Springscapes

Cedar tree with two lavalier microphones

Springscapes is a series of installations, workshops and live-stream events that highlights the dramatic changes that take place in the natural soundscape from winter to spring. Highlights in 2023 include soundscape workshops, participation in the 10th anniversary of the citizen-led 24-hour broadcast Reveil, which circles the globe with dawn chorus soundscapes from every time zone on Earth, and finally, Community Soundscapes, an immersive sound installation combining local soundscapes of spring from within the region.

“The transformation of the natural soundscape from winter to spring is a distinguished feature of the Almaguin Highlands. NAISA’s Springscapes series is inspired by this dramatic shift. For 2023, NAISA staff invites members of the local community to participate in a community recording project that will provide the content for NAISA’s Community Soundscapes exhibition. The sounds will be updated weekly and played back on NAISA’s multi-channel system, so that we can share the sounds of spring that are special to us.” – Darren Copeland, Artistic Director, New Adventures in Sound Art.

Community Soundscapes Installation

April 6 to June 12, 2023. Open 10 am to 4 pm everyday except Tuesdays and Wednesdays
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 313 Highway 124, South River, Ontario

Pay by Donation

Community Soundscapes surrounds one with the sounds of spring using a multi-channel speaker system and recordings made by residents in the local region. The spring season is a special time of the year in the Almaguin Highlands as the snow melts, the ice breaks up on the lakes and the arrival of insects and birds is loudly announced by the sounds made by peepers. The soundscape of the installation is updated weekly to reflect sounds of the most recent weeks. Selections of the recordings are playable on the Aporee Sound Map

Contribute Spring Soundscapes!

NAISA welcomes residents in the Almaguin Highlands to contribute the spring soundscapes from their homes. NAISA will lend residents a recording bird feeder to make a 12 hour recording of their spring soundscape. Selections from which are used in the Community installation and placed on the Radio Aporee sound map. Please visit NAISA (313 Highway 124 in South River) or phone/email to make arrangements. 

Reveil

12:00 AM May 6 to 1:00 AM May 7
Listen on the Reveil Portal or on NAISA Radio

Reveil is a 24+1 hr radio broadcast that follows sunrise around the earth on Dawn Chorus Day, traveling west on live audio streams sent in by streamers at daybreak from their locations. Reveil brings city yards, remote rural sites, fresh and salt water bodies into communication, creating a collective audit of planetary soundworlds over one earth day.

Soundscape Workshop Intensive

May 5 to 7, 2023
Warbler’s Roost, 3785D Eagle Lake Road, South River and NAISA North Media Arts Centre, South River
$283 (with 2 nights accommodation)
$170 (with no accommodation)

Soundscape Editing Workshop

May 28, 2023, 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 313 Highway 124, South River, Ontario
General $50

Advanced Registration Required.

 

Learn how to analyze, edit and arrange soundscape recordings using recordings from the Community Soundscapes installation. NAISA Artistic Director Darren Copeland will lead the workshop. All levels of Experience welcome. Bring your own laptop or request to borrow one for the workshop.