Dinner available at 5:15 pm)
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 313 Highway 124, South River, Ontario. Online audiences register in advance for access.
Tickets $12, Vegan meals available for in-person audiences for additional $8-9
Tree Frog Radio in the Northern Gulf Islands is an unique underground FM radio initiative in British Columbia that uses trees as antenna masts for localized radio broadcasts - expanding the community's boundaries of the possible. In this work interviews and field recordings about Tree Frog Radio collide through loopers and feedback systems in order to blur the space between audio documentary, drone and noise.
Online listeners will enjoy a special video feed of the performance while in-person audiences will hear a localized FM broadcast over dinner. Both audiences will join together in a discussion about the powers of radio to strengthen community ties.
Radio Art Performance for online and in-person audiences
By Ben Donoghue
February 1, 2025, 6 pm (Dinner available at 5:15 pm)
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 313 Highway 124, South River, Ontario. Online audiences register in advance for access.
Tickets $12, Vegan meals available for in-person audiences for additional $8-9
Tree Frog Radio in the Northern Gulf Islands is an unique underground FM radio initiative in British Columbia that uses trees as antenna masts for localized radio broadcasts - expanding the community's boundaries of the possible. In this work interviews and field recordings about Tree Frog Radio collide through loopers and feedback systems in order to blur the space between audio documentary, drone and noise.
Online listeners will enjoy a special video feed of the performance while in-person audiences will hear a localized FM broadcast over dinner. Both audiences will join together in a discussion about the powers of radio to strengthen community ties.
Ice Sounds for Ice Follies
Ice Follies Listening Party
February 15 and 16, 2025, 7 pm
Olmstead Beach, Trout Lake, North Bay
FREE
The Near North Mobile Media Lab in North Bay is partnering with New Adventures in Sound Art (NAISA) in the presentation of five audio pieces by Shaughn Martel, Lina Choi, Genevieve Kiessling, Kyle Vanderlaan and Stephanie Dupuis on the theme Ozhaashikwaa (The Ice is Slippery). The pieces will use ice sounds recorded on Lake Nipissing and Trout Lake and will be played at two special listening parties during the outdoor Ice Follies Festival.
Ice Follies Listening Party
February 15 and 16, 2025, 7 pm
Olmstead Beach, Trout Lake, North Bay
FREE
The Near North Mobile Media Lab in North Bay is partnering with New Adventures in Sound Art (NAISA) in the presentation of five audio pieces by Shaughn Martel, Lina Choi, Genevieve Kiessling, Kyle Vanderlaan and Stephanie Dupuis on the theme Ozhaashikwaa (The Ice is Slippery). The pieces will use ice sounds recorded on Lake Nipissing and Trout Lake and will be played at two special listening parties during the outdoor Ice Follies Festival.
Using Tree Data for Media Creation
Online Workshop
By Jane Tingley
March 8, 2025, 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
Online Event. Advance Registration Required
Tickets $25
Jane Tingley will introduce the IoT prototyping platform shiftr for connecting sensor data to the Max programming environment. She will teach participants how to think about distributed systems, and how to use shiftr as a server that interconnects these systems.
This workshop will use the same sensor data stream used by Foresta Inclusive: (ex)tending towards, which was collected from the rare Charitable Research Reserve in Cambridge, ON in the summer of 2022.
Tingley will lead participants in the process of importing this data stream into Max, in order to create their own sound and media creations.
Online Workshop
By Jane Tingley
March 8, 2025, 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
Online Event. Advance Registration Required
Tickets $25
Jane Tingley will introduce the IoT prototyping platform shiftr for connecting sensor data to the Max programming environment. She will teach participants how to think about distributed systems, and how to use shiftr as a server that interconnects these systems.
This workshop will use the same sensor data stream used by Foresta Inclusive: (ex)tending towards, which was collected from the rare Charitable Research Reserve in Cambridge, ON in the summer of 2022.
Tingley will lead participants in the process of importing this data stream into Max, in order to create their own sound and media creations.
Installations
Foresta Inclusive: (ex)tending towards
made in collaboration with Hrysovalanti Maheras, Faadhi Fauzi and Ilze Briede (Kavi)
By Jane Tingley
January 9 to March 31, 2025. Open 10 am to 4 pm Thursday to Monday.
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 313 Highway 124, South River, Ontario.
Pay by Donation
The interactive artwork Foresta Inclusive: (ex)tending towards explores the complexity of the natural world, as it plays out beyond limited human sensory perception. The work uses data collected during the summer of 2022 from a tree at the rare Charitable Reserve in Cambridge ON, as a driver for nearly all aspects of the visual, acoustic and olfactory elements in the work. The work is an interactive and sensorially rich environment that can be experienced in a parallel winter-time synchronicity at the NAISA Gallery and Café.
This is a two part distributed project: Foresta Inclusive - the sculptural sensor pods installed in a forest that transmitted forest data to the Internet of Things (IoT) prototyping platform Shiftr, and (ex)tending towards - the multi-sensory interactive installation created from this data stream. The in-gallery installation visualizes the more-than-human experience of the tree in real time and expresses this complexity through a combination of light, sound, and scent.
(ex)tending towards gives form to human/forest alliances, and is driven by the following questions: What does it mean to be alive and have agency?, How can we re-train ourselves to slow down and listen to voices that have been marginalized for millennia?, and What sort of perceptual and mental shifts must occur in order to recognize and value the liveliness and precious vibrancy of individuals that do not share the same language nor temporal reality?
This work explores ways to slow down human engagement, and also makes visible the daily experience of a tree. Inspired by tree rings as evidence of yearly growth, the visualization uses the same logic to image the last 24hrs of the tree’s life, where the outer ring shows contemporary values and each subsequent smaller ring the values from the previous hour. The interface for the visualization is a one-meter-tall cork cylinder that is also a scent sculpture that releases the scent of geosmin (the smell of a forest after it rains) every time it rains in real-time. To interact with the visualization, the participant can hold their hand 3” above the interface and slowly move it forward, enabling them to explore the 3D space. Additionally, there is a point cloud visualization of the tree that was sensed during the summer of 2022. This visualization was created from a LIDAR scan done by the Modelling and Spatial Analysis Lab at the University of Waterloo using a very large drone. This point cloud representation also contains the sensors on its trunk and is affected in real time by the recorded data. To tie all of the elements together, earth has been imported into the gallery – holding the original sensor pods as well as the cylindrical interface. In its entirety this installation creates an embodied and exploratory space where the deep time of a tree’s life is remembered, and the human body is slowed down in the engagement.
The sound component of the work was created specifically for this exhibition. It too is generated from the data, but instead of using recordings of the forest soundscape at rare, synthesized sounds analogous to the sounds that would have been heard, are used. This work is the first in a series exploring ways of using technology as a tool to place human and non-human into a dialogical relationship, where both voices are equal despite perceived differences (temporal reality, im/mobility, non/verbal).
Production Credits:
Hrysovlanti Maheras: Max 8 and collaborative sound design
Faadhi Fauzi: Three.js programming
Ilze (Kavi) Briede: 3D modelling and Touch Designer programming
Marius Kintel: Firmware support
An Vu: Pod hardware duplication
Grace Grothaus: Photogrammetry
Thank you:
rare Charitable Reserve, Cambridge, Ontario for site hosting of Foresta Inclusive
Dr Derek Robinson, Modelling and Spatial Analysis Lab, University of Waterloo, ON. CA for Drone and Lidar scanning
Financial Support:
York University
Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada
Environments of Change Partnership Grant, Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada. University of Waterloo. ON. CA
made in collaboration with Hrysovalanti Maheras, Faadhi Fauzi and Ilze Briede (Kavi)
By Jane Tingley
January 9 to March 31, 2025. Open 10 am to 4 pm Thursday to Monday.
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 313 Highway 124, South River, Ontario.
Pay by Donation
Click Here to Listen and Interact
The interactive artwork Foresta Inclusive: (ex)tending towards explores the complexity of the natural world, as it plays out beyond limited human sensory perception. The work uses data collected during the summer of 2022 from a tree at the rare Charitable Reserve in Cambridge ON, as a driver for nearly all aspects of the visual, acoustic and olfactory elements in the work. The work is an interactive and sensorially rich environment that can be experienced in a parallel winter-time synchronicity at the NAISA Gallery and Café.
This is a two part distributed project: Foresta Inclusive - the sculptural sensor pods installed in a forest that transmitted forest data to the Internet of Things (IoT) prototyping platform Shiftr, and (ex)tending towards - the multi-sensory interactive installation created from this data stream. The in-gallery installation visualizes the more-than-human experience of the tree in real time and expresses this complexity through a combination of light, sound, and scent.
(ex)tending towards gives form to human/forest alliances, and is driven by the following questions: What does it mean to be alive and have agency?, How can we re-train ourselves to slow down and listen to voices that have been marginalized for millennia?, and What sort of perceptual and mental shifts must occur in order to recognize and value the liveliness and precious vibrancy of individuals that do not share the same language nor temporal reality?
This work explores ways to slow down human engagement, and also makes visible the daily experience of a tree. Inspired by tree rings as evidence of yearly growth, the visualization uses the same logic to image the last 24hrs of the tree’s life, where the outer ring shows contemporary values and each subsequent smaller ring the values from the previous hour. The interface for the visualization is a one-meter-tall cork cylinder that is also a scent sculpture that releases the scent of geosmin (the smell of a forest after it rains) every time it rains in real-time. To interact with the visualization, the participant can hold their hand 3” above the interface and slowly move it forward, enabling them to explore the 3D space. Additionally, there is a point cloud visualization of the tree that was sensed during the summer of 2022. This visualization was created from a LIDAR scan done by the Modelling and Spatial Analysis Lab at the University of Waterloo using a very large drone. This point cloud representation also contains the sensors on its trunk and is affected in real time by the recorded data. To tie all of the elements together, earth has been imported into the gallery – holding the original sensor pods as well as the cylindrical interface. In its entirety this installation creates an embodied and exploratory space where the deep time of a tree’s life is remembered, and the human body is slowed down in the engagement.
The sound component of the work was created specifically for this exhibition. It too is generated from the data, but instead of using recordings of the forest soundscape at rare, synthesized sounds analogous to the sounds that would have been heard, are used. This work is the first in a series exploring ways of using technology as a tool to place human and non-human into a dialogical relationship, where both voices are equal despite perceived differences (temporal reality, im/mobility, non/verbal).
Production Credits:
Hrysovlanti Maheras: Max 8 and collaborative sound design
Faadhi Fauzi: Three.js programming
Ilze (Kavi) Briede: 3D modelling and Touch Designer programming
Marius Kintel: Firmware support
An Vu: Pod hardware duplication
Grace Grothaus: Photogrammetry
Thank you:
rare Charitable Reserve, Cambridge, Ontario for site hosting of Foresta Inclusive
Dr Derek Robinson, Modelling and Spatial Analysis Lab, University of Waterloo, ON. CA for Drone and Lidar scanning
Financial Support:
York University
Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada
Environments of Change Partnership Grant, Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada. University of Waterloo. ON. CA
Deep Wireless Listening Room
January 9 to March 31, 2025. Open 10 am to 4 pm Thursday to Monday.
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 313 Highway 124, South River, Ontario
Admission by Donation
Enjoy radio art and sound art works in a comfortable high quality listening environment. This curated listening experience is comprised of works from the Deep Wireless 19 Radio Art Compilation on the theme "There is Art in Our Nature." Visit the radio page for details on the works.
January 9 to March 31, 2025. Open 10 am to 4 pm Thursday to Monday.
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 313 Highway 124, South River, Ontario
Admission by Donation
Enjoy radio art and sound art works in a comfortable high quality listening environment. This curated listening experience is comprised of works from the Deep Wireless 19 Radio Art Compilation on the theme "There is Art in Our Nature." Visit the radio page for details on the works.
Local Stories on Radio Café
January 9 to March 31, 2025. Open 10 am to 4 pm Thursday to Monday.
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 313 Highway 124, South River, Ontario
Admission by Donation
Grab a radio in the Café at NAISA and tune in to a curated selection of stories told by Seniors in the South River community. Learn about the experiences of people and families over the past decades. Visit the web page South River Seniors Telling Stories in order to listen to stories on demand.
January 9 to March 31, 2025. Open 10 am to 4 pm Thursday to Monday.
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 313 Highway 124, South River, Ontario
Admission by Donation
Grab a radio in the Café at NAISA and tune in to a curated selection of stories told by Seniors in the South River community. Learn about the experiences of people and families over the past decades. Visit the web page South River Seniors Telling Stories in order to listen to stories on demand.
Broadcasts
Deep Wireless 19 Compilation Album
Launching February 1, 2024
Check out the media archive for this album and more.
FREE
The 19th edition of the Deep Wireless Compilation includes works that examine the relationship of people and the natural world. Unheard and unexpected encounters with nature are brought to life in radio art and sound art works by Canadian and international artists.
Launching February 1, 2024
Check out the media archive for this album and more.
FREE
The 19th edition of the Deep Wireless Compilation includes works that examine the relationship of people and the natural world. Unheard and unexpected encounters with nature are brought to life in radio art and sound art works by Canadian and international artists.
Program:
I. Meta-Frequency Field Recording: Salt Lake City // Ensign Peak by Matthew Driggs McMurray
Ensign Peak is a prominent lookout point near downtown Salt Lake City. Per historical accounts, early settlers used this hill to survey the valley, perform religious services and receive divine messages. Matthew Driggs McMurray hiked to Ensign Peak to record whatever signals and messages were present on the same hilltop site. There are three layers to the ‘Meta-Frequency’ recording capture that he made:
Layer I: The Natural (ORTF stereo)
Layer II: The Physical (Weather radio)
Layer III: The Electromagnetic (EMF scanner)
The EMF antenna scans included 1) the open environment, 2) the electromagnetic fields created by the recording equipment itself, and 3) the artist's own body (acting as a conduit for radio signals).
Ensign Peak is a prominent lookout point near downtown Salt Lake City. Per historical accounts, early settlers used this hill to survey the valley, perform religious services and receive divine messages. Matthew Driggs McMurray hiked to Ensign Peak to record whatever signals and messages were present on the same hilltop site. There are three layers to the ‘Meta-Frequency’ recording capture that he made:
Layer I: The Natural (ORTF stereo)
Layer II: The Physical (Weather radio)
Layer III: The Electromagnetic (EMF scanner)
The EMF antenna scans included 1) the open environment, 2) the electromagnetic fields created by the recording equipment itself, and 3) the artist's own body (acting as a conduit for radio signals).
II. Waiting Games And Widespread Smoke (feat. Narcy) by Andra McCartney
This piece is based on a train trip from Toronto to Vancouver that Andra McCarthy took in August 2018. In the piece she reflects on the journey, and the widespread smoke and freight delays that structured it. The way that she worked with the sounds was inspired by a quote from Dylan Robinson's curatorial score Soundings (Kingston ON 2018) "the sub-frequency of colonial labour resonates your body". Vocals are by Andra McCartney and Narcy (the Narcicyst). This piece premiered by New Adventures in Sound Art, South River, ON, in multi-channel form realized by Darren Copeland.
This piece is based on a train trip from Toronto to Vancouver that Andra McCarthy took in August 2018. In the piece she reflects on the journey, and the widespread smoke and freight delays that structured it. The way that she worked with the sounds was inspired by a quote from Dylan Robinson's curatorial score Soundings (Kingston ON 2018) "the sub-frequency of colonial labour resonates your body". Vocals are by Andra McCartney and Narcy (the Narcicyst). This piece premiered by New Adventures in Sound Art, South River, ON, in multi-channel form realized by Darren Copeland.
III. Non-predictable by Omar Reyna
“Non-predictable” is an exploration of the sounds of turbulence in nature. Do the sounds of wind hitting trees or the tonal colours of moving water have emotions that fluctuate over time? This piece is arranged in three sections that are approximately 15 minutes each.
“Non-predictable” is an exploration of the sounds of turbulence in nature. Do the sounds of wind hitting trees or the tonal colours of moving water have emotions that fluctuate over time? This piece is arranged in three sections that are approximately 15 minutes each.
IV. Pigeon Band by Emmie Tsumura
The multi-species Pigeon Band project began with the question: “Do pigeons like music?” Two toy synth keyboards were installed on my kitchen window sill, awaiting the daily pigeon visitors. Over several months of practice, the pigeons learned to play the keyboard as they snacked on sunflower seeds. Though each pigeon can be hard to tell apart visually, they each have their own personalities and movements. With those differences they each play a different song.
The Pigeon Band benefited from the collaboration of many artists and friends: Blunderspublik, D Badua, Julia Fenn, Charlie Glasspool, Sarah DeCarlo, Polly-Jean Vernon, Veronica Ing, The Burning Hell, Jas Nasty, Chris International, Babe Chorus, Anomalia and Charlie Petch.
The album debuted at the 27th Annual Reel Asian International Film Festival in November 2023. Produced by Emmie Tsumura. Mastered by Julia Fenn.
The multi-species Pigeon Band project began with the question: “Do pigeons like music?” Two toy synth keyboards were installed on my kitchen window sill, awaiting the daily pigeon visitors. Over several months of practice, the pigeons learned to play the keyboard as they snacked on sunflower seeds. Though each pigeon can be hard to tell apart visually, they each have their own personalities and movements. With those differences they each play a different song.
The Pigeon Band benefited from the collaboration of many artists and friends: Blunderspublik, D Badua, Julia Fenn, Charlie Glasspool, Sarah DeCarlo, Polly-Jean Vernon, Veronica Ing, The Burning Hell, Jas Nasty, Chris International, Babe Chorus, Anomalia and Charlie Petch.
The album debuted at the 27th Annual Reel Asian International Film Festival in November 2023. Produced by Emmie Tsumura. Mastered by Julia Fenn.
V. Black Poplar 86.3 MHz by Dann Disciglio
This recording of the inner vibrations of a black poplar tree (45°22'53.6"N 92°42'17.6"W) is taken from a series of land artworks in which sounds detected within the bodies of living trees are broadcast into their surrounding environments in real time. These sounds are detected by attaching industrial grade accelerometers to various sections of the tree, e.g., the trunk, branches, roots and are transmitted over FM and UHF frequency ranges. They are accessible in their environments via a radio receiver.
This recording of the inner vibrations of a black poplar tree (45°22'53.6"N 92°42'17.6"W) is taken from a series of land artworks in which sounds detected within the bodies of living trees are broadcast into their surrounding environments in real time. These sounds are detected by attaching industrial grade accelerometers to various sections of the tree, e.g., the trunk, branches, roots and are transmitted over FM and UHF frequency ranges. They are accessible in their environments via a radio receiver.
VI. Zand by Marieke Van de ven
ZAND is artistic research with sand grains as material, concept and sound. Viewed from different perspectives, the sand grains become a place to explore and wander. A composition of subtle grains to colossal layers of sound and back again. A movement, a duration, a route.
As a composer and sound artist, Marieke Van de ven likes to zoom in on environmental sounds. Starting with the sound of sand was a sonic adventure where texture and associations with the material were guiding the process. In search of the meaning of the ordinary under our feet and always returning to the origin of the material.
ZAND is artistic research with sand grains as material, concept and sound. Viewed from different perspectives, the sand grains become a place to explore and wander. A composition of subtle grains to colossal layers of sound and back again. A movement, a duration, a route.
As a composer and sound artist, Marieke Van de ven likes to zoom in on environmental sounds. Starting with the sound of sand was a sonic adventure where texture and associations with the material were guiding the process. In search of the meaning of the ordinary under our feet and always returning to the origin of the material.
Ice Follies 2025 Album
Check out the media archive for this album and more.
FREE
The Near North Mobile Media Lab in North Bay has partnered with New Adventures in Sound Art (NAISA) in the presentation of five audio pieces using ice sounds by Canadian artists Shaughn Martel, Lina Choi, Genevieve Kiessling, Kyle Vanderlaan and Stephanie Dupuis.
Check out the media archive for this album and more.
FREE
The Near North Mobile Media Lab in North Bay has partnered with New Adventures in Sound Art (NAISA) in the presentation of five audio pieces using ice sounds by Canadian artists Shaughn Martel, Lina Choi, Genevieve Kiessling, Kyle Vanderlaan and Stephanie Dupuis.
Workshops
Using Tree Data for Media Creation
Online Workshop
By Jane Tingley
March 8, 2025, 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
Online Event. Advance Registration Required
Tickets $25
Jane Tingley will introduce the IoT prototyping platform shiftr for connecting sensor data to the Max programming environment. She will teach participants how to think about distributed systems, and how to use shiftr as a server that interconnects these systems.
This workshop will use the same sensor data stream used by Foresta Inclusive: (ex)tending towards, which was collected from the rare Charitable Research Reserve in Cambridge, ON in the summer of 2022.
Tingley will lead participants in the process of importing this data stream into Max, in order to create their own sound and media creations.
Online Workshop
By Jane Tingley
March 8, 2025, 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
Online Event. Advance Registration Required
Tickets $25
Jane Tingley will introduce the IoT prototyping platform shiftr for connecting sensor data to the Max programming environment. She will teach participants how to think about distributed systems, and how to use shiftr as a server that interconnects these systems.
This workshop will use the same sensor data stream used by Foresta Inclusive: (ex)tending towards, which was collected from the rare Charitable Research Reserve in Cambridge, ON in the summer of 2022.
Tingley will lead participants in the process of importing this data stream into Max, in order to create their own sound and media creations.
Talks
Artist Talk
By Jane Tingley and Hrysovalanti Maheras
January 9, 2025, 7:00 pm
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 313 Highway 124, South River, Ontario
Admission by Donation
By Jane Tingley and Hrysovalanti Maheras
January 9, 2025, 7:00 pm
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 313 Highway 124, South River, Ontario
Admission by Donation
Meet the artists Jane Tingley and Hrysovalanti Maheras at the opening launch for Foresta Inclusive: (ex)tending towards. Learn how this new interactive exhibit translates data from trees into images, sounds and smells.