New Adventures in Sound Art Presents Art's Birthday at the Artscape Wychwood Barns

Artscape Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie St #252, Toronto, ON M6G 4C7

naisa@naisa.ca, Tel 416-652-5115; Fax 416-652-5139

Part of an international celebration of Art

Sunday, January 17: Noon to 5PM in the Covered Street, 601 Christie St., Toronto, ON

Admission is free and for all ages. BYOK - Bring your own Kazoo!

For Immediate Release - Toronto, ON, December 21, 2009: - Craving a Sunday afternoon with lots of cake and fun things to do in Toronto? New Adventures in Sound Art (NAISA) proudly presents Art’s Birthday at the Barns. Sunday, January 17^th is the perfect day to make and enjoy Art on the fabulous Covered Street at the Artscape Wychwood Barns. From Noon to 5pm, there will be hands on art-making, interactive fun, and lots of sounds and things to see. And of course there will be cake! The entire event will be web-cast live by NAISA at www.naisa.ca . Happy 1,000,047th Birthday, Art!

Art’s Birthday is a celebration of ART of all kinds and NAISA has organized a chance for your entire family to experience, create and understand it from the many perspectives offered by artists who live and work at the Barns (with a few from the nearby vicinity). Confirmed events include: Working with Clay (Helen Comay Nursery School); Funky Family Dance Party (Theatre Direct); Hand Clapping Games (with Rebecca Singh); Violin/viola performances by students of Carol Gimbel; Storytelling (Storytelling Toronto); Performances with Radio transmitters and Sound Art Hockey Game on the outdoor rink - weather permitting (NAISA); How to make Jewelry from Recycled materials (Deborah Sanderson); re-mixes by ambient artist Neil Wiernik of sound events occurring throughout the day (NAISA) plus many more events to be announced soon. Also included will be John Coburn as the roving reporter and on-stage host for the day as part of a live web-cast.

NAISA will also be participating in an Art’s Birthday celebration on Saturday, January 16, at Erin Meadows Community Centre in Mississauga presented by the City of Mississauga Culture Division from noon - 5pm. Events include swimming amidst the sounds of a hydraulophone during public swimming; the underground garage sale; making artist trading cards; interactive art installations; live internet broadcasts with Andrew O’Connor and the Youth Troopers for Global Awareness; a puppet jam; artist performances; open mic; Mississauga Children's choir performance and birthday cake!

Art's Birthday was proposed in 1963 by French artist Robert Filliou to celebrate the presence of art in our lives. It has since been celebrated on January 17 as an annual exchange-art event by a collection of artists and artist organizations around the world.

New Adventures in Sound Art (NAISA) is a non-profit organization, based in Toronto that produces performances and installations spanning the entire spectrum of electroacoustic and experimental sound art. Included in its productions are: Deep Wireless, Sound Travels, Arts Birthday and SOUNDplay. 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 will be achieved through the exploration of new sound technologies in conjunction with the creation of cultural events and artifacts.

NAISA

Tel 416 652 5115

www.naisa.ca

New Adventures in Sound Art presents the 8th annual SOUNDplay Festival

October 3 to November 7, 2009
Various venues at the Artscape Wychwood Barns (601 Christie Street) including:
The NAISA Space (#252), Loop Studio Centre for Lively Arts (#170),
As well as the Gladstone Hotel

TORONTO, ON - New Adventures in Sound Art is pleased to launch the 8th edition of the SOUNDplay Festival, October 3 to November 7, 2009. A meeting point for experimentation in sound art and new media encouraging new avenues for exploration, SOUNDplay 2009 features interactive installations, performances, screenings and workshops/artist talks.

In a world where technological advancement is seen as being the way to move forward, sound artists are continually challenged to reevaluate their artistic practice in the light of changing technologies. This year's SOUNDplay uses the theme of ecology as a starting point for exploring new approaches to artistic creation as artists play with the possibilities of sound in relation to other artistic media and sensory experiences. – Darren Copeland, Artistic Director, New Adventures in Sound Art.
NAISA’s will launch SOUNDplay with it’s two Nuit Blanche installations (October 3-4) Sound(e)scape, an immersive experience will surround the participant with the sounds of water, air and natural soundscapes and Tree(ipod)installation by Jane Tingley, which evokes the possibility of developing technologies that are nature-centric rather than human-centric in order to breath life back into the idea of an enchanted forest. The installation invites the viewer to walk through an environment, where the location of the body as it moves through the installation space triggers new auditory experiences for both plant and viewer. Tree(ipod)installation will continue weekends only until October 25th.

The SOUNDplay performances create a cinema for the ear as well as the eye as they combine various new media technologies with sound. Included are a Jean Piché (Montreal) Retrospective on October 8th (1999-2009) of works that have been inspirational to the investigation of videomusic; October 16 and 17 (repeat performance) includes a new work by Nancy Tobin (Montreal) and performances by the Contact Contemporary Music Ensemble which integrates sound and image in a performance context; October 23 and 24 (repeat performance) features pioneering Québec animator Pierre Hébert returning to SOUNDplay in a collaborative performance with BC sound artist Stefan Smulovitz using viola, live digital animation and electroacoustics. Also, on the program is Locavore, a survey of recent short animation works created by Toronto artists and curated by Nick Fox-Gieg, presented in partnership with Pleasure Dome.

From October 22nd to 25th, NAISA presents the installation Les Puits by Quebec artists Marie Côté and Olivier Girouard as part of the Gladstone’s UpArt curated show. Intrinsically silent ceramic bowls surprise the viewer in Les Puits simply by the act of making sound. The installation's poetic resonance carries them through a place and time that wouldn't be possible without the intersection of the bowls on display and the sound projected through them. The wonder is in this intersection, when the viewer identifies the source of the sound and suddenly, the ceramic bowls are singing.

NAISA presents its first Halloween event with Sounds Scary from October 29 to 31. Go on a Halloween sound treasure hunt at the Artscape Wychwood Barns and then learn about the secrets behind how sounds are made in the movies.

The final weekend of SOUNDplay features CONCRETE Toronto, bringing together the international music and sound experiences of Yasuhiro Morinaga from Japan and Toronto's Debashis Sinha for an evening of sound, video and improvisation.


New Adventures in Sound Art is a non-profit organization that produces performances and installations spanning the entire spectrum of electroacoustic and experimental sound art. Included in its Toronto productions are: Deep Wireless, Sound Travels, and SOUNDplay.

SOUNDplay 2009
At various venues at the Artscape Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie Street including:
The NAISA Space (#252), Loop Studio Centre for Lively Arts (#170),
As well as the Gladstone Hotel
October 3 – November 7, 2009
Performance Pass: $35/$30 / Single Tickets $15/$10
Nuit Blanche events free / Installations are Pay What You Can

www.soundplay.ca

Listings

October 3-4, 7pm - 7am, FREE
Sound(e)scape curated by Darren Copeland
The NAISA Space (#252)
Artscape Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie St.

Sound(e)scape is an immersive experience that surrounds the participant with the sounds of water, air, and natural soundscapes from around the world curated by NAISA's Artistic Director Darren Copeland. The works will be spatialized live with NAISA's unique realtime spatialization controller and software by Andrew Stewart, Hector Centeno and Darren Copeland and will include performances of works by the angelusnovus.net collective who will use this occasion to launch a six month residency at the NAISA Space.
October 3-4, 7pm - 7am, FREE (continues to October 25)
Tree(ipod)installation by Jane Tingley
The Loop Studio Centre for Lively Arts (#170)
Artscape Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie St.

Tree(ipod)installation evokes the possibility of developing technologies that are nature-centric rather than human-centric in order to breathe life back into the idea of an enchanted forest. The installation invites the viewer to walk through an environment, where the location of the body as it moves through the installation space triggers new auditory experiences for both plant and viewer.

October 8, 2009 (8 PM) $15/$10
Jean Piché Retrospective (1999-2009)
Videomusic Presentation
@ Loop Studio Centre for Lively Arts, Artscape Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie #170, Toronto
+ October 9, 2009 (7-10 PM) FREE during the James Street North Art Crawl
@ The Factory, Hamilton Media Arts Centre,
126 James Street North, Hamilton, 905-577-9191 / www.hamiltonmediaarts.org

NAISA artistic director Darren Copeland has curated a program of videomusic works by Jean Piché that have been inspirational to the investigation of the videomusic genre by NAISA in its SOUNDplay programming since 2003. The works will be presented in Triple Screen HD in a concert format at the Loop Studio in Toronto and in an installation format with an artist Q&A at The Factory Media Arts Centre during the James Street North Art Crawl in Hamilton. The performance in Toronto will be preceded by Freida Abtan's new large scale videomusic work The Hands of the Dancer.

October 16 and 17, 2009, (8 PM) $15/$10
Sound-Image-Sound co-presented with Contact Contemporary Music
with works by Nancy Tobin, Christopher Fox and Brent Lee
The Loop Studio Centre for Lively Arts (#170)
Artscape Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie St.

The nature of listening, of performance, and of the integration of the visual with the auditory will be the focus of the performances on October 16 and 17 with a Toronto premiere of SUGARscape by Montréal’s Nancy Tobin and performances by Contact Contemporary Music Ensemble of works by Christopher Fox and Brent Lee.

October 23 and 24, 2009, (8 PM) $15/$10
Pierre Hébert & Stefan Smulovitz perform + Locavore co-presented with Pleasure Dome
The Loop Studio Centre for Lively Arts (#170)
Artscape Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie St.

Pioneering Québec animator Pierre Hébert returns with a collaborative performance with BC electroacoustic musician Stefan Smulovitz using viola, live digital animation and electroacoustics. Also, on the program is Locavore, a survey of recent short animation work from Toronto presented in partnership with Pleasure Dome and curated by Nick Fox-Gieg. The performance is preceded by the videomusic work a sudden change in the consistency of snow by Peter V. Swendson.

October 29 to 31, 2009
Sounds Scary
Oct 29 and 30 for schools please contact naisa@naisa.ca for booking
October 31, 2009, 9am - 5pm, for the public, FREE
Various locations at the Artscape Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie St.

Go on a Halloween sound treasure hunt at the Artscape Wychwood Barns and then learn about the secrets behind how sounds are made in the movies.
November 7, 2009, (8 PM) $15/$10
CONCRETE Toronto, a performance by Debashis Sinha & Yosuhiro Morinaga,
co-presented with CONCRETE
The NAISA Space (#252)
Artscape Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie St.

CONCRETE Toronto, presented by New Adventures in Sound Art, will be the first ever collaboration with Yasuhiro Morinaga (Tokyo) and Debashis Sinha (Toronto). Each artist has an extensive practice in sound/radiophonic art. Morinaga and Sinha will draw upon their large archives of field recordings to present a new auditory and visual actualization of musique concrète, filtered through a geographic and artistic experience that is informed by a new global reality of cultural and creative openness. Also included will be videomusic works \harmonium\ by Debashis Sinha and Liquid Amber by Maggie Payne.