Community Soundscapes
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. If you live in the Almaguin Highlands and wish to contribute to Community Soundscapes then please get in touch (naisa at nasia dot ca). Listen to a selection of the recordings by visiting Aporee.org
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. If you live in the Almaguin Highlands and wish to contribute to Community Soundscapes then please get in touch (naisa at nasia dot ca). Listen to a selection of the recordings by visiting Aporee.org
The Sensation of Distribution
By Mitchell Akiyama and Brady Peters
June 15 to September 4, 2023.
Opening Artist talk on June 15 at 1 pm
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.
By Mitchell Akiyama and Brady Peters
June 15 to September 4, 2023.
Opening Artist talk on June 15 at 1 pm
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.
Mitchell Akiyama is a Toronto-based scholar, composer, and artist. His eclectic body of work includes writings about plants, animals, cities, and sound art; scores for film and dance; and objects and installations that trouble received ideas about history, perception, and sensory experience. Akiyama’s output has appeared in commensurately miscellaneous sources such as Leonardo Music Journal, ISEA, Sonar Music Festival (Barcelona), Raster-Noton Records (Berlin), Gendai Gallery (Toronto), and in many other exhibitions, publications, and festivals. He holds a PhD in communications from McGill University, an MFA from Concordia University, and is currently an Assistant Professor of Visual Studies at the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto.
Brady Peters is a Canadian designer and researcher who successfully bridges technology and design. He has significant expertise in the use and development of design technology, in integrative construction, and in digital fabrication. With many years of experience in practice, Peters has successfully collaborated with experts in architecture, engineering, and computer science.
He specializes in architectural acoustics, environmental simulation, computational design, and digital fabrication. He uses computer programming, parametric modelling, and simulation to design performance-driven forms, and is skilled in the communication and fabrication of buildings with complex geometry. He received his PhD in Architecture from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, Denmark, a Professional Master of Architecture from Dalhousie University, a Bachelor of Environmental Design (Distinction) from Dalhousie University, and, Bachelor of Science in Geography (Distinction) from the University of Victoria.
Secret Reception
By Kristine Diekman, Ben Pagac and Tony Allard
June 15 to September 4, 2023. Open 10 am to 4 pm everyday except Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Opening Artist talk on June 15 at 1 pm
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 313 Highway 124, South River, Ontario
Pay by Donation
Secret Reception combines art and bioacoustics to creatively engage the public in questions about sound reception in more-than-human worlds. This sonic art installation offers new paradigms for hearing through the design of haptic objects and tactile interfaces that use vibration to transmit sonic information. Drawing on scientific research that examines how insects detect sound through body parts, we transpose insect hearing to the human listening experience using sonic impulses that emulate the way insects receive them.
By Kristine Diekman, Ben Pagac and Tony Allard
June 15 to September 4, 2023. Open 10 am to 4 pm everyday except Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Opening Artist talk on June 15 at 1 pm
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 313 Highway 124, South River, Ontario
Pay by Donation
Secret Reception combines art and bioacoustics to creatively engage the public in questions about sound reception in more-than-human worlds. This sonic art installation offers new paradigms for hearing through the design of haptic objects and tactile interfaces that use vibration to transmit sonic information. Drawing on scientific research that examines how insects detect sound through body parts, we transpose insect hearing to the human listening experience using sonic impulses that emulate the way insects receive them.
Secret Reception from Kristine Diekman on Vimeo.
Kristine Diekman is a media artist and educator. Her recent media art investigates climate crisis and water scarcity. As an educator, she designs and facilitates community-based workshops using interactive tactile audio interfaces to tell stories. She is Emeritus Professor in the Art, Media & Design Department at California State University.
Ben Pagac is an entomologist by day but also an independent radio producer and sound artist based in Annapolis, MD. His interests include science communication, public health, and the impact of climate change on disease vectors. He is a founding member of the sound collective, Listening Lounge, based in Washington D.C.
The Decomposing Piano
Open Everyday in All Seasons
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 313 Highway 124, South River, Ontario
FREE
The Decomposing Piano is a semi-permanent outdoor installation exploring the effects of the Northern Ontario climate on an upright piano. Lately there has been interest among arts organizations in the phenomena of the Ruined piano. A ruined piano is a piano left outside in a natural environment for an extended period of time (see https://bolleter.wixsite.com/warpsmusic for further insights). This project is starting at the stage where the piano currently is still playable despite some tuning deficiencies, but over time will become more and more difficult to play. However, in the gradual "decomposition" of the piano over time, new sounds will be uncovered with the aid of contact microphones and subtle forms of material born amplification. Through its entire decomposition process, the public is invited to play the piano and experience its transformation over the next year to 2 years.
Open Everyday in All Seasons
NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 313 Highway 124, South River, Ontario
FREE
The Decomposing Piano is a semi-permanent outdoor installation exploring the effects of the Northern Ontario climate on an upright piano. Lately there has been interest among arts organizations in the phenomena of the Ruined piano. A ruined piano is a piano left outside in a natural environment for an extended period of time (see https://bolleter.wixsite.com/warpsmusic for further insights). This project is starting at the stage where the piano currently is still playable despite some tuning deficiencies, but over time will become more and more difficult to play. However, in the gradual "decomposition" of the piano over time, new sounds will be uncovered with the aid of contact microphones and subtle forms of material born amplification. Through its entire decomposition process, the public is invited to play the piano and experience its transformation over the next year to 2 years.
STORY TREES (opus 3)
By Don Hill
Click Here for Online Experience
For laptop or desktop computer with webcam and Chrome browser
STORY TREES is an experimental series of interactive exhibitions of sound art & telepresence. In 2021 NAISA premiered Opus 1 of Story Trees for the Deep Wireless Festival and it featured interviews recorded in the 1970's with elders in Northern Ontario. Opus 3 of Story Trees uses field recordings mixed with ambient analog & synthetic audio sources. Similar to the previous iterations, Opus 3 uses the webcam and Chrome web browser on your computer to modulate and alter the sonic experience. Click Here to read more and to experience the piece.
Recordings & Interactive Design: Don & Anne Hill
Digital Coding Consultation: Kyle Elliot Mathewson
Responsive Architecture Consultation: Jim Ruxton
Produced with Support from the Canada Council for the Arts
By Don Hill
Click Here for Online Experience
For laptop or desktop computer with webcam and Chrome browser
STORY TREES is an experimental series of interactive exhibitions of sound art & telepresence. In 2021 NAISA premiered Opus 1 of Story Trees for the Deep Wireless Festival and it featured interviews recorded in the 1970's with elders in Northern Ontario. Opus 3 of Story Trees uses field recordings mixed with ambient analog & synthetic audio sources. Similar to the previous iterations, Opus 3 uses the webcam and Chrome web browser on your computer to modulate and alter the sonic experience. Click Here to read more and to experience the piece.
Recordings & Interactive Design: Don & Anne Hill
Digital Coding Consultation: Kyle Elliot Mathewson
Responsive Architecture Consultation: Jim Ruxton
Produced with Support from the Canada Council for the Arts