Report from the New Maps of Time sound workshop Calgary Canada

‘New Maps of Time’ is a project and workshop about mapping architectural structures and urban spaces using sound as a means to analyze and express actions within a space. read more…

Workshop organized by EMMEDIA, artist-run project space, from April 20th – 23rd, 2010. Special thanks to Tomas Jonsson and the helpful crew at EMMEDIA for coordinating this event and to Eesti Kultuurkapital for travel support.

Click the image to see the Calgary Sound Map on Radio Aporee

Some notes… Calgary is a modern city that sprawls out on the plains of western Canada just east of the Canadian rocky mountains. On the surface the usual urban soundscape of car traffic and construction noise blankets the subtleties of the larger environmental context that could potentially link the city’s relatively close proximity to nature (there are few industrial relics downtown). An abundance of paths along the river and an active public life offer more space to more diverse aspects of navigating the city. This where I found some of the more unique elements explored during the workshop. There were two pedestrian suspension bridges over the river that are highly dynamic structures rich with sonic qualities. The pedestrian network downtown known as the +15 walkway system is a feature of the city that blurs the boundary of public and commercial space. A study of the bridges of the +15 system gave a different sonic and visual perspective than the standard street level counterpart. This can be seen in the videos compiled below.

The Sound Locations channel on Vimeo has 3 videos made during the workshop. All sounds were left as they were recorded (no effects or processing done during post production):

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

New Maps of Time
sound workshop Praha / Kladno Czech Republic
‘New Maps of Time’ is a project and workshop about mapping architectural and urban spaces using sound as a means to express actions within a space. read more…

Workshop Dates: 9-13th October 2009

Festival Dates: 10-16th October
in collaboration with FAMU, Skolska28, Open EYE project, Four Days in Motion festival, Biennial Vesitges of Industry

online: Radio Aporee Maps | Prague Favourite sounds

Site-specific sound actions:

Museum of former Sewage Plant – Piece for 10 underground channels: mp3 file

Passage way in central Prague – Komedie Pasaz action with multiple mics: mp3 file

Stromovka Park in Prague – Clapping action with multiple mics: mp3 file

Video gallery on Vimeo

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This workshop focused on sound as transmitter of nonverbal information, whether as a tool for communication or as a description of physical or imaginary space. We focused on sound’s ability to define/describe space, and on our ability to resonate, alter or create space by using sound. We also explored animal communication and group activity using simple everyday objects. A strong focus was placed on environmental listening, and the development of the ear towards detailed sonic perception. Using small acoustic objects and the space itself, we experimented with methods of group nonverbal sonic communication, with giving our location a voice, and with creating new spaces towards an understanding of sonic scenography. The workshop opened with an extended listening session, after which the participants  worked through a series of sonic games and were asked to bring objects to use in the later stages. -patrick mcginley

Tampere Finland

This was a 3 day revenant workshop organized by Rajataide artists association of Tampere. We would like to thank our hosts for their efforts and the participants for their time and energy. The group was small but diverse and included students of various disciplines, artists, a teacher and a journalist. Apart from the excersises, some important topics were raised in many discussions we had, including; recognition of sound sources, analysis and rationalization in listening, imaginary vs real spaces, sound aesthetics, meaningful soundscapes, awareness and sharpening of senses, the role of technology, sound perception in different cultural contexts, rules of agreement in groups, sonic power vs group power, sound as emotional, textural and gestural signs, “primitive” and “tribal” feelings, sound as non-verbal information and much more.

Bytom / Wrocław Poland

HELL OF THINGS

2 performances and a sound workshop with murmer (patrick mcginley)

jgrzinich/murmer – opening concert:
19:00, saturday, 7th february

revenant : bytom – sound workshop:
friday and saturday, 13-14th of february

opening performance
murmer/jgrzinich live at Kronika gallery (excerpt recorded by patrick mcginley): download link
rynek 26, bytom, poland

—————

plus: Galleria Entropia

jgrzinich/murmer live in Wrolcaw

18:00, free
zeźnicza 4, wrocław

Special thanks to Krzysztof Gutfrański for helping organize all this and for taking photos!

Here is a video about the performance in Wroclaw. It was billed as “Revenant Sound” which is not entirely accurate. While we do use many elements of the space and participation of those who are present, there are many added elements and aided sounds as well. Anyway its good to see how people interpret this…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Riga / Pedvale Latvia

This sound workshop was given from August 29 – September 7 2008 in Latvia. The first part was in Riga and the second at the Pedvale open air museum. The workshop was a collaborative effort between Patrick McGinley, Max Shentelevs and myself. Several locations will be included with a live performance event at NOASS on 7.9 with:

- PB8 (LT)
- soundmeccano (LV)
- Patrick McGinley (US/FR)
- bērnu rīts / elffriede / joy laav (LV/AT/FIN)

Listen to an excerpt of the “soundwalk” group sound action: mp3_file

It was a pleasure to work more with old friends and meet new people. Special thanks to all those who gave their time and energy to this workshop.

Full details about this workshop can be found on the Sound as Space, Sound as Language website.

Last week during the MoKS Kultuurijaam event in Tartu, Patrick McGinley and Maksims Shentelevs gave an excellent sound workshop entitled “sound as space / sound as language”. I won’t give a rundown of all that happened (because I was busy with my own workshop), but I’ll leave you with a mix I made from some of the material that was recorded during the workshop.

Sound as Space – jgrzinich mix (15:00) Estonia, February 2008: Download Link

There was also a sound workshop given by Lau Nau of Finland. She worked with groups of children to generate original improvised soundtracks to films. This has been an ongoing project for Lau Nau to explore her interest in making live film soundtracks.

(photos by evelyn müürsepp)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Riga Sound Locations was a four day workshop that took place at various spaces around the city of Riga, Latvia. The project starts with the concept of site-specific artistic activity while integrating contemporary sound recording practices that cover areas of “performance”, “field recording”, “improvisation” and “documentation”. With the site being the prime focus, the artist as actor and instigator uses the means of sound to investigate the qualities of of the surrounding space and his or place in it. Riga Sound Locations (”Rīgas Skaņu Vietas“) was a workshop conducted from August 14-16th at various sites around Riga and was organized by Maksims Shentelevs and myself in cooperation with NOASS. The aim of the workshop was to visit 6 different locations around the city in order to investigate site-specific sound activity related to each place. These activities would be recorded and filmed to document each intervention. A group of about 6 people went out each day to see what could be found that was unique to each locations. The sites included an abandoned apartment, construction site, former power station, abandoned warehouse, old military airport and a backyard. Apart from the backyard all of these locations were temporary in the sense that they either being developed or destroyed at some point in the near future. So not only were we documenting our activities we attempted to capture the transitional feeling of the spaces.

day 1, at an abandoned flat across the Daugava river.

day 1, 25 stories up on the roof of a new skyscraper

day 1, Jekabs tries to contact mic a noisy construction elevator

day 2, playing found plates at an empty factory space

day 2, ringing hanging pipes at an empty factory space

day 2, exploring the steam turbine at the former Riga power station

day 3, rolling ceramic insulators at an abandoned military air hangar

day 3, improvising with found objects in an abandoned air hangar

day 3, an improv session in the backyard

day 4, returning to the former power station

day 4, Patrick McGinley joins in to play the steam turbine wheel

The video recordings were edited and presented as an installation at the SKAN sound art event in Riga from September 26th to October 13th.

Former Riga Power Station (2:02) Riga, August 2007: Download Link

Former Military Airplaine Hangar (2:08) Riga, August 2007: Download Link

Backyard Improvidation (2:20) Riga, August 2007: Download Link

participants included: John Grzinich, Toomas Thetloff, Maksims Šenteļevs, Jēkabs Nīmanis, Kaspars Kalniņš, Gints Birznieks, Ivars Šmits, Ivars Gravlējs, Mārtiņš Strautnieks (Martines Gonzales), Jānis Biķis, Kaspars Groševs, Patrick McGinley, Johanna Lonka

Check the Sound Locations channel on Vimeo for more documentation

Click here to view the embedded video.

For the month of September visual and sound artist Jim Haynes was in the MoKS residency. Towards the end of the month we made an excursion with Jim and fellow artist Toomas Thetloff to one of my favorite “lost” places in Estonia, the former collective farm site known as “Avangard” (yes, that was its name). Avangard is about a 20 minute drive north of Tartu and is now mostly a collection of old barns, decaying structures and small local industries. Nonetheless the place provides us with a number of possibilities for site-specific sound activites. Last year, along with Toomas, Patrick McGinley and Hitoshi Kojo we made a special performance evening at Avangard on the occasion of the traditional Estonian “jaanipäaev” or mid-summer day as well as several earlier recording sessions.

On this visit I was particularly drawn to the abundance of decaying and rusted metal on the numerous structures around the site. It may have been because of Jim’s interest in rusting and corrosive processes that are prevalent in his visual work of which I have an interest but have never worked with directly. Interestingly one of the stories told by Jim at his artist talk at Y-Gallery in Tartu, was about attempting to translate the rusting process into sound by somehow recording it. Although he explained his attempts were not entirely successful the idea is intriguing. The next best thing then, is to maybe use rust itself as a sound element in exploring the surfaces and textures of resonant objects. This is part of what was happening in our last session at Avangard. So besides the macro images I captured with my camera (above), there was a certain degree of rusted textures that found their way into our sonic explorations. I’m posting a few excerpts from our recordings below.

Avangard Rust 1 (4:25) Estonia, September 2007: Download Link

Avangard Rust 2 (2:50) Estonia, September 2007: Download Link