News & Events
May 10 2023
Dispersionology and Other Tales
Time: 2-3:30pm EDT / 11am-12:30pm PDT / 8-9:30pm CEST
About:
In the world of physics, dispersion describes a phenomenon in which the rate of propagation of a wave in a medium, its phase velocity, is dependent on its frequency. This can be seen in light, sound, gravity waves, etc. Its a property of telecommunications signals, including the pulses of light in optical fibre cables, describing how the signal broadens and spreads out as it moves across the channel. Dispersion therefore is inherent in the medium that more-and-more binds us these days, in the movements of light pulses that transports our attention, and our listening, around the globe. A beautiful consequence of dispersion is a change in the angle of refraction of different frequencies, leading to a prismatic opening up of a full colour spectrum from incoming light. This ability to broaden out as signals propagate through the network reflects a much wider expansion of distributed listening and sounding that is made possible in the context of telematic musicking. It occurred to me recently that, as of early 2023 I’ve engaged this medium now for 20 years, with an ear towards exploring the myriad ways that the shared real/virtual and nowhere/everywhere site of performance can act as both a point of convergence towards a singular locus of performative attention — yet also a dispersive prism, reflecting individual voices and the preservation of creative agencies of every performer.
I call this current exploration of this phenomenom, at this current milestone moment, “Dispersionology”…. I’ve invited a wide array of past telematic collaborators (spanning this entire 20 years) to explore this and other related tales with me on May 10th. I hope you can join us!
-Doug Van Nort
In addition to this new piece, we’ll have a new compositional offering from UiO in Oslo that involves multiple sites, as well as an “Other Tales” comprovisation piece that plays with algorithmic-chance pairings across all sites, featuring dual conductors.
Donations Requests: EveryCat Health Foundation (Formerly Winn Feline Foundation) –>https://everycat.org/
In honor of our collaborator Casper, and in honor of Tora-San.
Program:
Other Tales: Algorithmic-chance-structured improvisation featuring double-conductors
Chance-Based Conducting Structure: Doug Van Nort
Performers: All Sites
Dispersionology
Composer: Doug Van Nort
Performers: All Sites
Opening
Composer: Co-Created by UiO Students
Performers: UiO site
Performers:
Dispersed/Various Locations:
Chris Anderson-Lundy, Saxophone, Toronto, ON
Tom Bickley, EWI + Max processing, Berkeley, CA
Anne Bourne, cello, Toronto, ON
Cássia Carrascoza Bomfim, flute, Brazil
Chris Chafe, celletto, CCRMA/Palo Alto, CA
Viv Corringham, voice, electronics, New York, NY
Bjorn Eriksson, analog electronics (feedback boxes), Solleftjea, Sweden
Colin James Gibson, guitar, Toronto, ON
Bill Gilliam, piano + electronics, Toronto, ON
Scot Gresham-Lancaster, electronics, Maine
Theodore Haber, violin, Montreal, QC
Glen Hall, Soprano saxophone, contrabass clarinet, Brampton, ON
Holland Hopson, banjo, Tuscaloosa, AL
Rory Hoy, bass + electronics, Brampton, ON
Kai Kubota-Enright, piano (+/- preparation), electronics, Montreal, QC
Al Margolis, violin/contact mic(s)/objects, Chester, NY
Scott L. Miller, Kyma, Minneapolis, MN
Emma Pope, piano, Montreal, QC
Ambrose Pottie, percussion and electronics, Castleton, ON
Dana Reason, piano/inside piano, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon
Omar Shabbar, guitar + electronics, Toronto, ON
Kathy Kennedy, voice + electronics, Montreal, QC
Doug Van Nort, soundpainting, greis/electronics, voice, Toronto, ON
Sarah Weaver, conducting, New York, NY
Zovi, Theremin, Albany, NY
Bogotá (Universidad de Los Andes):
Ricardo Arias, balloons
Leonel Vásquez
(featuring U de Los Andes students)
Chicago (School of the Art Institute of Chicago):
Eric Leonardson, springboard + electronics
Garrett Johnson, electronics
Gordon Fung, electronics
Oslo (Universitetet i Oslo):
Krisin Norderval, voice
Fabian Stordalen, Bass guitar, Guitar, No-input mixing
Kristian Eicke, Guitar (percussive) on lap
Nino Jakeli, Vocals, Guitar, Keyboard
Aysima Baba, Accordion
Alexander Wastnidge, Guitars, Live Electronics
Emin Memis, Ney Flute, Drums
Streaming will be on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iqycm1G2M5A
Also Broadcasting from Chicago on Free Radio SAIC
In-person audience at Universitetet i Oslo (IMV Salen)
April 2023
DisPerSion Lab Presents!: Online Electroacoustic Listening Session
The DisPerSion Lab cordially invites you to partake in an online electroacoustic listening session!
In this browser-based listening session, you will listen to 3 new musical compositions. In support of our ongoing research into listening and reception of electroacoustic music, we’d love to hear your feedback on the experience – and so you will be asked to fill out an online form that reflects on your experience of listening to the pieces.
Beyond the feedback, these are also new musical works by lab member and composer Xi Lu, and we are happy to share them with you!
The entire session, including the pieces and your typed feedback, will last for approximately 15-25 minutes.
No musical or compositional background is required or expected in order to provide valuable feedback to us. In order to take part, participants should be comfortable with a full dynamic range of volumes that would be typical in a concert setting, typing on a keyboard, and reading text on a computer.
You can find the online study at the following URL: https://ealistening.b4a.app/
We look forward to sharing this work with you and hearing your valuable listening insights!
March 2023
DisPerSion Lab Presents!: Electroacoustic Concert Listening Sessions
The DisPerSion Lab cordially invites you to join us for a series of electroacoustic concert listening sessions!
As part of the project Gesture, Intentionality and Temporality in Machine-Mediated Performance, we are currently exploring the diverse nature of audience listening practices.
In these sessions, we’ll listen to 3-4 new musical compositions. In support of our ongoing research into listening and reception of electroacoustic music, we’d love to hear your feedback on the experience – and so audience will be asked to fill out an online form that reflects on their experience of listening to the pieces.
Beyond the feedback, these are also new musical works by lab member and composer Xi Lu, and we are happy to share them with you!
The entire concert session, including the pieces and your typed feedback, will last for approximately 30 minutes. It will take place in the DisPerSion Lab, located in the Goldfarb Centre for Fine Arts on York University’s campus.
No musical or compositional background is required or expected in order to provide valuable feedback to us. In order to take part, participants should be comfortable with a full dynamic range of volumes that would be typical in a concert setting, typing on a keyboard, and reading text on a computer.
If you are interested in taking part in the sessions, please fill out following form to select available times:
https://forms.gle/JdG5KmgqQod1mVNZ7
This is needed both to schedule a time that the most people can attend, and because space is limited for these concert sessions.
We look forward to sharing this work with you and hearing your valuable listening insights!
March 2023
DisPerSion Lab Presents!: Deeply Listening Machines Workshops
As part of the ongoing Deeply Listening Machines project, the DisPerSion Lab cordially invites you to join us for a series of online workshops that explore the intersection of Sonic Meditations and collaborative human/machine improvised play!
The group will engage in vocal listening/sounding within this shared virtual environment, and participants will be asked for their feedback and insights at the end of the session. These workshop sessions will last for roughly 1 hour.
We’ll run workshops on multiple dates – which we will fill on a “first come first served” basis over the next couple of weeks (due to virtual ‘space’ limitations). People are welcome to sign up for multiple sessions based on availability, and we will try our best to accommodate you.
No vocal or computational training is expected or required! Other Technical needs are fairly minimal – headphones, mic, and a stable (wired) internet connection. Experience with Jacktrip, the free program which we will use for connecting audio, is beneficial but not required. Some assistance with Jacktrip setup can be provided for those that would like it.
For those interested, please fill out your availability here
…and you’ll hear from us soon.
March 2023
As part of the ongoing post-digital-instruments project, the DisPerSion Lab cordially invites instrumental performers to take part in a series of experiments on Player-Instrument-System Interaction and Perception!
We are looking for a small number of participants to take part in a session of musical improvisation within a changing sonic environment. Players should have at least five years of professional experience in improvised performance, on an any acoustic instrument.
In addition to our delight in exploring this new creative context for performance with you all, we hope to assess performers’ experience during the session. Chosen participants will thus be asked to take part in one session of 45-60 minutes, that will include performance followed by a brief interview/questionnaire.
The study will be conducted in the DisPerSion Lab at York University, where participants will be asked to improvise while interacting with a sonic environment.
We are looking to conduct the study in the next 2-3 weeks.
If you are interested, please fill out the following google form to provide contact info and to indicate your availability. https://forms.gle/K3SCPtXw6KNLoom3A
If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact us for further details.
Looking forward to hearing you!
December 21 2022
thee Doug Van Nort Electro-Acoustic Orchestra: ‘live’ for the winter solstice 2022
Tom Bickley: EWI + synthesis
Viv Corringham: voice+electronics
Bjorn Eriksson: analog electronics
Rory Hoy: bass+electronics
Kieran Maraj: digital electronics
Doug Van Nort: composition/gestures
December 2022
Accolade West First Floor Atrium (directly in front of the currently-non-working waterfall)
A piece exploring improvisational conversation with a text-based agent, spoken word and gesture-based machine learning mappings, translating language into midi-based musical sequences
A guitar-centred interactive system which extracts audio features and maps this into an integrated synthesis/guitar hybrid that reacts to, loops and builds upon melodic materials
A performance exploring the possibilities of complex tablet-based gestures shaping simple FM synthesis, with visual expression of spectro-temporal evolutions of sound.
A piece which explores the intersection of gestural control, glitchy pulses, deep bass and sequenced, lo-fi ambient layers.
Van Nort – conducting
Alexandro Di Nunzio – Procedural Lights
November 2022
October 5th, 2022
12:45 pm
The Doug Van Nort Electro-Acoustic Orchestra presents a keynote performance for the exhibition/symposium Sensoria: The Arts and Science of Our Senses curated by Nina Czegledy and Joel Ong, with partnering organizations Sensorium: Centre for Digital Art and Technology at the School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design at York University, and the LAZNIA Centre for Contemporary Arts in Gdansk, Poland.
There are are two distinct realities for this performance: in the lab, and in virtual streaming space, which will be presented at the Gdansk site and can be viewed by anyone online.
Link for stream:
***This performance will be held live at the DisPerSions Lab and audience will be invited in to capacity, following which they will be directed to an ‘overflow’ room on the same floor. A streaming link will be available for remote participation as well. Masks are mandatory for in-person attendance at the DisPerSions Lab. We will also request that you remove your shoes when stepping up onto the haptic floor.
**** This performance features a short section of intense flashing light and sound
Performers:
DVN-EAO: Tom Bickley, Bjorn Ericksson, Rory Hoy, Kathy Kennedy, Kieran Maraj, Omar Shabbar, Danny Sheahan, Doug Van Nort
(regrets for this show: Viv Corringham)
Performers for this show are dispersed between the Dispersion Lab in Toronto, and locations in Montreal, Mississauga, San Francisco and Sweden.
Dispersion Lab site, overture/underture – lighting and haptics: Doug Van Nort
Dispersion Lab site, in-performance lighting: Kieran Maraj
Virtual Space stream staging and visuals: Rory Hoy
Networking, audio, tech: Rory Hoy, Omar Shabbar, Kieran Maraj
About:
The Electro-Acoustic Orchestra (dir. Doug Van Nort) is an ensemble comprised of a mixture of acoustic and electronic performers. It is an emergent sonic organism that evolves through collective attention to all facets of sound, and soundpainting-based real-time composition. The conducting language used with the group is based on Soundpainting, with modifications and additions by Van Nort for the electro-acoustic context. In the words of the language’s inventor, Walter Thompson: “The Soundpainter (the composer) standing in front (usually) of the group communicates a series of signs using hand and body gestures indicating specific and/or aleatoric material to be performed by the group. The Soundpainter develops the responses of the performers, molding and shaping them into the composition then signs another series of gestures, a phrase, and continues in this process of composing the piece.”
May 13th, 2022
7-9pm
Elka Bong/ Doug Van Nort Electro-Acoustic Orchestra
The Dispersion Lab is pleased to present the inimitable improvising duo Elka Bong for a performance as part of their Spring miniTour!
Also performing will be the DVN-EAO, with a new configuration: first a series of trio improvisations, followed by real-time composition with the full ensemble (that is, EAI followed by EAO).
The performance will happen both in the lab and across geographically dispersed sites (Toronto/Berkeley/NYC/Sweden).
YouTube link is available here: https://youtu.be/eT_12UQDfQQ
Lineup:
7pm: DVN-EAO
Tom Bickley (EWI+FM synthesis), Viv Corringham (voice+electronics ), Björn Eriksson (feedback boxes), Rory Hoy (bass+electronics), Kieran Maraj (electronics), Omar Shabbar (guitar+electronics), Danny Sheahan (violin+electronics), Doug Van Nort (composition/conduction).
8pm: Elka Bong
(Margolis/Wright duo)
About our guests:
AL MARGOLIS
“… is some sort of evil genius working with sources radically altered up to an utterly unrecognizable state, anarchic manifestations moving in compact determination.”
Massimo Ricci:
Margolis has been an activist in the 1980s American cassette underground through his cassette label Sound of Pig Music; was co-founder of experimental music label Pogus Productions, which he continues to run.
He has recorded and/or performed with Pauline Oliveros, Ione, Joan Osborne, Monique Buzzarté, Katherine Liberovskaya, Adam Bohman, Ellen Christi, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Jane Scarpantoni, Ulrich Krieger, David First, and Dave Prescott, among others.
ifbwana.com
WALTER WRIGHT
“is an interdisciplinary artist, his practice includes computer programming, electro-acoustic music, and video performance. His focus is on “improvisation as a way of being present in the world.”
Wright was one of the first video animators. At Computer Image Corp he animated letters, words, and titles for Children’s Television Workshop. He showed his work at the first computer art conference at the Kitchen (NYC, 1973). In 1973-76, as artist-in-residence at the Experimental Television Center, he pioneered video performance touring public access centers, colleges, and galleries with the Paik/Abe Video Synthesizer.
He is a co-founder of 119 Gallery, the first digital art gallery on the World Wide Web.
Link: https://elkabong2.bandcamp.com
April 26th, 2022
4pm
Dispersion Lab Open Meeting, Spring 2022: Current Research/Creation Projects and Developments
You are cordially invited to hear 10-20 minute presentations on select lab projects that are currently underway, situated in the context of the broader “whys” for this work and the larger lab research agenda.
There will be 5-10 minutes for discussion in between each presentation.
Schedule:
4:00 – 4:15pm: Doug Van Nort – three current research areas: human/machine co-creation, distributed performance/expanded presence, embodied/augmented listening: sonic-haptic mediation
DIGM 5070 – Interactive Media for Electro-Acoustic Orchestra, final presentations
4:15 – 4:35pm: Xi Lu – Performability of sample-based electroacoustic music in the live laptop concert environment
4:35 – 4:55pm: Omar Shabbar – Prepared Response
PhD Students – current research investigations
4:55 – 5:10pm: Janica Olpindo – Important Considerations in Interaction Design
5:10 – 5:25pm: Rory Hoy – eLabOration: Telematically Augmented Meditations and Tools
Master’s Research Project, final presentation
5:25 – 5:55pm: Kieran Maraj – Intergestura: Amplifying instrumental agency
5:55-6pm: wrap-up
April 20th, 2022
11:30am-12:30pm
Dispersion Lab Presentations: Two Presentations by Andrew Raffo Dewar
The Dispersion Lab is pleased to present the second of two lectures by Andrew Raffo Dewar, Fulbright Canada Research Chair in residence at the lab for Winter 2022.
Lecture #2: “Transmedia Transformation and Cross-Domain Mapping as (Music) Composition Strategy”
Presented in partnership with Sensorium as part of their “Lunchtime Seminar” series, Dewar will discuss a range of his musical compositions that investigate “transmedia translation” and cross-domain mapping. He will also discuss an in-progress project; a 3D spatial audio composition that incorporates 1970s oral history recordings made by Dr. Christine Valenciana of participants in a troubling 1930s US repatriation campaign of Mexican-Americans.
About the speaker:
Andrew Raffo Dewar (Composer/Musician/Ethnomusicologist / Fulbright Canada Research Chair, York U. DisPerSion Lab / Prof. of Interdisciplinary Arts at the University of Alabama)
Andrew Raffo Dewar, Ph.D. is a composer, soprano saxophonist, electronic musician, ethnomusicologist, and arts organizer. Recent publications include ethnographic research on 1970s intermedia art in Argentina during a military dictatorship, 1960s handmade electronic music collective the Sonic Arts Union, philosophical issues of ontology in performance and music technologies, original music for his performing ensembles in San Francisco, New York City, and Hamburg, music for film, compositions incorporating ethnographic interviews, biofeedback, and interdisciplinary electronic music installations and performances utilizing 3D spatial audio. He has performed internationally over the past 25 years, with over 200 performances and installations on five continents in the past decade. Recordings of Dewar as a composer and performer are available on over two dozen albums published by record labels throughout the United States and Europe. https://music.ua.edu/people/andrew-raffo-dewar/
April 18th, 2022
6pm-7pm
MUSI/DATT/DIGM 3070/5070- Electro-Acoustic Orchestra Class- Final Performance
12 weeks of learning…
a gesture-based real-time compositional language
listening strategies
creating sound worlds with new instruments/systems
electro-acoustic improvisation
…culminating in a final class performance
Featuring:
from MUSI 3070:
Shidsa Pourbakhsh – Korg Triton Synth
Christian Rickman – Acoustic Guitar, Stylophone
Jacob Whitehead – OP-1 Synth
from DIGM 5070:
Xi Lu – Ableton Live / Processed Samples
Omar Shabbar – Guitar, Max/MSP processing
Guest EAO Performers
Rory Hoy – EAO 2022 Granular/FM Software Instrument
Aida Khorsandi – EAO 2022 Granular/FM Software Instrument
Kieran Maraj – EAO 2022 Granular/FM Software Instrument
and
Doug Van Nort – Soundpainting-based composition/conduction
March 24th, 2022
9am-1pm
Dispersion Lab Presents: Andrew Raffo Dewar
The Dispersion Lab is pleased to present the first of two lectures by Andrew Raffo Dewar, Fulbright Canada Research Chair in residence at the lab for Winter 2022.
Lecture #1: “A brief overview of Anthony Braxton’s music systems”
Dewar will share an overview of legendary experimentalist composer/performer and MacArthur fellow Anthony Braxton’s unique and varied music systems, based on his experience as a performer in Braxton’s touring ensembles since 2005. There will be Q+A discussion time, following the talk.
About the speaker:
Andrew Raffo Dewar (Composer/Musician/Ethnomusicologist / Fulbright Canada Research Chair, York U. DisPerSion Lab / Prof. of Interdisciplinary Arts at the University of Alabama)
Andrew Raffo Dewar, Ph.D. is a composer, soprano saxophonist, electronic musician, ethnomusicologist, and arts organizer. Recent publications include ethnographic research on 1970s intermedia art in Argentina during a military dictatorship, 1960s handmade electronic music collective the Sonic Arts Union, philosophical issues of ontology in performance and music technologies, original music for his performing ensembles in San Francisco, New York City, and Hamburg, music for film, compositions incorporating ethnographic interviews, biofeedback, and interdisciplinary electronic music installations and performances utilizing 3D spatial audio. He has performed internationally over the past 25 years, with over 200 performances and installations on five continents in the past decade. Recordings of Dewar as a composer and performer are available on over two dozen albums published by record labels throughout the United States and Europe. https://music.ua.edu/people/andrew-raffo-dewar/
December 21st, 2021
5pm-6pm
Doug Van Nort Electro-Acoustic Orchestra: Works for the Winter Soltice
Since summer solstice, the group continues to go deep in their explorations, leading to an ever-expanding compositional language and repertoire of palettes that blend gesture, sound, structure, fixity, and spontaneity across diverse electro/acoustic instrumentation.
Selections from this evolution of palettes, which form part of the larger “Quarantine: A Telematic nO(t)pera” project, will be performed.
Credits:
Composition and Direction:
Doug Van Nort
Electro-Acoustic Orchestra:
Tom Bickley (EWI+FM synthesis), Viv Corringham (voice+electronics ), Björn Eriksson (feedback boxes), Rory Hoy (bass+electronics), Kathy Kennedy (voice+electronics), Kieran Maraj (kin/electronics), Omar Shabbar (max/msp), Danny Sheahan (violin+electronics), Doug Van Nort (soundpainting).
Virtual Staging:
Rory Hoy
A Request:
In these times, more than ever, we need to support the arts and performing artists for their important work. That said, in this case if you tune in to listen to this performance (and even if you don’t) we ask that you instead please donate to the Indian Residential School Survivors Society here: https://www.irsss.ca/donate.
November 5th, 2021
4pm-5pm
You are cordially invited to attend the Dispersion Lab’s open lab meeting/presentations for Fall 2021!
We will budget 1 hour for presentations by two lab members, preparation for their respective upcoming conference talks, but will keep the zoom room open afterwards for people to virtually hang out.
Presentations:
4-4:30pm ET: Rory Hoy – Locus Diffuse: An Agent-Based Sonic Ecosystem for Collaborative Musical Play
About: Locus Diffuse is a networked multi-user instrument populated by a simulated slime mold and four human players. Mimicking the biological behavior of slime mold and establishing a virtual living network between player nodes, the system sonifies interaction along these connections. Participants use a browser based interface to play the multi-user instrument, and access an accompanying stream for audio and visual output of the system. Player responses from various play sessions are explored and reported in relation to sonic ecosystems as a product of sound sources intersected with agent behavior, defining interaction through personal connection to agents, an aural vs visual understanding of the system, and various frames of focus employed by participants in regard to human/machine and inter-human collaboration.
4:30-5pm ET: Janica Olpindo – Towards Inclusive and Interactive Spaces for Breakdancing
About: This talk provides a critical reflection on performance gestures within the context of ’breaking”, explored in the process of constructing an interactive system using design methodologies drawing on the framework of ”defamiliarization”. Through a user study conducted as exploratory dance sessions with female practitioners of breaking, we observe the relationship between movement and music generated by the Interactive Breaking Music System (IBMS). We question how practitioners embody breaking aesthetics in the gestures that emerge from their interaction with the IBMS and how this system might be leveraged to create a welcoming environment for b-girl practitioners, and possibly subvert or transform gender norms from breaking culture that manifest through movement.
September, 2021
The Dispersion Lab is pleased to be an Affiliate of the Jacktrip Foundation!
https://www.jacktrip.org/affiliates
July, 2021
Listening and Sounding in Virtual Space – Call for Performers!
We are looking for a small number of participants to take part in a session of telematic structured improvisation as part of our ongoing research into experiences of telepresence in musical performance.
Players should have at least five years of professional experience in improvised musical performance. All types of instrumentation are welcome, both acoustic and electronic.
Chosen participants will be asked to take part in one performance+interview session of 60 minutes, and one follow-up listening session+interview of 60 minutes at a later date.
Participants will be placed in trio configurations, based on instrumentation and availability. The study is scheduled to occur on alternating Saturdays, with the follow-up listening session within two weeks of participation. These follow up dates are flexible with your schedules and can be negotiated.
Chosen participants will receive $75 for participation in the first session, and another $75 for participation in the second session, for their time and expertise.
Potential Performance Dates: May 15/29, June 12/26 (time tbd, between 10am-5pm ET)
Please fill out the following google form to provide contact info and to indicate your flexibility, limitations, or preference in regard to these dates. https://forms.gle/WPbcd2YYHVL93c1A9
Tech Requirements:
Participants MUST have a wired internet connection. A brief technical check meeting will occur before your assigned date in order to test network conditions.
The sessions will use the free software Jacktrip as well as Zoom. Access to these is required, and a tech setup meeting can be arranged for those with minimal experience with these technologies, or who require assistance for setup.
If you are interested in participating, or have any questions or comments, please contact us for further details.
July, 2021
Generations by Omar Nicholas Shabbar, created in the DisPersion Lab as part of an undergraduate independent study/honours project. Jokingly referred to as “I am sitting in a rainforest” during its development, in reference to inspirational pieces by Lucier and Tudor, this work adds new layers related to language, culture and memory. Nice work Omar!
June 20th, 2021
6pm-7pm
Doug Van Nort Electro-Acoustic Orchestra- nO(t)pera Summer Soltice Selections
Streaming Location: https://youtu.be/DVA7nL8Dq2o
The Doug Van Nort Electro-Acoustic Orchestra presents Summer Solstice Selections from Quarantine: A Telematic nO(t)pera! Since the Winter Solstice performance the group has reoriented, refined and there has been continued development of the musical material for this piece (more info on the nO(t)pera below).
For this performance, in the spirit of a summer breather, we will focus on the musical materials and leave the more complex elements like machine learning/audience participation for the fall – though there may just be a Casper the cat cameo.
Several palettes that are feeling good these days will be performed.
In these times, more than ever, we need to support the arts and performing artists for their important work. That said, in this case if you tune in to listen to this performance (and even if you don’t) we ask that you instead please donate to the Indian Residential School Survivors Society here: https://www.irsss.ca/donate
About:
Quarantine: A Telematic nO(t)pera is a piece by Doug Van Nort, created for the Electro-Acoustic Orchestra (EAO), for the virual space of connected isolation, for Casper the cat, and for self-sanity. It is not an Opera, but it is not not an Opera. It is a composition for musical, visual and virtual engagement. The music consists of multiple movements that span disparate sonic landscapes. It is organized by pre-composed palettes that integrate text, graphics, Soundpainting and software instruments, and are augmented with additional real-time composition via EAO’s unique Soundpainting conducting. This content is a crystallization of ideas that have emerged from months of regular online rehearsals that date back to the beginning of the pandemic, bringing together performers from three continents and numerous time zones. As a meditation on (and a product of) our network-mediated present, the nO(t)pera also introduces diverse networks of improvised collaboration: cross performer-machine collaboration, performer-animal collaboration and audience-machine-performer collaboration.
One palette from the Winter Solstice Edition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPp7es0T3To
Credits:
Composition and Direction:
Doug Van Nort
Electro-Acoustic Orchestra:
Eric Bhatnagar (guitar+pedals), Tom Bickley (EWI+FM synthesis), Viv Corringham (voice+electronics ), Björn Eriksson (feedback boxes), Rory Hoy (bass+electronics), Kathy Kennedy (voice+electronics), Aida Khorsandi (notpera FM patch), Kieran Maraj (kin/electronics), Omar Shabbar (guitar+electronics), Danny Sheahan (violin+electronics), Doug Van Nort (soundpainting).
Live action-or-lack-thereof:
Casper, the cat
Cat-herding and video work:
Stacy Denton
Virtual Staging and visuals:
Rory Hoy
March, 2021
We wish to invite you to take part in a research study being conducted entitled “Embodied Digital Instrumental Systems: performer-system perspectives”.
The study emerges out of research being conducted at the DisPerSion Lab (http://dispersionlab.org/) and will take place remotely such as to comply with COVID restrictions and regulations.
For this study we are seeking participants who perform music and sound with digital instrumental systems. For the context of this study a digital instrumental system would include the following:
– utilizes digital technology as the dominant aspect of the system (versus acoustic and electronic instruments)
– improvisation is central to the performance of the system
– includes various interface modalities (sensors, touchpads, controllers, graphical user interfaces, microphones, live coding, to name a few) that provide:
a range of synchronous motion-sound mappings for real-time control of the sound output, and
asynchronous out-of-time control of the sound and sound structures.
– the range of output by the system potentially includes both determinate and indeterminate processes
– the system may incorporate machine learning
– the system may incorporate a database
The focus of the study is on the relationship that performers have with their instrumental systems and how this relationship is, and is perceived to be, embodied. The goal is to collect data related to performers’ interactions with their systems during performance utilizing a variety of methods for documentation and capture.
The study is scheduled to commence early/mid April 2021 requiring about 6-8 hours of your time over a two-week period.
Those chosen to participate will be compensated $150 for your expertise. There are a limited number of spaces for the study.
If you are interested in participating, or have any questions or comments, please contact me for further details.
January, 2021
Venture into the sonic world of ancient Chinese bronze bells, from tiny handbells to a 135-pound behemoth, including a matched set of orchestral bells from 2,500 years ago. Learn about the unique technology that allowed the most advanced bells to produce two tones, doubling the tonic range of each set—the most spectacular was composed of sixty-eight bells. Listen to new music videos created by digital composers from the United States and Canada using the sounds of these ancient instruments. Curator Keith Wilson leads a close examination of bells dating from the tenth to sixth centuries BCE. Composers Doug Van Nort (Ontario), Norman Lowrey (New Jersey), and Hugh Livingston (California) discuss their beautiful audiovisual creations made by utilizing the sounds of the bells recorded at the museum.
January, 2021
December 21st, 2020
7pm
Quarantine: A Telematic nO(t)pera (pocket edition)
Quarantine: A Telematic nO(t)pera is a piece by Doug Van Nort, created for the Electro-Acoustic Orchestra (EAO), for the virtual space of connected isolation, for Casper the cat, and for self-sanity. It is not an Opera, but it is not not an Opera. It is a composition for musical, visual and virtual engagement. The music consists of six movements that span disparate sonic landscapes. It is organized by pre-composed palettes that integrate text, graphics, Soundpainting and software instruments, and are augmented with additional real-time composition via EAO’s unique Soundpainting conducting. This content is a crystallization of ideas that have emerged from months of regular online rehearsals that date back to the beginning of the pandemic, bringing together performers from three continents and numerous time zones. As a meditation on (and a product of) our network-mediated present, the nO(t)pera also introduces diverse networks of improvised collaboration: cross performer-machine collaboration, performer-animal collaboration and audience-machine-performer collaboration.
This first performance, created for the Winter Solstice, is a “pocket edition” in that it is the first performance of musical and dramaturgical content that will be performed again, in an expanded fashion, in 2021.
Please note!: In one movement of the piece, the audience will be invited to improvise drawing input that will be interpreted by machine learning algorithms, and in turn will determine the overall structure and sonic content of the music.
Streaming is free and all are welcome to join. That said, there will be a virtual tip jar, with all proceeds split evenly amongst all musicians. Support the arts!
Streaming Location: https://youtu.be/QPp7es0T3To”
Credits:
Composition and Direction:
Doug Van Nort
Electro-Acoustic Orchestra:
Tom Bickley (EWI+electronics), Lo Bil (voice), Viv Corringham (voice+electronics ), Björn Eriksson (feedback boxes), Faadhi Fauzi (synths), Colin James Gibson (guitar), Yuanfen Gu (notpera granular patch), Rory Hoy (bass+electronics), Melanie Jagmohan (guitar+legos), Kathy Kennedy (voice+electronics), Aida Khorsandi (notpera FM patch), Nicholas Lina (bass), Kieran Maraj (kin/electronics), Diane Roblin (inside piano/synths), Omar Shabbar (guitar+electronics), Danny Sheahan (violin+electronics), Peter Vukosavljevic (percussion), Doug Van Nort (conducting/composing).
Live action-or-lack-thereof:
Casper, the cat
Cat-herding and video work:
Stacy Denton
Virtual Staging and visuals:
Rory Hoy
Deep Machine Learning (conducting and drawing recognition):
Kieran Maraj
November, 2020
November, 2020
October, 2020
October, 2020
September, 2020
September, 2020
August, 2020
August, 2020
August 1st, 2020
6pm-7pm
Dispersion Relation X
The One-Sample Ensemble
Five digital/sound artists join Doug Van Nort for a special version of Dispersion Relation X
Each person contributes one 1-10 second sample, and the group uses this to weave a new improvised electroacoustic piece from the source material using their own idiosyncratic digital instrumentation.
First 30 minutes are 5-minute solos, second 30 is ensemble performance
Featuring:
Tom Bickley
Lo Bil
Faadhi Fauzhi
Biagio Blaise Francia
Fae Sirois
Doug Van Nort
July 15th, 2020
6pm-7pm
Locus Diffuse: Lecture/Demo by: Rory Hoy
Come hear DisPerSion Lab member Rory Hoy present his Master’s Research Project, Locus Diffuse.
Rory will present for 20 minutes, followed by 20 minutes of demo in which audience are invited to play with the piece, with some time at the end for Q&A.
About the Project:
“Locus Diffuse is a networked multi-user instrument populated by a simulated slime mold and four human players. Mimicking the biological behavior of slime mold and establishing a virtual living network between player nodes, the system sonifies interaction along these connections. Stigmergy resulting from distributed participant positions and autonomous agent sensing/signalling results in a collaborative sonic environment facilitating the social ritual of musical play. Participants use a browser based interface to play the multi-user instrument, and access an accompanying stream for audio and visual output of the system. Player responses from various play sessions are explored and reported in relation to emergent narratives, reflections on the sense of self within the established collective, various visual and aural perspectives, characterization of four experienced environmental states, and natural metaphors for behavior of the system.”
July 4th, 2020
6pm- 7pm
Dispersion Relation X
EAO@DRX: the Electro-Acoustic Orchestra, open rehearsals
Featuring:
Colin James Gibson – Guitar
Faadhi Fauzi – Electric guitar/FM synthesis
Omar Shabbar – Guitar
Danny Sheahan – Violin
Tom Bickley – EWI, Max, Recorders maybe<
Rob Gill – Live multi-track mixing
Diane Roblin – Piano and keyboard
Viv Corringham – Voice and voice processing
Kathy Kennedy – Voice petals
Gayle Young – Strings, stones and toys
Lo Bil – Vocal or participant
Björn Eriksson – AudioMulch, dictaphone, voice, bells
Doug Van Nort – Soundpainting-style conducting/composing
July, 2020
July, 2020
June 26th, 2020
6pm-7pm
Dispersion Relation X
The Dispersion Relations continue with number X
…where X = you, in the virtual space of Zoom
Free improvisation / any instrumentation
Featuring:
Colin James Gibson – Guitar
Viv Corringham – Voice and voice processing
Gayle Young – Strings, stones and toys
Maxwell Moorehead – Streaming
Doug Van Nort – greis/electronics, harmonica, voice
June 20th, 2020
6pm- 7pm
Dispersion Relation X
EAO@DRX: the Electro-Acoustic Orchestra, open rehearsals
Featuring:
Colin James Gibson – Guitar
Vladislav Luchnikov – DSI Evolver, DX27
Faadhi Fauzi – Electric guitar or FM synthesis
Danny Sheahan – violin
Tom Bickley EWI, Max, Recorders maybe
Rob Gill live multi-track mixing
Diane Roblin piano and keyboard
Aida Khorsandi Laptop, Made objects, Voice<
Viv Corringham Voice and voice processing
Lo Bil – Vocal or participant
Amy Reed – voice electronics guitar<
Björn Eriksson – AudioMulch, dictaphone, voice, bells
Doug Van Nort – Soundpainting-style conducting/composing
June 13th, 2020
6pm-7pm
Dispersion Relation X
EAO@DRX: the Electro-Acoustic Orchestra, open rehearsals
Featuring:
Colin James Gibson Guitar
Vladislav Luchnikov DSI Evolver, DX27<
Faadhi Fauzi Electric guitar or FM synthesis
Danny Sheahan violin<
Tom Bickley EWI, Max, Recorders maybe
Rob Gill live multi-track mixing
Diane Roblin piano and keyboard
Aida Khorsandi Laptop, Made objects, Voice<
Rory Hoy Processed Bass
Omar Shabbar Electric guitar
Viv Corringham Voice and voice processing
Kieran Maraj Electronics
lo bil Vocal or participant
Amy Reed voice electronics guitar
Björn Eriksson AudioMulch, dictaphone, voice, bells
Doug Van Nort – Soundpainting-style conducting/composing
June 6th, 2020
7pm-8pm
Dispersion Relation X ft. Counterstasis
This week’s Dispersion Relation X welcomes very special guests!
The trio Counterstatis had originally invited Doug Van Nort to play with them at Array Space in Toronto in April as part of their CD launch event.
We’ve decided to move this previously- planned concert online.
Moving away slightly from the normal solos/duos/full ensemble structure, this event will feature combinations of solos/duos/trios/quartet.
About:
Counterstasis is a collaborative trio featuring Glen Hall (woodwinds, electroacoustics), Bill Gilliam (piano, prepared piano), and Joe Sorbara (drums, percussion).They prefer uncertainty and the possibility of transformation to anything like perfection or stability. They work to counter stasis, to foster change, to create a music in which their individual voices can be bent by, refracted through the voices of their co-conspirators. Their CD “Counterstasis – Refracted Voices” produced with the support of the the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council was released in Sept 2019.
May 30th, 2020
Viv Corringham – voice
Björn Eriksson – Recorder, small bells, dictaphone, voice, toy piano
Amy Melissa Reed – voice electronics
Fae Sirois – violin, modular synth, contact mics
Doug Van Nort – greis/electronics, harmonica, voice
May 23rd, 2020
6pm-7pm
Dispersion Relation X
The Dispersion Relations continue with number X
…where X = you, in the virtual space of Zoom
Free improvisation / any instrumentation
Featuring:
Lo Bil – voice
Joe Geek – electronics
Kathy Kennedy – voice petals
Maurice Rickard – Guitar, Max/MSP
Diane Roblin – Piano and Yamaha ReFace
Doug Van Nort – greis/electronics + voice
May 16th, 2020
6pm-7pm
Dispersion Relation X
The Dispersion Relations continue with number X
…where X = you, in the virtual space of Zoom
Free improvisation / any instrumentation
Featuring:
Tom Bickley – EWI with Max patch
Holland Hopson – electronics
Jane Rigler – flute and electronics
Doug Van Nort – greis/electronics + voice
May 9th, 2020
Dolly Ferret – Channeling
Rob Gill – live multitrack mixing
Norman Lowrey – Singing Masks, Automata, Chatterboxes
Gayle Young – Amaranth and toys
Doug Van Nort – greis/electronics + voice
May 2nd, 2020
6pm-7pm
Dispersion Relation X
The Dispersion Relations continue with number X
…where X = you, in the virtual space of Zoom
Free improvisation / any instrumentation
Featuring:
Viv Corringham – Voice
Rory Hoy – Processed Bass, drums
Danny Sheahan – Voice
Matt Wellins – Laptop
Doug Van Nort – greis/electronics + voice
April 25, 2020
6pm-7pm
Dispersion Relation X
The Dispersion Relations continue with number X
…where X = you, in the virtual space of Zoom
Free improvisation / any instrumentation
Featuring:
Ian Jarvis- 2 channel laptop
Tom Bickley – EWI
Zovi McEntee – Theremin
Joel Ong – guitar, no input mixer
Kathy Kanada – voice & pedal
Doug Van Nort – greis/electronics + voice
April 18th, 2020
6pm-7pm
The Dispersion Relation
The Dispersion Relations continue with number X
…where X = you, in the virtual space of Zoom
Free improvisation / any instrumentation
Featuring:
Matt Wellins – Computer
Jane Rigler – flute(s) and electronics
Rory Hoy – Bass + electronics
Danny Sheahan – Voice
Viv Corringham – Voice
Doug Van Nort – greis/electronics + voice
April 4th, 2020
6pm-7pm
Dispersion Relation X
The Dispersion Relations continue with number X
…where X = you, in the virtual space of Zoom
Free improvisation / any instrumentation
Featuring:
Alex Ring – Violin
Maurice Rickard – Guitar + Max/MSP
Erin Corbett – modular synths
Doug Van Nort – greis/electronics + voice
April/May 2020
Dispersion Relation X
The Dispersion Relations continue with number X
…where X = you, in the virtual space of Zoom
Doug Van Nort will play each week on Zoom with the first N people to sign up here!: https://forms.gle/TxypokFEy1YYRyPN6
Free improvisation / any instrumentation
April 4, 25, May 2 / 9 / 16 / 23 / 30 from 6-7pm
we will sound check at 5:30pm
listeners welcome!
Meeting URL will be shared with performers and posted here in advance
Zoom tech notes for performers:
-consider turning off “automatically adjust mic volume” during performance
-in Preferences–>audio, under the “advanced” tab, consider selecting “show option to enable original sound'”. This will give you a button on the video screen. People with noisy/textural sound may want original sound on. People using acoustic instrumentation and laptop mic may want this on.
March/April 2020
Due to the rapidly-evolving situation regarding COVID-19, the following planned events are CANCELLED.
March 13: Kathy Kennedy: The Oral Soundscape, lecture/workshop/performance
March 20: Alan Licht in conversation: Sound Art: Beyond Music, Between Categories
March 29: the Electro-Acoustic Orchestra and York Wind Ensemble perform Eric Whitacre’s Deep Field
April 3: the Electro-Acoustic Orchestra perform two sets featuring interactive conducting and 28 channel spatialization
April 8: Liveware (Century/Lawson) accordion and live coded visuals
April 14: Students of the graduate course Vertical Studio/Lab present a concert/installation of works utilizing interactive machine learning
February 19th, 2020
Please join us for this two-part event featuring IRCAM’s Diemo Schwarz!
What:
Workshop with Schwarz: 1-3pm
Dispersion Relation #7: 4-5:30pm
Doug Van Nort welcomes special guests Diemo Schwarz (CataRT) + Glen Hall (Saxophone + Catoracle)
About the event(s):
From 1-3pm we will be in Workshop mode, with Diemo leading us through the use of the amazing sonic software tools that Dispersion is using heavily these days, and which he has created (CataRT) or had a major hand in creating (MUBU).
Then at 4pm is #7 in the Dispersion Relation series, where Diemo shall perform with Doug Van Nort and invited guest Glen Hall, highly-accomplished TO improviser and Catoracle user.
About the guests:
Schwarz:
Diemo Schwarz, born in Germany in 1969, is a researcher at IRCAM, and a musician and creative programmer.
His scientific research on sound analysis/synthesis and gestural control of interaction with music is the basis of his artistic work, and allows to bring advanced and fun musical interaction to expert musicians and the general public via installations like the dirty tangible interfaces (DIRTI) and augmented reality (Topophonie mobile).
In 2017 he was DAAD Edgar-Varèse guest professor for computer music at TU Berlin.
He performs on his own digital musical instrument based on his CataRT open source software, exploring different collections of sound with the help of gestural controllers that reconquer musical expressiveness and physicality for the digital instrument, bringing back the immediacy of embodied musical interaction to the rich sound worlds of digital sound processing and synthesis.
He interprets and performs improvised electronic music as member of the 30-piece ONCEIM improvisers orchestra, or with musicians such as Frédéric Blondy, Richard Scott, Gael Mevel, Pascal Marzan, Massimo Carrozzo, Nicolas Souchal, Fred Marty, Hans Leeuw.
He composes for dance and performance (Sylvie Fleury, Frank Leibovici), video (Benoit Gehanne and Marion Delage de Luget), and installation (Christian Delecluse, Cecile Babiole),
Hall:
Born in Winnipeg, saxophonist/flutist/composer Glen Hall has earned an international reputation for his creative approach to jazz and improvised music. He has performed and recorded with luminaries like legendary arranger Gil Evans, avant-garde trombonist Roswell Rudd and Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo. In the words of The Globe and Mail: “aggressively contemporary…Hall has all the marks of an original mind.”
February 15th, 2020
(doors at 5, playing starts at 5:30)
DisPerSion Lab, 334 Goldfarb Centre for Fine Arts, YorkU
(audience welcome at both locations!)
The second of a three-part series of network-based musical performances, this concert links disparate parts of Toronto, bridging two very distinct and complementary performing arts spaces. The concert welcomes some of the strongest and longest-standing voices in Toronto’s improvisation scene. The performance invites the distributed quartet, with two performers per location, to freely improvise and explore their sense of collective presence in this unique conjoined venue, listening across spaces and to the virtual “space between” for dialogue and connection.
Array Performers:
Glen Hall (bass clarinet)
Casey Sokol (piano/prepared piano)
Dispersion Performers:
Sarah Peebles (sho)
Doug Van Nort (greis/electronics)
Array Network+Video Engineering/Technical Direction:
Michael Palumbo
Array Audio Engineering/Networking:Kieran Maraj
Dispersion A/V Engineering/Networking and Virtual Acoustics Research:
Rory Hoy
Special thanks for Pre-Concert Audio/Video Support:
Kelley Mitchell
Danny Sheahan
Array Streaming/Telematic Co-Conspirators past/present/future:
Ricks Sacks
David Schotzko
Anne Bourne
Part of the Doug Van Nort’s SSHRC Partnership Engage Project “Connecting Communities Through Telematic Music”, with Partner Arraymusic. Audience at both sites will also have the opportunity to provide feedback and contribute to the larger research-creation endeavour!
..and for those keeping track, this is also Dispersion Relation #6!
January 24th, 2020
In this semi-regular series, every other Friday (+/- 1 week) in the Dispersion Lab, Doug Van Nort performs with curated and invited guests.
All are welcome to come and listen in this immersive sonic space. The lab door will remain open, and people are welcome to come in late or leave early during the show. (Please remove shoes before entering!)
The fifth event welcomes Dispersion Lab researcher Palumbo, who has been delving deep into experiments in modular synthesis, developing a new and evolving performance practice on his custom rig.
December 21st, 2019
An immersive, spatial audio-haptic concert in total darkness for the Winter Solstice!
This concert will feature existing pieces by invited composer Darren Copeland and Doug Van Nort that are re-imagined for the 28.2 audio and 56-channel haptic floor of the DisPerSion Lab. It will also include a new piece by lab member Rory Hoy created for this event.
Copeland’s piece will feature a small amount of light in order to see his performative gesture-based spatializations sound. Van Nort’s piece, originally composed in 2012, will be the first full use of the haptic floor that he has created over the past few years. Hoy’s piece will be a new construction created in the space leading up to the event.
December 6th, 2019
In this semi-regular series, every other Friday (+/- 1 week) in the Dispersion Lab, Doug Van Nort performs with curated and invited guests.
All are welcome to come and listen in this immersive sonic space.
The fourth event welcomes a special performance with the Electro-Acoustic Orchestra. Two pieces will explore new modes of composing for attentional strategies that blend Soundpainting conducting, cross-performer live processing, interactive spatialization and lighting.
November 15th, 2019
Dispersion Relations
(or, dvnt and friends)
In this semi-regular series, every other Friday (+/- 1 week) in the Dispersion Lab, Doug Van Nort performs with curated and invited guests.
All are welcome to come and listen in this immersive sonic space.
The third event welcomes a pair of Dispersion Lab members who traverse electroacoustic and contemporary classical practices with focused and careful attention to the boundaries of sound, space, noise and silence.
November 9, 2019
3pm | $30 or PWYW
Connected digitally across borders, Doug Van Nort presents his SSHRC Partnership Engage project with Arraymusic and cellist Anne Bourne in the first of three telematic concert events. Connecting with NowNet Arts Ensemble in New York (Sarah Weaver dir.), invited musicians at two sites join to explore senses of collective presence via the shared acoustics of a virtual performance space.
Note from Doug Van Nort: “This piece, Innerspace, is a structured improvisation wherein different virtual acoustic conditions/reverberations will envelop the two-location ensemble sound throughout, with dynamic changes over the course of the piece. Text-based structures of rolling duos/trios/quartets/whole group with varying shapes and qualities (e.g. conditions of noise, tone, pointillism, sustained sound, pitch ranges.) will help focus our inquiry into playing together in this shared real/virtual musical space.”
Array Space Performers:
Anne Bourne (cello)
Rick Sacks (percussion)
David Schotzko (percussion)
Doug Van Nort (greis/electronics)
Stony Brook Performers:
Ethan Cayko (percussion and electronics)
Taylor Long (percussion)
Kevin Kay (bass clarinet)
November 8th, 2019
Dispersion Relations
(or, dvnt and friends)
In this semi-regular series, every other Friday (+/- 1 week) in the Dispersion Lab, Doug Van Nort performs with curated and invited guests.
All are welcome to come and listen in this immersive sonic space.
The second event welcomes a trio of Dispersion Lab members who are pushing the envelopes of their improvised electroacoustic practice, taking this in new and interesting directions both in EAO and in their solo/ensemble projects.
October 25th, 2019
Dispersion Relations
(or, dvnt and friends)
In this semi-regular series, every other Friday (+/- 1 week) in the Dispersion Lab, Doug Van Nort performs with curated and invited guests.
All are welcome to come and listen in this immersive sonic space.
The first event features an electronics and cello duo with longtime friend and collaborator, Anne Bourne.
May 18th, 2019
Mycelia, Mi.Mu and the Future of Music: a keynote by Imogen Heap
Attendees are also strongly encouraged to attend a Creative Passport workshop hosted by Imogen and the Mycelia group from 2:00-4:30pm in the same room, focused on their new blockchain-based approach to digital rights management for artists. Snacks and coffee will be provided between the keynote and workshop. Please sign up for the workshop here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/creative-passport-forum-toronto-tickets-59993602480
Time/Date: May 18th
Keynote: 11:30am – 1:00pm
Workshop: 2:30pm – 4:00pm
Location:
Transmedia Lab, 103 Accolade West Building, York University
Presented by the DisPerSion Lab, Mycelia4Music and Patrick Twaddle
Special Thanks to the Departments of Music and Computational Arts
About the speaker:
London based recording artist Imogen Heap blurs the boundaries between pure art form and creative entrepreneurship. Writing and producing 4 solo albums, one as Frou Frou (with Guy Sigsworth), and collaborating with Jeff Beck, Mika and Josh Groban amongst others, Heap has penned tracks for movies, TV shows and produced the score for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, winning the ‘Outstanding Music in a Play’ Drama Desk Award.
Counting 5 Grammy nominations, winning one for engineering and another for her contribution to Taylor Swift’s ‘1989’, Heap also received an Ivor Novello Award, The Artist and Manager Pioneer award, the MPG Inspiration Award and an honorary Doctorate of Technology for her MI.MU gloves work: a ground-breaking gestural music making system.
In 2014 she envisioned a flourishing music industry ecosystem through Mycelia and released ‘Tiny Human’, the first song to use smart contracts on a blockchain.
Creating an artist-led, fair and sustainable decentralized ecosystem, Mycelia’s ‘The Creative Passport’ provides an ID for music makers to connect digitally with the music industry.With three world tours, sold out Royal Albert Hall and Greek Theatre shows and thousands of 5* reviews, last September Heap embarked on a year-long music and technology world tour.
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/mycelia-mimu-and-the-future-of-music-a-keynote-by-imogen-heap-tickets-60935582969
May 8-10, 2019
VESSELS
An Exhibition by MFA Designer and lab supervisee Sharon Reshef
VESSELS is an experimental meditation on the power of sound. Captured in five sculptural objects, binaural recordings, and documentary photography; resonance is enshrined in a gallery exhibition. Activating the ear as a portal, visitors are transported through sonic memories held sacred to the artist, the vessels, and the landscapes they originate from.
April 18th, 2019
Electro-Acoustic Orchestra (dir. Doug Van Nort)
@
Toronto Media Arts Center
April 8th, 2019
DisPerSion Lab Open House/Vertical Studio-Lab Demos
Come to hear about and experience recent and in-progress lab projects
including the lab in it’s sound-responsive “listening room” state, our interactive lights, wearable haptics and the audio-haptic floor.
April 5th 2019
Doug Van Nort: “Soundpainting: More than Meets the Ear”
a presentation of the piece Intersubjective Soundings vol. 3, for the Electro-Acoustic Orchestra
featured performance of the of CBC-produced CRAM event
Vari Hall Rotunda, York University
January 27th, 2019
Doug Van Nort and the Electro-Acoustic Orchestra, with the Nilan Perrera Quartet
Synaptic Circus Series, Tranzac Club, Toronto
January-February 2019
October 11, 2018
Arizona State University’s School Arts, Media and Engineering, Digital Culture Series
presents:
Doug Van Nort
Distributed Networks of Listening and Sounding: From Tuning Presents to Turing Presence
Drawing on recent projects, in this talk I will discuss my approach to creating performative contexts using computational media that engender intersubjectivity and distributed creativity. Building upon my life as an electroacoustic composer/improviser, this work emphasizes collective emergence and immersion of the non-visual senses as a means to amplify (rather than mute or mask) a sense of presence-in-the-world for individual and group. Machine agents, interactive media and telematic connections are integrated as material conditions and inter-actors that serve to enhance, complexify and challenge this larger network of activity.
June 2018
Ian Jarvis and Doug Van Nort
present
“Posthuman Gesture”
at the International Conference on Movement and Computing, (MOCO), Genoa, Italy
June-October 2018
Genetically Sonified Organisms (year 2)
an Environmental Sonic Installation by Doug Van Nort
with construction and design assistance from Kieran Maraj
Fieldwork, Maberley, Ontario
June 2018
Doug Van Nort
presents
“Genetically Sonified Organisms: Environmental Listening/Sounding Agents,”
at the International Workshop on Musical Metacreation (MuMe), Salamanca, Spain
April 30th, 2018
3-5pm
Deep Listening and Bio-Sensing Workshop
We will engage in Deep Listening practice while gathering bio signals (heart rate, breathing rate, skin conductance, EEG) from up to five interested participants.
April 21st, 2018
NETWORK MUSIC: ARTISTIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL STRATEGIES FOR PUBLIC AND PRIVATE NETWORKS
April 10th, 6:00-8:00pm
biopoetriX – conFiGURing AI
A collaboration between the ArtSci Salon at the Field’s Institute, the Digital Dramaturgy Lab (DDL) / Institute for Digital Humanities in Performance (idHIP) and the new International Performance Series of the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Toronto.
Panel: Performing AI, hybrid media and humans in/as technology
Panel participants:Dr. Marco Donnarumma, Dr. Doug van Nort (Dispersion Lab, York U.), Jane Tingley (Stratford User Research & Gameful Experiences Lab (SURGE), U of Waterloo), Dr. Angela Schoellig (Dynamic Systems Lab, U of T)
Panel animators: Dr. Antje Budde (Digital Dramaturgy Lab) and Dr. Roberta Buiani (ArtSci Salon)
Event supported by: Italian Embassy in Canada; Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies at U of T; Istituto Italiano di Cultura; Digital Dramaturgy Lab
March 1st, 5:30-6:30pm
Colloquium Series: Lo Bil
object body speak my recordings: a performative lecture determined by object dynamics
“A 20-minute experiment in process development. I have always seen my archive as a second body, holding the things I cannot hold. How will these materials affect my improvisation if I attempt to give over agency to the objects in performative space? Is there an object voice? What does it look like to blur the boundaries between my impulses and the will of the objects? Can believing in this kind of possibility create new outcomes – or does it work better to not trust the possibility at all? “
January 25th, 5:00-7:00pm
Deep Listening Session
Please note that these sessions intersect with the DisPerSion Lab Research Project “Deep Listening in the Expanded Field”. Participants will be able (but certainly not required) to have their bio-physical signals tracked during the session as part of this research.
In order to manage things, please sign up for a free eventbrite ticket.
Hope to see you there!
About:
Deep Listening is a practice that is intended to heighten and expand consciousness of sound in as many dimensions of awareness and attentional dynamics as humanly possible. It includes bodywork, listening meditations, movement and sound-making exercises. It cultivates a full-bodied and heightened awareness of the sonic environment, both external and internal, and promotes experimentation, improvisation, collaboration and play. Sessions facilitated by certified Deep Listening Instructor Doug Van Nort. All welcome, no experience necessary.
January 18th, 5:00-6:30pm
Hélène Mialet: The Distributed-Centered Subject: From Cosmology to the Finger Prick
We are very pleased to welcome a distinguished STS colleague! Mialet’s work is rigorous, engaging and highly relevant to the lab’s research mission.
Hélène Mialet has held post-docs at Oxford and Cambridge Universities and at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, and positions at Cornell, Berkeley, Harvard, Davis, and presently, in the Department of STS at York University, Toronto. She has worked on a range of topics including Actor Network Theory; scientific and technological practice; situated and distributed cognition; the role of the subject’s body in knowledge production; charisma and organizational management; institutional contexts of creativity and innovation; human-machine interaction; post-humanism; object oriented philosophy; Disability Studies, and the anthropology of medicine. She has wide ranging
ethnographic research experience at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, at the Thermodynamics Lab of France’s largest petroleum company (TOTAL), at DAMTP (The Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Cambridge University), and currently with caregivers of — and patients with — juvenile diabetes. She has written several books, most notably Hawking Incorporated: Stephen Hawking and The Anthropology of the Knowing Subject (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012); A La Recherche de Stephen Hawking (Odile Jacob, 2014), and L’Entreprise Créatrice, Le rôle des récits, des objets et de l’acteur dans l’invention (Paris: Hermès-Lavoisier, 2008), and has published widely in both the popular and academic venues.
December 7th @ 6:00pm
Gayle Young: The Frequency of Soundscape
We are pleased to welcome distinguished DisPerSion visiting artist/scholar Gayle Young!
An internationally-recognized Canadian composer, performer, author and instrument-builder, Young will introduce instruments she has designed, built, and found, playing them in combination with tuned audio recordings.
Part talk and part performance, guests will also be invited into her sound world by having a chance to play the instruments!
November 30th @ 6:00pm
11/30: Malcolm Goldstein Workshop
The DisPerSion Lab is pleased to welcome our distinguished visiting artist Malcolm Goldstein, who willl lead us in the workshop “The gesture of improvisation”.
This event will focus on the integration of breath/body gesture/sound, and improvisation as a process of discovery.
November 23rd @ 6:00pm
Colloquium Series: Christine Bellerose
Dance Studies PhD student and DisPerSion affiliate, Bellerose will present “Reconciling the body with technology <- from the somatic grounds.”
November 9th @ 6:00pm
Colloquium Series: Esmé Hogeveen
Visual Cultures PhD student and DisPerSion Research Assitant, Hogeveen will present work on the SSHRC-funded lab project “A systematic review of computational creativity practices across disciplines”
November 2nd @ 6:00pm
Deep Listening Session #3
Deep Listening is practice that is intended to heighten and expand consciousness of sound in as many dimensions of awareness and attentional dynamics as humanly possible. It includes bodywork, listening meditations, movement and sound-making exercises. It cultivates a full-bodied and heightened awareness of the sonic environment, both external awareness of the sonic environment, both external and internal, and promotes experimentation, improvisation, collaboration and play. Sessions facilitated by the certified Deep Listening Instructor Doug Van Nort.
All welcome, no experience necessary.
October 28th @ 5:30pm
Real Virtuality
Telematic performance connecting the DisPerSion Lab’s Electro-Acoustic Orchestra with the Stream Ensemble in Potsdam, DE. Part of the Brandenburg New Music Festival. Featuring new works by Thomas Gerwin (DE), John Rausek (DE), Doug Van Nort (CA). Sabine Vogel (DE) and Brian Abott (CA).
October 26th @ 6:00pm
Colloquium Series: Ian Macchiusi
Musicology PhD student and DisPerSion affiliate, Macchiusi will present “instrumentality and visual representation in the digital audio workstation.”
October 19th @ 6:00pm
Deep Listening Session #2
Deep Listening is practice that is intended to heighten and expand consciousness of sound in as many dimensions of awareness and attentional dynamics as humanly possible. It includes bodywork, listening meditations, movement and sound-making exercises. It cultivates a full-bodied and heightened awareness of the sonic environment, both external awareness of the sonic environment, both external and internal, and promotes experimentation, improvisation, collaboration and play. Sessions facilitated by the certified Deep Listening Instructor Doug Van Nort.
All welcome, no experience necessary.
October 12th @ 6:00pm
Colloquium Series: Ian Jarvis
Performance Studies PhD student and DisPerSion researcher, Jarvis will present “human-machine agency in digital music performance.”
October 5th @ 6:00pm
Deep Listening Session #1
Deep Listening is practice that is intended to heighten and expand consciousness of sound in as many dimensions of awareness and attentional dynamics as humanly possible. It includes bodywork, listening meditations, movement and sound-making exercises. It cultivates a full-bodied and heightened awareness of the sonic environment, both external awareness of the sonic environment, both external and internal, and promotes experimentation, improvisation, collaboration and play. Sessions facilitated by the certified Deep Listening Instructor Doug Van Nort.
All welcome, no experience necessary.
September 28th @ 6:00pm
Colloquium Series: Intro by Lab Director Doug Van Nort
A bi-weekly series of talks featuring a mixture of lab-community graduate students and distinguished invited guests.
Topic is DisPerSion, past/present/near-future.
December 1st @ 7:30pm
The DisPerSion Lab, The Music Gallery, Arraymusic and the York U. Music Department Present:
Malcolm Goldstein
Doug Van Nort
Electro-Acoustic Orchestra
Array Space, 155 Walnut Ave, Toronto
June 29th @ 8:00pm UK / 3:00pm Canada
2017 International Conference on Movement and Computing (MOCO)
Intersubjective Soundings (for MYO armbands, Soundpainting Conducting and Telematic Ensemble)
Doug Van Nort (Soundpainting, MYO-based Transformation) – Deptford Town Hall, Goldsmiths, London, UK
with
Electro-Acoustic Orchestra – DisPerSion Lab, Toronto
EAO For this performance is:
Dave Bandi (guitar), Chris Cerpnjak (cymbals, glockenspiel) , Glen Hall (saxophone), Ian Jarvis (catRT+supercollider) , Ian Macchiusi (Moog mother), Mackenzie Perrault (guitar), Danny Sheahan (keys, samples), Fae Sirois (violin), Lauren Wilson (flute)
June 3rd @ 4:00pm
Doug Van Nort Talk: Tuning Presents/Turing Presence
Part of “Improvisation and Listening: a Series of Events in Memory of Pauline Oliveros”
La Vitrola
4602 Boul St-Laurent
Montréal
June 1st @ 5:00pm
Exhibition launch for Still Listening
87 Commissioned Scores in Honor of Pauline Oliveros
featuring Doug Van Nort’s piece “The Turing Meditation”
Marvin Duchow Music Library
527 sherbrooke st west
Montréal
June 1st @ 3:45pm
Anne Bourne (cello, voice) /Elysha Poirier (water/light projections)/ Doug Van Nort (greis/electronics)
Tanna Schulich Hall
527 Sherbrooke st west
Montréal
May 13th Opening, featuring Listening Workshop by Van Nort
Soundwork @ Fieldwork
Maberley, ON
May 5th @ 7:30pm / May 6th @ 1:30pm
Origin8: An exploration in movement, light and sound
Created for the the National Ballet School of Canada’s quadrennial event, Assemblée Internationale
Movement and muscle tension from 21 dancers drive interactive music and visuals.
Featuring dancers from 21 different countries, coming to Toronto for AI17.
Choreography: Shaun Amyot
Interactive Music Composition: Doug Van Nort
Interactive Visuals: Don Sinclair
May – October 2017
Genetically Sonified Organisms
an Environmental Sonic Installation by Doug Van Nort
Description:
This piece creates an evolving interplay, in sound, between various agents that include humans and non-humans, both computational and biological. The physical GSO artifacts are a set of solar-powered ‘creatures’, designed to interact with one another and the larger sonic field in which they are immersed. The means of communication begins as a call/response from a set of simple tones/noises that introduce this new species into the sonic environment. Each creature will respond to sounds that are similar to their known vocabulary, evolving their call over the course of months based on the difference found between their own lexicon of calls and those that they hear around them. These artifacts, though, are merely vessels: rather than meditating on the technological objects themselves, through this piece I invite you to listen to this new sonic presence as it is woven into the fabric of an existing, dynamic and diverse acoustic ecology. Many thanks to Kieran Maraj of the DisPerSion Lab for designing the solar Raspberry Pi and enclosure prototypes.
April 12th, 7:30-9:00pm
DisPerSion Lab members take their Electroacoustic Music to Buffalo!
Collaborative Electro-Acoustic Music Series: Concert II
The second edition of the Collaborative Electroacoustic Music Concert Series will bring together faculty and student composers from the School of Arts, Media, Performance and Design of York University, Toronto (CA) and the program in Digital Music from SUNY Buffalo State.
The concert will feature fixed media works by Evan Courtin, Ian Jarvis, Ian Macchiusi and Doug Van Nort, as well as live music performances by Michael Palumbo, Ethan Hayden and Tomás Henriques.
The Collaborative Electroacoustic Music Concert Series is hosted once a year, during the spring semester, by the program in Digital Music at Buffalo State. The series aims to foster inter-institution artistic partnerships around the subject of composition and performance of contemporary electronic music. Besides a concert, the collaboration includes parallel activities of pedagogical and research nature on electronic music theory and practice, discussed in lectures and/or workshops.
Special thanks to Tomás Henriques for this invitation.
April 6th, 9am-7pm
Multiple opportunities on York’s campus to experience ideas and work from lab members!
The Sensorium Grad Student Symposium
(9am-6pm, Nat Taylor Cinema)
will feature presentations by
Christine Bellerose – “On the Lived Imagined Body” and “Unplugged”
Ian Jarvis – “Creating Fire: An overview of implementing concatenative synthesis and machine learning in digital instrument design”
Ian Macchiusi – “‘Totemic Power’: Arrangement, Analysis and Performance in the Digital Audio Workstation”
Michael Palumbo – “Data Issues: Please see Attachment”
as well as comrades-of-the-lab
Signy Lynch – “The ‘Trumpian Performative’: Social Media Performance, Immediacy, and Authenticity in the 2016 Election”
and
Daniel Smith – “Mapping Meaning: The Collective Cartography of Everyday Life”
This will then converge to the
Digital Media Showcase (103 Accolade West) from 6-7pm
which will feature projects by two lab members:
i. Akeem Glasgow – Circles of life
“Circles of life is an interesting way of layering concepts to create a self-sustaining environment. These concepts revolve around autonomous agents, the game of life and genome generation. The sustained environment is run by Circular agents who search the world collecting and dropping life. This virtual environment shows how systems can cooperate to predict real behaviors and randomness.”
ii. Kieran Maraj, in collaboration with Alexandra Martens, Amir Rostami and Samina Shroff – The Cloud
“The Cloud is a physical representation of various weather systems occurring in the world around it. Through hue, brightness and strobing The Cloud is able to display aspects of the weather including precipitation and temperature, among others. The fluffy lamp is able to automatically update based on its location, or the user can choose to display the weather from other cities around the world, or simply set it to ‘furniture mode’ for a stunning centrepiece.”
March 23, 24, 8:00 and 9:00pm, March 25, 1:30 and 2:30pm Elemental Agency
Doug Van Nort: conception, direction, system composition, void state sound/interaction design
Vanessa Boutin, Holly Buckridge, Shaelynn Lobbezoo, Joshua Murphy, Paige Sayles, Marie-Victoria de Vera: emergent and collective choreography, dance
Yirui Fu: spotlight visual/behaviour design
Akeem Glasgow: kinect tracking and mapping to visuals
Rory Hoy: earth state sound/interaction design
Ian Jarvis: fire state sound/interaction design
Kieran Maraj: water, wind states sound/interaction design
Michael Palumbo: mobile audience interaction,network architecture programming
Mingxin Zhang: spotlight visual/behaviour design
Elemental Agency is a piece concerned with an emergent gestural language that manifests across movement, sound and light. Rather than sound/light articulating movement, or movement driving media, the approach builds outward from gestural metaphors as a point of shared intersection for these phenomena. The work draws upon the metaphorical constructs of Japanese Godai and Indian Vaastu Shastra theories of five elements: earth, water, wind, fire and void/space. Working with conceptual metaphors drawn from these traditions, constraints are provided to the dancers of embodying a given element as a collective – a texture of movement, rather than a singular human entity, that manifests the non-human agency of a given element. Motivations related to world, body, motion, emotion and enaction are given: earth as stubbornness and resistance to change, wind as expansive, elusive and compassionate, fire as energetic and forceful, etc. Using machine learning methods, the sonic interaction designers seek to capture moments of gestural expression and fuse this with sounds that similarly embody a given elemental quality/profile. Negotiation between art forms leads to a collective choreography and sound design that emerges from the embodiment of the nonhuman elements and the mediation of the machine agents. Visual projection functions as both lighting and enhancement of embodied experience in space, rather than screen-oriented media experience. Spotlights both enhance elemental qualities as well as embodying behaviours that align with the constraints of the element metaphors: rigid tracking of movement within earth state, amorphous following within water state, tendency towards consumption in fire state, etc.
Studio A, Accolade East
York University
Toronto, ON
Saturday, February 25th 2017, 7:00-9:00pm
Voorhees Theater, 186 Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY
Concert featuring:Thomas Ciufo and Curtis Bahn, Sonic Constructions (hybird acoustic/electronic instruments)
Nick Demopoulos, Archeon Eon (“Smomid” and “Pyramidi” invented electronic instruments)
Adam James Wilson, Skronkbot (fretless electric guitar and automatic improvisation system)
Doug Van Nort, Solo Improvisation with GREIS (surface controllers and GREIS improvisation system)
Jeff Kaiser, ZEITNOT (Bb trumpet, quartertone trumpet, flugelhorn, interactive audio software)Panel discussion to follow performance, with the framing question:
“For centuries notions of musicality have centered on the execution of the musical performer and the performer’s ability to imbue an instrument with ‘spirit’ while demonstrating virtuosity (Kramer). Where is the end of your instrument? Do you see music-making agency within the computational systems you perform with? Does your machine/software/instruments ever surprise you?”
Saturday, February 18th 2017, 8:30-10:30pm
292 Brunswick Ave.
Thursday, February 16th, 2017
8:30-11 pm local time in Berlin
by Doug Van Nort, Thomas Gerwin, Sarah Weaver and Glen HallToronto: DisPerSion Lab, Room 334, Goldfarb Centre for Fine Arts, York University
Berlin: Exploratorium Berlin, Mehringdamm 55, 10961 Kreuzberg (Sarottihoefe, Entrance C)
Audio Broadcast via naisa radio: http://www.naisa.ca/naisa-radio
Video Broadcast via: http://live.wordpress-311999-2855731.cloudwaysapps.com This event features performances occurring across two continents, and overlapping through a telematic connection. The Toronto performance serves as the culmination of a sister event happening at the Exploratorium Berlin. The concert opens with guest artist Thomas Gerwin, who will conduct from the Exploratorium Berlin with a structured improvisation entitled “EAOIU” written for and featuring the Electro-Acoustic Orchestra (EAO), performing at the DisPerSion Lab in Toronto along with his Berlin ensemble.Following that performance, the collective cross-atlantic ensemble will continue performing newly-commissioned pieces by New York-based guest artist Sarah Weaver and EAO director Doug Van Nort, before finishing with a local performance of a new work by EAO member and active Toronto improviser Glen Hall.
November 26th @ 8:00pm
Games In Sound, a Performance
Game creation like most media arts is a trans-disciplinary practice. This performance will cross many artistic and stylistic boundaries to reveal the many overlaps with other art forms and genres. Performing will be Dispersion Lab, Luis Hernandez and Andrew Shenkman. This performance is part of a weekend-long Soundhackers meetup that also includes artist panels in the afternoon of Saturday November 26
Performances are co-curated for this meetup event with Daniele Hopkins of Electric Perfume.
I. Myo Improv by Dispersion Lab
Doug Van Nort, the Canada Research Chair at York University and distinguished electroacoustic sound artist, has started the Dispersion Lab, which is a studio and a live ensemble comprised of graduate and undergraduate students as well as artists from the local community. They explore telematic performance, improvisation, laptop performance and gestural conducting among their prolific artistic activities. Include in this performance are Ian Jarvis and Michael Palumbo.
II. EngineBaroque by Luis Hernandez
EngineBaroque is a live electro-acoustic performance. Luis controls a custom-made 3d environment –a digital extrapolation of Kurt Schwitter’s Merzbau, imbued with locative sounds. As he navigates this artificial architecture, he samples sounds in the environment, manipulating them in real-time with tape machines and samplers, creating a live electro-acoustic space located somewhere between the physical and digital world.
III. Hypergame by Andrew Shenkman
Prepare your body for the game-story-musical event of a lifetime! Inspired by tabletop RPGs, improv comedy and rock & roll, Hypergame Storytime: The Musical invites the audience to take their rightful place as the star of an intergalactic, time travelling, life afirming odyssey about the power of the human spirit and butts probably, whatever, just trust us. What is it? What isn’t it! It’s all your favourite activities and interests smushed together with healthy dose of awkwardness, imagination and friendship.
Electric Perfume
805 Danforth Avenue, Toronto
Tuesday November 22nd @ 5:00-7:00pm
Please join us for a very special concert by John Driscoll, founding member of Composers Inside Electronics
with an opening set by the Electro-Acoustic Orchestra
Program:
Electro-Acoustic Orchestra (dir. Doug Van Nort) – Conducted Improvisation
Performers: Chris Anderson-Lundy, Robert Appleton, David Bandi, Aaron Corbett, Carlos De Leon, Marcello Fiorini, Glen Hall, Ian Macchiusi, Sabatino Muccilli, Mark McGugan, William Osmon, Mackenzie Perrault, Liz Petzold, Ted Phillips, Danny Sheahan, Fae Sirois and Lauren Wilson.
Impulsions – Phil Edelstein (2015)
Performer: John Driscoll
Speaking in Tongues – John Driscoll (2012)
Performers: John Driscoll, Doug Van Nort
Microphone – David Tudor (1970)
Performer: John Driscoll
About:
JOHN DRISCOLL is a composer/sound artist who is a founding member of Composers Inside Electronics (CIE) and collaborated on David Tudor’s Rainforest IV project since its inception in 1973. He has toured extensively in the US and Europe with: CIE, David Tudor, Douglas Dunn & Dancers, Maida Withers Dance Construction Co., Stephen Petronio Company, and as a solo performer.
For over 40 years his work has focused on robotic instruments, compositions and sound installations for unique architectural spaces, rotating loudspeakers, and music for dance. He is a pioneer in performance of live electronic music and is know for his innovative electro-acoustical instruments. His work spans many disciplines and has included performances/collaborations with artists: David Tudor, Ralph Jones, Paul DeMarinis, Linda Fisher, Ron Kuivila, Phil Edelstein, Bill Viola, Tom Hamilton, David Moss, Matt Rogalsky, Richard Lerman, Doug Van Nort and many others. He has created music for the Merce Cunningham Dance Co., Douglas Dunn & Dancers, and Maida Withers Dance Construction Co.
His work has been presented at the Kitchen (NYC), Festival d’Automne (Paris), Holland Festival (Amsterdam), Akademie der Künste (Berlin), Museum of Modern Art (Warsaw), MoMA (NYC), Museum der Moderne (Salzburg) and others. He has received numerous awards including a Berlin Residency from the DAAD Berliner Künstlerprogram in 1985/86.
In 2014, he was artist-in-residence at Harvestworks (NYC) developing a work for robotic highly focused speakers, and recently completed new works for ultrasonic instruments. He is reviving Tudor’s Pavilion works in conjunction with CIE, E.A.T. and the David Tudor Project. He was recently the David Tudor Composer-In-Residence at Mills College and has been working on Phil Edelstein’s Impulsions work and on a series of performance works with ultrasonic instruments under the title of Speaking in Tongues and sound installations using ultrasound Slight Perturbations.
In 2015, he and Phil Edelstein collaborated on the sound installation Rainforest V. Rainforest V (variation 1) has been acquired by MoMA (NYC) in 2016 as part of their collection and Rainforest V (variation 2) was acquired in 2015 as part of the collection of Museum der Moderne (Salzburg).
His recent album Fishing for Sound (Berlin) is available on iTunes and other works are on Edition Block, Orange Mountain Music, New World Records and Edition RZ and others.
The Electro-Acoustic Orchestra (dir. Doug Van Nort) is an ensemble comprised of a mixture of acoustic and electronic performers. It is an emergent sonic organism that evolves through collective attention to all facets of sound, soundpainting-inspired conducting, commissioned pieces and improvisational practice. The ensemble functions both as a music course during the Fall semester, as well as the year-round resident ensemble for the DisPerSion Lab where it integrates members of the larger Toronto improvising community.
Members for this performance are Chris Anderson-Lundy, Robert Appleton, David Bandi, Aaron Corbett, Carlos De Leon, Marcello Fiorini, Glen Hall, Ian Macchiusi, Sabatino Muccilli, Mark McGugan, William Osmon, Mackenzie Perrault, Liz Petzold, Ted Philips, Danny Sheahan, Fae Sirois and Lauren Wilson.
Wednesday November 2nd, 10:00pm
Tranzac Club
292 Brunswick Ave., Toronto
416 Creative Improvisers Festival Presents:
Electro-Acoustic Orchestra (dir. Doug Van Nort), feat. Chris Anderson-Lundy, Robert Appleton, David Bandi, Aaron Corbett, Marcello Fiorini, Glen Hall, Mackenzie Perrault, Ted Philips, Danny Sheahan, Fae Sirois and Lauren Wilson
Thursday November 10th @ 4:00pm
Please join us for this special lecture by Ann Warde, a long time associate of Cornell University’s Bioacoustics Research Program!
Scientific Listening
Science embraces acoustics as a way to understand the behavior and communication strategies of animals. However, because of differences between the perceptual scales of human observers and very large, or very small, animal species (whales and crickets, for instance), even the seemingly simple act of determining the source of a sound can be daunting. Our direct perception of the sound (as an alternative to acoustic measurement) can facilitate its translation from a much larger or smaller scale of perception into our own. Can a musical listening also enlighten usscientifically?
There will be time for Q&A and discussion following the lecture.
About the presenter:
Ann Warde is a composer and researcher, currently exploring ways to listen for spatial patterns and sonic characteristics in animal sound recordings. Formerly an analyst and computer programmer at Cornell University’s Bioacoustics Research Program, she was recently a Fulbright Scholar at the Contemporary Music Research Centre, University of York, England. Her study and practice of electro-acoustic music composition and ethnomusicology has led to performances and presentations throughout North America, and most recently in Britain and Belgium. www.zsonics.org
in Partnership with the Music Gallery and the X-Avant Festival:
An Electro-Acoustic Quartet Improvisation Featuring
Pauline Oliveros (v-accordion) / Ione (spoken word) / Anne Bourne (cello) / Doug Van Nort (electronics)Friday, October 14
Doors: 7pm | Concert: 8pm
The Music Gallery, 197 John St.
Tickets: $20 Regular | $10 Members/Students |$15 Advance at musicgallery.org
Friday’s performance is a multichannel, improvisational performance in a rich yet spacious combination of the newest directions of each contributor’s artistry. In recent years, Oliveros has taken to performing with a Roland digital accordion that has extended her sonic range. Her partner Ione improvises text/sound art, while Anne Bourne, herself a crucial contributor to the Music Gallery over several decades, deploys her sublime experiments in cello. Doug Van Nort captures and transforms acoustic signals from his collaborators and own voice, improvising beautiful electronics diffused over 8 speakers.
2016 Wendy Michener Lecture: Pauline Oliveros & Ione
Friday October 14th
11am-1pm
Tribute Communities Recital Hall
York University
For the 2016 Wendy Michener Lecture, the Sensorium Centre, the DisPerSion Lab and the Music Gallery are pleased to present two legendary mavericks of the experimental music and arts scene. The lecture begins with PAULINE OLIVEROS, a senior figure in contemporary American music whose career spans fifty years of boundary dissolving music making. Pauline will discuss her life practice of Deep Listening, which has blossomed into an international community of certified practitioners, artists and scholars. She will discuss a recent project, Sensational Sounds for hearing and non-hearing performers, which brings together hearing and nonhearing performers in ensemble performance, utilizing new instruments built for this context. Pauline will then be joined by IONE, a noted author, playwright/director and poet whose works include the critically acclaimed memoir, Pride of Family Four Generations of American Women of Color, Listening in Dreams and This is a Dream! Pauline and Ione will discuss their current work in progress, The Nubian Word for Flowers, a mixed reality opera. This major work involves an international team of collaborators, cutting edge technology, and immerses the audience in a mythology that spans from Lord Kitchener and his Ontario town namesake to the Nubian people of the Nile River.
A Question and Answer period will follow the lecture.
This lecture is part of the programming for the Music Gallery’s X-Avant Festival. As a sister event, at 8pm at their St. George the Martyr Church venue, the festival will also feature an improvised quartet performance featuring Pauline Oliveros (v-accordion), Ione (spoken word), Anne Bourne (cello) and Doug Van Nort (electronics).
May 19th @ 7:30pm
Tout Croche
York Electro-Acoustic Orchestra
Final public event until the Fall!
Montreal-based Tout Croche is Stephen Harvey & Dominic Thibault. a haven of post-genre sonic experimentation and music making that marvels at noise from beautiful ambience to digital distortion.
This performance is a stop on Tout Croche’s Quebec-Ontario tour, and also features a performance of EAO’s soundpainting-based piece, recently played at ISIM.
May 12th @ 2:00pm
York Electro-Acoustic Orchestra at the 2016 International Society of Improvised Music (ISIM) Festival and Conference
The EAO performs an hour-long set at ISIM. This will be a structured improvisation featuring soundpainting-based conducting.
Wilfrid Laurier University
75 University Ave W, Waterloo, ON
March 29th @ 6:00pm
Uncanny: A Telematic nO(t)pera is a semi-structured, semi-improvised performance linking six performers and their audience across one virtual and five real sites of performance. The musicians utilize their deep listening skills as they listen across networks, across N. America, and across radically different acoustic spaces and instrumentations, in order to find convergence through musical dialogue.
Performers from Stanford (California), RPI (New York) and York Student Projects Gallery will be projected onto materials within the DisPerSion Lab, forming an uncanny trace of their bodily presence, embedded on a blended “stage” with a live electronics performer. Public activity from the Accolade West hallway, leading up to the Student Projects gallery, will be mapped into visual and sonic art and projected within DisPerSion Lab, creating a texturized doppelganger of the activity just outside the Gallery site of performance. The website https://wordpress-311999-2855731.cloudwaysapps.com/live-stream will provide another realization of the performance, allowing audience to chat, interact via twitter, and alter the outcome by conducting the musicians during one section of the piece. The York-based audience is invited to wander between the differing performative realities of the public spaces, the virutal online platform, the live performance within the gallery, and the live performance within DisPerSion lab.
featuring performances by:
Anne Bourne (cello) – York Special Projects Gallery, York University Toronto, ON
Chris Chafe (celletto) – CCRMA, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California
Pauline Oliveros (V-Accordion), Jonas Braasch (Soprano Saxophone) – CRAIVE Lab, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
Doug Van Nort (electronics) – DisPerSion Lab, York University, Toronto, ON
featuring Digital Media art and design work by:
Gale Cabiles – promotional video and graphics
Kevin Feliciano – audio networking and DisPerSion Lab sound engineering
Akeem Glasgow – public, interactive sonic instrument
Radi Hilaneh – video processing and in-York networking
Justin Hsieh – Gallery design and layout
Raechel Kula – DisPerSion Lab projection surfaces and visual design
Rory Hoy – network mapping design
Candy Hua – interactive lighting control, DisPerSion Lab
Tony Liu – remote conducting of performance sites
Sam Noto – visual streaming to virtual performance site
Sarah Siddiqui – website audio remixing/streaming
Keren Xu – promotional video and graphics
Yirui Fu- network lighting control, sound-to-light mapping, DisPerSion Lab
Mingxin Zhang – lighting effects, DisPerSion Lab
Cary Zheng – video networking between sites, documentation
Keke Zhou – public, interactive visual instrument
March 18th @ 12:00-1:00pm
Accolade West Room 103 Michael Century: Diagramming Intensities: Instrument, Score, and Code in Experimental Music and Sound Art
Prof. Century will discuss the performative processes of five sound art works and experimental music compositions, proposing a way to define, diagram, and compare the interconnected roles of instrument, score, and code against each ensemble’s temporal intensity and capacity for generating novel, unpremeditated events. Two have either a textual score only (John Cage’s Inlets/Improvisaton II, (1977)), or none at all (Pauline Oliveros’s I of IV [1966], a recording of an improvisation represented notationally only by a circuit flowchart). Two are sound art pieces defined by a classical score experienced variably by listeners offered choices within the arrangement itself (Janet Cardiff and George Miller’s 40 Part Motet [2001] and Michael Century’s Interactive GoldbergVariations [2012]). The fifth piece, (n)Chant (2001), a sound installation by David Rokeby, consists of a network of seven software agents imbued with a listening and associative language capacity and which intone separately or in unison according to stimuli received by human speakers.
About the speaker:
MICHAEL CENTURY is Professor of New Media and Music in the Arts Department at Rensselaer, which he joined in 2002. Long associated with The Banff Centre for the Arts, he directed the Centre’s Inter-arts program during the 1980s and was the founding director of the Centre’s Media Arts programs in 1988. As a producer in the field of new media art, he initiated The Art and Virtual Environments project (1991-94), one of the first large-scale and sustained investigations of virtual reality technologies as a new medium for artists. He was program director for cultural research at the Montreal Centre d’innovation en technologies de l’information, served as senior policy advisor for art and new technologies to the federal Department of Canadian Heritage, and taught in the Graduate Program in Communications at McGill University before joining Rensselaer. Century authored the study Pathways to Innovation in Digital Culture for the Rockefeller Foundation, and was panelist and co-author for the U.S. National Academy of Science 2003 report on information technologies and creative practices, Beyond Productivity. A pianist, and of late, accordionist, Century’s scholarly interests are in software cultures and theories of socio-technical innovation.
March 16th @ 4:30-6:00pm
Electro-Acoustic Orchestra Session! RSVP to come and try out as a member of EAO for Winter/Spring 2016.
March 9th @ 4:30-6:00pm
Electro-Acoustic Orchestra Session! RSVP to come and try out as a member of EAO for Winter/Spring 2016.
March 7th @ 7:30pm
DisPerSion Lab presents Judy Dunaway in concert
We are pleased to present this special solo balloon performance by one of the
masters of this object-turned-instrument!
Judy Dunaway performs avant-garde compositions and free improvisations on
amplified latex balloons played as musical instruments. She is known
internationally as a “virtuoso of the balloon.” She plays a variety of
shapes and sizes of balloon instruments, each with it’s own special
qualities, pushing the extremes of both pitch range and artistic limits.
Her large rubbed “tenor” balloon gives Jimmy Hendrix’s guitar a run for
the money and her giant balloon pulsates into the depths of the subaudio.
Her abstract music and sounds are difficult to equate with other forms,
depending upon the perception of the individual like the images seen in
fire or clouds.
Dunaway has presented her works for balloons at many major venues and
festivals throughout North America and Europe, including Academy of Media
Arts Cologne (Cologne), Avant-Garde Schwaz Festival (Austria), Alternative
Museum (NYC), Bang on a Can Festival (NYC), Everson Art Museum (Syracuse),
Fylkingen (Stockholm), Frau Musica Nova Festival (Cologne), Guelph Jazz
Festival (Canada), Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors (NYC), New Museum of
Contemporary Art (NYC), Performance Space 122 (NYC), Podewil (Berlin),
Roulette (NYC), CEAIT Festival (Los Angeles), Seltsame Musik Festival
(Krems, Austria), SoHo Arts Festival (NYC), STEIM (Amsterdam) and Zentrum
fuer Kunst und Medientechnologie (Karlsruhe). She has also performed on
balloons with many outstanding musicians including Roscoe Mitchell,
Jennifer Walshe, John Hollenbeck, Yasunao Tone, and the FLUX Quartet. CDs
of her works for balloons have been released on the CRI (Composers
Recordings Inc) and Innova labels, among others.
March 2nd @ 6:00pm
Bring-your-own-sounds cataRT Play Session featuring talk by Ted Phillips
Corpus-based Concatenative Synthesis is a method of sound synthesis in which a large collection of real-world sounds, ranging from musical instruments to environmental recordings, are analyzed and re-combined in order to generate new musical textures. This event provides a unique opportunity to learn the basics of this technique through exploration of cataRT, the most popular software for concatenative synthesis (created at IRCAM in Paris), from Toronto-based cataRT expert Ted Phillips.
Guests are encouraged to bring a usb drive with their favourite sound recordings (.wav or .aif format). After the introductory talk, we will pool these together and interactively explore the corpus of sounds that are created using the cataRT system, in order to discover new recombinations of sonic textures that are made possible by this technique.
6:00-7:00pm introduction to cataRT by Ted Phillips
7:00-8:00pm bring-your-own-sounds play session
March 2nd @ 4:30-6:00pm
Electro-Acoustic Orchestra Session! RSVP to come and try out as a member of EAO for Winter/Spring 2016.
February 25th @ 4:30-6:00pm
Electro-Acoustic Orchestra Session! RSVP to come and try out as a member of EAO for Winter/Spring 2016.
February 20th @ 8:00pm
SLM Ensemble: TransForm
An Evening of Experimental Music Works
Jane Ira Bloom, soprano saxophone
David Morales Boroff, violin
Min Xiao-Fen, pipa
Ned Rothenberg, alto saxophone, bass clarinet
David Taylor, bass trombone
Denman Maroney, piano
Mark Helias, bass
Gerry Hemingway, drumset
Sam Pluta, computer, electronics
Doug Van Nort, computer, electronics, sonifications
Sarah Weaver, conductor, composer
Leonard Nimoy Thalia
Symphony Space
2537 Broadway at 95th Street
New York, NY
February 9th @ 3:30 – 5:30 pm
STAPLR DisPerSion
William Denton
(York University Libraries)
Doug Van Nort
(School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design)
and the
Students of DATT 3200 Performing Telepresence
Re-imagine the real-time streams emanating from, to and about York University Libraries in their physical and virtual homes.
Featuring:
STAPLR – William Denton’s sonification of YUL reference desks
(listen remotely at staplr.org)
and
Sound, Light and Text Instruments – created by Van Nort and students, that react to YUL reference data and to Twitter feeds
(@yorkulibraries, @FrostLibrary, @Bronfmanlibrary, @ScottLibrary, @SteacieLibrary, @dispersion_lab)
Performed between all branches of York University Libraries (Bronfman, Maps, Scott, SMIL, Steacie) and the DisPerSion Lab by DATT students,
using Twitter as their interface.
Experience the immersive version at the DisPerSion Lab (334 Centre for Fine Arts),
Watch/Listen/tweet to the virtual feed (video, audio, Twitter) atwww.wordpress-311999-2855731.cloudwaysapps.com
Participate and help perform the piece by tweeting @dispersion_lab
February 4th @ 8:00pm
Game of Drones
An evening of distributed performances, live coding and laptop orchestras linking DisPerSion to Montreal and Palo Alto.
January 28th @ 6:00pm
Presentation: Shadowpox, by Alison Humphrey
Alison Humphrey will talk about her research-creation dissertation synthesizing sci-fi drama, interactive special effects, and collaborative online culture to build a new framework for young adult learning and civic engagement on the topic of vaccination.
December 10th @ 8:00pm
Electro-Acoustic Orchestra + Anne Bourne/Rick Sacks/Doug Van Nort
Set 1: York EAO
Set 2: Bourne/Sacks/Van Nort trio
…morphs into
Set 3: EAO + trio improv set
The York Electro-Acoustic Orchestra (dir. Doug Van Nort) is an ensemble comprised of a mixture of acoustic and electronic performers. It is an emergent sonic organism that evolves through collective attention to all facets of sound, and improvisational practice. Based at York University, the YEAO performs a range of pieces by its members, invited guest artists and from the experimental music repertoire. Current members are David Bandi, Christopher Cerpnjak, Carlos De Leon, Peter
Ellman, Rory Hoy, Ian Jarvis, Alexander Laurie, Kieran Maraj, Caleb Martin, Mark Mcgugan and Michael Palumbo.
Array Space
155 Walnut Street, Toronto, ON
TICKETS: $8
December 7th + 8th @ 8:00pm
Electric Messiah
A stripped down, surround-sound, electo-improv Messiah for Today’s Toronto
Is it possible to become re-sensitized to this ubiquitous musical masterpiece by taking it apart and putting it back together again? Stripping Handel’s music back down to its barest essentials, Electric Messiah enables four singers, accompanied by guitar and electronics, to explore a selection of the work’s most popular movements through the lens of their own unique styles and cultural backgrounds.
Staged in the intimate, cabaret-style undergound of Toronto’s iconic Drake Hotel, in collaboration with curator Kyle Brenders, dramaturg Ashlie Corcoran and lighting designer Patrick Lavender, Soundstreams’ Electric Messiah will reconnect you to the music of the holiday season in a way that is surprising, fresh, and above all, FUN.
Featured artists:
Christine Duncan, vocals
Carla Huhtanen, vocals
Gabriel Dharmoo, vocals
Jeremy Dutcher, vocals
John Gzowski, guitar
Doug Van Nort, electronics
Electroacoustic Orchestra of York University
TICKETS: $15 in advance or $20 at the door. Available online soundstreams.ca/electric-messiah
November 19th @ 5:00-7:00pm
Deep Listening Session
Deep Listening is a practice focused on experiencing heightened awareness of sound, silence and sounding through meditation, body-work and collective listening-sounding exercises. This session will be presented by certified instructor Doug Van Nort.
November 17th @ 5pm
Lab Meeting
This week we will hear about the project areas that the lab will focus on for the remainder of the academic year, and the focus areas that will define the Thursday play sessions for the coming weeks/months.
November 12th @ 5:00-6:00pm
Lecture:
DisPerSion Lab visiting scholar Margaret Schedel
“The Data Sensorium: Multimodal Exploration of Scientific Data Sets”
Abstract:
Big data is one of the defining problems of our time: we are immersed in a torrent of information from scientific discoveries, news, social circles, and the devices we carry. The challenge is to distill all this abstract data into userful conclusions. The Data Sensorium was launched in 2011 to foster novel kinds of collaborations to yield new insights. Collaborations are not merely fashionable: they are critical to tackling modern scientific and engineering challenges. However collaborations are typically thought of in terms of bleeding across conventional discipline boundaries. While these ‘nearby’ interactions (e.g. between physicists and chemists) are undoubtedly valuable, the Data Sensorium instead explores how seemingly disparate disciplines such as the arts and the sciences can interact to mutual benefit.
Bio:
Margaret Anne Schedel is a composer and cellist specializing in the creation and performance of ferociously interactive media whose works have been performed throughout the United States and abroad. While working towards a DMA in music composition at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, her interactive multimedia opera, A King Listens, premiered at the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center and was profiled by apple.com. Her research focuses on gesture in music, the sustainability of technology in art, and sonification of data.In 2010 she co-chaired the International Computer Music Conference, and in 2011 she co-chaired the Electro-Acoustic Music Studies Network Conference. She ran SUNY’s first Coursera Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), an introduction to computational arts. As an Associate Professor of Music at Stony Brook University, she serves as Co-Director of Computer Music and is the Director of cDACT, the consortium for digital art, culture and technology.
November 12th @ 1:30-2:30pm
York Electroacoustic Orchestra in concert
featuring guest composer Margaret Schedel
An emergent sonic organism that evolves through collective attention to all facets of sound, and improvisational practice. Based at York University, the YEAO (dir. Doug Van Nort) performs a range of pieces by its members, invited guest artists and from the experimental music repertoire. Current members are David Bandi, Christopher Cerpnjak, Carlos De Leon, Peter Ellman, Rory Hoy, Ian Jarvis, Alexander Laurie, Kieran Maraj, Caleb Martin, Mark Mcgugan and Michael Palumbo.
Tribute Communities Recital Hall
Accolade East Building
York University
November 6th @ 10:00pm – 1:00am
416 Creative Improvisers Festival
Come hear a solo improvisation by lab director Doug Van Nort (voice, electronics)
lineup:
10pm Hans Tammen
11pm CCMC
12am Doug Van Nort
Tranzac Club
292 Brunswick Ave
Toronto, ON
Play Session: November 5th @ 5:00pm
November 4th @ 7:30-9:30pm
Lab members Michael Palumbo and Ian Jarvis perform two solo improvisations (electronics) and then a duo collaboration
Part of Troubleshooting~, an outlet for emerging and established artists in electroacoustic improvisation. The series has featured work with Max/MSP, PD, SuperCollider, cataRT, max for Live, tidal, and diy electonics.
Tranzac Club
292 Brunswick Ave
Toronto, ON
Lab Meeting: November 3rd @ 5:00pm
Drop in and say hi / members bring projects for show and tell
October 31st @ 7:00pm
DisPerSion takes AES by storm!
Telematic Concert linking DisPerSion, NYU, Stanford and Argentina
with main audience at NYU’s Frederick Loewe Theater
Performing in the lab will be lab members Ian Jarvis and Doug Van Nort on electronics, along with Maneli Jamal on guitar.
The event is co-produced by lab member Michael Palumbo.
Part of the 139th convention of the Audio Engineering Society_
October 30th
Readings days, no play session
Lab Meeting: October 28 @ 5:00pm
Drop in and say hi / members bring projects for show and tell
October 23rd @ 3:00pm
Presentation on DisPerSion Lab research and cultureMiss the presentation at the lab meeting last Tuesday?Come hear Doug Van Nort speak on”DisPerSion of/and Creativity”Propriomedia Colloquium Series
OCAD, Friday October 23rd, 3-5pm
Play Session: October 22nd
This week, interested members are encouraged to take their improvisational spirit to Professor Casey Sokol’s famous Soirees in ACE 235 @ 8:00pm.DisPerSion members will bring electronic music improv to this event – please contact dispersion.relation@gmail.com in order to coordinate and to take part.
Lab Meeting: Tuesday October 20th @ 5:00pm
The inaugural meeting was a great success – lab introduction, and even a project idea!This week will be more informal, likely within an hour, and will focus on hearing about people’s interests relative to the lab theme.
October 15th @ 5:00pm
DisPerSion Lab Inaugural Play SessionWeekly play sessions in a variety of media, drawing heavily on improvisation and experimentation.A time to develop a practice, test ideas, etc.
Come by and play!
October 13th @ 5:00pm
DisPerSion Lab Inaugural Meeting Come and find out who/what we are and how you might become involved, now or in the future!Lab Director Doug Van Nort will give a brief 15-30 minute overview of research interests and lab focus.Discussion and meet/greet will follow.(+ every following Tuesday at 5:00pm unless otherwise noted on website/door)
September 22nd @ 2:30pm
Workshop by Artist/Scholar in Residence, Dr. Cornelius Pöpel
“Using Audio Signal-Driven Sound Synthesis”
Abstract:
Following up on the conceptual ideas presented in the talk, this hands-on workshop invites participants to explore the integration of the vibratory potential of physical objects with the transformative potential of a well-composed algorithmic structures.
Seating is limited for the workshop. Please RSVP to secure a place.
September 17th @ 2:30pm
Lecture by Artist/Scholar in Residence, Dr. Cornelius Pöpel
“On openness, formalization and resulting questions in the design of computer-based musical instruments”
Abstract:
This talk gives a brief introduction to my research work in the design of computer-based musical instruments (CMI). The focus will lie on the questions what a CMI built for traditional instrumentalists (e.g. string players) should be open for and what constraints come with the process of formalization necessary to be done when developing CMIs. Based on my conclusions I will present an alternating approach to sound synthesis which I call Audio Signal-Driven Sound Synthesis and I will talk about possibilities how basic aspects of the signal-driven approach can be mapped onto other systems/fields in music and what questions may evolve when doing this. I will then set the frame for a bigger NIME view.