musicmovementmedia – art – theatretheory – research – agency

musicmovementmedia – art – theatretheory – research – agency

matralab presents

In collaboration with Witness Open Lab, Hexagram Network, Groupe de Recherche en Médiatisation du Son & Milieux
 

LISTENING BEYOND THE HUMAN

A series of events on sonic realities in the Anthropocene

LISTENING BEYOND THE HUMAN

A series of events on sonic realities in the Anthropocene

Image by Robert Del Tredici

Image by Robert Del Tredici

What is, what could be, the role and impact of the sonic and live arts on our understanding of all kinds of planetary issues such as climate responsibility, decolonization and bio-generational ethics? Over the past year, matralab has begun a profound re-orientation of its research-creation mandate towards such questions. A series of events for the general public now showcases artistic and discursive outcomes of this past year – and aims to define the path towards future research-creation projects. All interested colleagues, students, artists from all disciplines and faculties are invited to discuss, listen and think with us.

*All events are free of charge, but some are place-limited due to space and health considerations. 

Please let us know when you intend to come: matralab@concordia.ca

April 03 / Sunday

15h30  @ UQAM Agora Hydro Quebec (Mezzanine)

LISTENING SESSION
Jen Reimer: THE LOUDEST TONE
Sound artist and musician Jen Reimer has accumulated hours of field recording over several months from a subterranean tunnel in Montréal. A generative interface weaves these recordings from the threshold of silence into a sound mass, where environmental noises and tones resonate in unexpected juxtapositions.
 

16h @ UQAM Agora Hydro Quebec (Mezzanine)

LECTURE
Sandeep Bhagwati: DU MOMENT (PAS) JUSTE. Formations du temps dans la musique algorithmique.
An exploration on the different timescales involved when humans play with live composition softwares (in French). An abridged form of this lecture in English will be part of the UPHONIAS event.
 

*Both events are also part of: Composition, Performance, temps et espace  Rencontres interdisciplinaires GRMS 2022 (RIG 2022)

April 07 / Thursday

5-8 pm @ Milieux Meeting Room EV 11.455

WORKSHOP
UPHONIAS. Sonic Fictions beyond the Human.
Poems / Music / Speculations / Conversations
Ten years ago, matralab hosted an exhibit around “unrealistic” sonic projects. In this poetic and sonic workshop, we will listen to texts and to impossible sonic art that transcends our limitations – and yet evokes aesthetic experiences. Animated by Sandeep Bhagwati, this workshop will also include collective soundmaking and creative brainstorming.

April 10 / Sunday

5-5:30 pm  @ matrabox EV 4.502 
(thereafter: April 11 @ 1, 2, 3 & 4 pm; April 12 @ 1 & 2 pm, April 13 @ 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 & 8 pm and April 14 @ 2 pm)

SOUND INSTALLATION

Terri Hron: EMERALD ASH 
(featuring sounds by Ensemble Paramirabo)
This installation is a reflection on the culling of ash trees in Montréal to reduce the spread of the Emerald Ash borer. It explores the notions of invasive species, parasitism, extinction and inoculation. It will take the form of a slowly evolving video/audio installation from visual and sonic materials collected during her field research and from a concert-recording of an instrumental composition based on them, performed in September 2021 by Ensemble Paramirabo.

Deborah Carruthers: READING BETWEEN THE LINES 
(featuring sounds by Norman Adams, Terri Hron & Jessica Tsang)
This installation is based on research into one of the oldest trees on the historical site of the Maison Saint-Gabriel in Point St. Charles Montréal, which was recently cut down. Carruthers has researched its visual and environmental history, its present stump-state, and reacted to it with drawings, calkings and tracings of this stump. The resulting graphic score will be exhibited with its interpretation by musicians Norman Adams, Terri Hron, and Jessica Tsang.
 

6-7:30 pm  @ Milieux Video Production Studio EV 10.760

TELEMATIC LIVE CONCERT

Meditation for four Trombones.

“So Wrong It’s Right” Trombone Quartet (Montréal/New York): Dave Taylor, Felix Del Tredici, David Whitwell, William Lang
Is a meditative fluid score that guides four trombones through extremely slow sliding chords, creating fleeting beauty and ephemeral harmonies. Each breath of the players unfolds new strata of an eternal sonic landscape between drone and installation. A telematic performance where three musicians zoom in from outdoor settings and one musician (Felix Del Tredici) plays live in the room. World Premiere Live Performance!

April 14 / Thursday

9 am – 12 pm @ Concordia Conference Centre MB 9
PUBLIC RESEARCH WORKSHOP
SENSING TIMES. On  Music, Time Scales & Climate Change.
Impulse Statements: Sandeep Bhagwati / Matthias Fritsch
An in-depth discussion of layered temporalities in geology, anthropology, history, philosophy, music, and sonic arts: philosophers, musicians, sonic artists and composer discuss the role of scales, of simultaneity, of how our human fascination with excitement and emotion in the arts blinds us to insights and experiences of the long timescales of earth.
 


12:30 pm – 1:30 pm @ Concordia Conference Centre MB 9
ARTIST TALK
INFILTRATION.  Contingency, agency and composition.
Charles Antoine Frechette
Brazilian theatre maker Augusto Boal devised the form of invisible theatre as a means of making art in and against oppressive situations. Fréchette has now devised similarly invisible performances of music/theatre compositions which will take place at an undisclosed location and date somewhere around Concordia in early April. In his talk, he will report on these performances and their implications for musicking, composing and performing.
 


2:30 pm – 3:30 pm @ matrabox EV 4.502
ARTISTS TALK in their installations
Terri Hron & Deborah Carruthers
 


4 pm – 7 pm @ Concordia Conference Centre MB 9
PUBLIC RESEARCH WORKSHOP
CHANGING PLACES.  Listening as a Non-Human Activity.
An in-depth discussion of the role of live arts (which are by nature human-centric) in the larger context of trans-human environments. What does it mean to change places with natural processes, to co-exist with other inhabitants, to “be geologically human” (Wood), to “stay with the trouble” (Haraway) – and yet to make sonic art for humans alive now?

April 14 / Thursday

9 am – 12 pm @ Concordia Conference Centre MB 9
PUBLIC RESEARCH WORKSHOP
SENSING TIMES. On Music, Time Scales & Climate Change.
Impulse Statements: Sandeep Bhagwati / Matthias Fritsch
An in-depth discussion of layered temporalities in geology, anthropology, history, philosophy, music, and sonic arts: philosophers, musicians, sonic artists and composer discuss the role of scales, of simultaneity, of how our human fascination with excitement and emotion in the arts blinds us to insights and experiences of the long timescales of earth.
 


12:30 pm – 1:30 pm @ Concordia Conference Centre MB 9
ARTIST TALK
INFILTRATION. Contingency, agency and composition.
Charles Antoine Frechette
Brazilian theatre maker Augusto Boal devised the form of invisible theatre as a means of making art in and against oppressive situations. Fréchette has now devised similarly invisible performances of music/theatre compositions which will take place at an undisclosed location and date somewhere around Concordia in early April. In his talk, he will report on these performances and their implications for musicking, composing and performing.
 


2:30 pm – 3:30 pm @ matrabox EV 4.502
ARTISTS TALK in their installations
Terri Hron & Deborah Carruthers
 


4 pm – 7 pm @ Concordia Conference Centre MB 9
PUBLIC RESEARCH WORKSHOP
CHANGING PLACES. Listening as a Non-Human Activity.
An in-depth discussion of the role of live arts (which are by nature human-centric) in the larger context of trans-human environments. What does it mean to change places with natural processes, to co-exist with other inhabitants, to “be geologically human” (Wood), to “stay with the trouble” (Haraway) – and yet to make sonic art for humans alive now?

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©2022 matralab

©2022 matralab