Haptic Voices
Interactive Installation
By David Bobier and Jim Ruxton
June 12 to September 15, 2025. Open 10 am to 4 pm Thursday to Monday.
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 313 Highway 124, South River, Ontario.
Admission by Donation
Haptic Voices is a large scale ten channel vibrotactile wall with the potential for 10 independent streams of sound signals. Visitors are invited to stand against the wall to experience vibrations that are controlled using an iPad.
Five sound compositions, designed explicitly for the vibrotactile experience, were commissioned for the wall. The composers include Toronto-based John Gzowski and Ravi Naimpally, Deaf Irish composer Ailís Ní Ríain and Haptic Voices co-creator Jim Ruxton.
Using vibration as the final output, Haptic Voices is equally accessible to the Deaf, hard of hearing and able-bodied communities to experience the wall.
Video of the June 20 artist talk includes demonstrations of the piece and background on previous VibraFusionLab projects.
Interactive Installation
By David Bobier and Jim Ruxton
June 12 to September 15, 2025. Open 10 am to 4 pm Thursday to Monday.
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 313 Highway 124, South River, Ontario.
Admission by Donation
Haptic Voices is a large scale ten channel vibrotactile wall with the potential for 10 independent streams of sound signals. Visitors are invited to stand against the wall to experience vibrations that are controlled using an iPad.
Five sound compositions, designed explicitly for the vibrotactile experience, were commissioned for the wall. The composers include Toronto-based John Gzowski and Ravi Naimpally, Deaf Irish composer Ailís Ní Ríain and Haptic Voices co-creator Jim Ruxton.
Using vibration as the final output, Haptic Voices is equally accessible to the Deaf, hard of hearing and able-bodied communities to experience the wall.
Video of the June 20 artist talk includes demonstrations of the piece and background on previous VibraFusionLab projects.
Voice of the Water
Interactive Installation
By Eric Powell
Opening July 18 (Thurs-Mon, 10 am to 4 pm)
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 313 Highway 124, South River, Ontario.
Admission by Donation
Voice of the Water is an interactive rotary telephone-based listening station. Using sounds collected from inside the lakes and rivers around South River, Voice of the Water encourages listeners to connect with the local waterways as they explore the boundaries and overlaps between planes of existence. The Artist's goal is to create a venue for contemplation, catharsis, and a deeper engagement with the surrounding environment.
Sound Fishing Invitation
Go on a listening expedition with a staff member from NAISA to record underwater sounds in the vicinity of South River. Equipped with a recorder, hydrophones and other sensitive microphones you will explore the sounds of the world in intimate listening proximity to one of the many water ways within 30 KM of the village of South River.
The sounds you record will be included in Voice of the Water. Participation is FREE and the invitation is ongoing. Call NAISA or Email to make a 2 hour (maximum) appointment to record sounds at a nearby lake, river, stream, or creak. All weather conditions are possible save for thunder and lightning storms. Dress appropriately for the conditions, including bug protection.
Interactive Installation
By Eric Powell
Opening July 18 (Thurs-Mon, 10 am to 4 pm)
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 313 Highway 124, South River, Ontario.
Admission by Donation
Voice of the Water is an interactive rotary telephone-based listening station. Using sounds collected from inside the lakes and rivers around South River, Voice of the Water encourages listeners to connect with the local waterways as they explore the boundaries and overlaps between planes of existence. The Artist's goal is to create a venue for contemplation, catharsis, and a deeper engagement with the surrounding environment.
Sound Fishing Invitation
Go on a listening expedition with a staff member from NAISA to record underwater sounds in the vicinity of South River. Equipped with a recorder, hydrophones and other sensitive microphones you will explore the sounds of the world in intimate listening proximity to one of the many water ways within 30 KM of the village of South River.
The sounds you record will be included in Voice of the Water. Participation is FREE and the invitation is ongoing. Call NAISA or Email to make a 2 hour (maximum) appointment to record sounds at a nearby lake, river, stream, or creak. All weather conditions are possible save for thunder and lightning storms. Dress appropriately for the conditions, including bug protection.
Borderline (Almaguin Highlands): Collective counter mapping through sonic geographies
By Jessica Thompson
Open 10 am to 4 pm Thursday to Monday.
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 313 Highway 124, South River, Ontario
Pay by Donation
Borderline is a critical mapmaking project that uses sound to illuminate social and economic differences in local geographies. Visitors to the NAISA North Media Arts Centre are invited to contribute to a large-scale soundmap of the Almaguin Highlands by borrowing a toolkit to map sounds in one of the villages of their choice, or by using the Borderline mobile app. The sounds collected are added to the map on an ongoing basis.
The Borderline iOS app enables users to automatically map sounds in their environment, put them in dialogue with other forms of data, and generate interactive soundscapes by playing sounds back into the environment. Click here to download
By Jessica Thompson
Open 10 am to 4 pm Thursday to Monday.
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 313 Highway 124, South River, Ontario
Pay by Donation
Borderline is a critical mapmaking project that uses sound to illuminate social and economic differences in local geographies. Visitors to the NAISA North Media Arts Centre are invited to contribute to a large-scale soundmap of the Almaguin Highlands by borrowing a toolkit to map sounds in one of the villages of their choice, or by using the Borderline mobile app. The sounds collected are added to the map on an ongoing basis.
The Borderline iOS app enables users to automatically map sounds in their environment, put them in dialogue with other forms of data, and generate interactive soundscapes by playing sounds back into the environment. Click here to download
The Sensation of Distribution
By Mitchell Akiyama and Brady Peters
Open 24/7 year round.
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 313 Highway 124, South River, Ontario
By Mitchell Akiyama and Brady Peters
Open 24/7 year round.
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 313 Highway 124, South River, Ontario
The Sensation of Distribution is a reprise of Mitchell Akiyama and Brady Peters’s 2019 work, The Distribution of Sensation, which they created while artists in residence at The Bentway, a large, urban public space situated under an elevated highway in downtown Toronto. The Distribution of Sensation was a sound sculpture composed of PVC pipes installed around The Bentway that invited visitors to listen through the natural resonance of the cylinders, creating a series of musical experiences across the site. Mimic the plumbing infrastructure of the site, the installation was meant to create aesthetic slippages that might potentially lead to confusion as to what exactly functioned or counted as art.
The re-installation of this work at NAISA blends the pipe sculptures into a more domestic vernacular. Mounted on NAISA’s exterior walls to impersonate furnace vents and erupting from the ground to suggest rogue plumbing gone awry, The Sensation of Distribution re-invites visitors to explore the unnoticed or imminent sonic and aesthetic potential of our built environment.
The re-installation of this work at NAISA blends the pipe sculptures into a more domestic vernacular. Mounted on NAISA’s exterior walls to impersonate furnace vents and erupting from the ground to suggest rogue plumbing gone awry, The Sensation of Distribution re-invites visitors to explore the unnoticed or imminent sonic and aesthetic potential of our built environment.