New Adventures in Sound Art’s (NAISA) is presenting the 23rd edition of its SOUNDplay Festival, NAISA’s annual fall festival that encourages new avenues of exploration between sound and new media. Artists included in this year’s festival include Colin Frank, Laura De Decker, Stefan A. Rose, Herménégilde Chiasson, Edgardo Moreno, Véro Marengère, April Martin and Ben McCarthy.
“This year’s SOUNDplay Festival connects NAISA’s 2024 theme of Reimagine to the immense world of play available to artists wishing to abstract both images and sounds,” says artistic director Darren Copeland. “This year’s artists Reimagine places, actions, and objects. On the surface they depart abstractly from their subjects but in doing so they afford us a deep immersion into a hidden and unexpected beauty.”
SOUNDplay opens on September 26 with Artist Talk and New Interactive Installation by Colin Frank.
Still image from Soundmap of Sherbrooke’s Machine Songs by Colin Frank
A Soundmap of Sherbrooke’s Machine Songs is an interactive installation by Colin Frank that allows visitors to navigate a soundscape recreating urban industrial spaces to uncover the unexpected beauty of machines. Join Colin Frank for his introduction to the piece on the opening night of the installation at 7 pm on September 26. The installation runs until January 6, 2025.
48-Hour Sound Art Challenge Weekend Intensive
Anton Pickard working on his 2023 composition Sunday Shortwave during the 48 Hour Sound Art Challenge
This weekend intensive provides the opportunity for participants to create a sound art miniature in a 48-hour period on the theme Reimagine. The 48-hour Sound Art Challenge will take place at Warbler’s Roost, a 14-acre rural, forested and lake-side property in the Almaguin Highlands. Peer learning and sharing will be encouraged throughout the process. Listen to pieces made during last year’s workshop on NAISA’s Souncloud page.
SOUNDplay Video Screening “Reimagined Realities” on October 26
Still image from the video Lake Composition by April Martin and Ben McCarthy
A screening of video works that treat sound, image and language with equal importance in communicating ideas and in the diverse ways they abstract from reality. Included on the program is Peinture Noire by Laura De Decker, Stefan A. Rose & Herménégilde Chiasson, Postcard by Edgardo Moreno, Hydra by Véro Marengère and screening adaptation of Lake Composition by April Martin and Ben McCarthy.
Wetland Project included in Water (Deshkan Ziibi) YouTube Livestream
A new audio-visual version of the Wetland Project by Brady Marks and Mark Timmings will be featured in the 12-hour event Water (Deshkan Ziibi) taking place at the artLAB Gallery in London, Ontario and on YouTube. This edition of the event is curated by Christof Migone, Sheri Osden Nault, and Ruth Skinner.
New Adventures in Sound Art is a non-profit sound art organization in South River, Ontario that is funded in part by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the Department of Canadian Heritage. NAISA would also like to thank Reuten Construction, Charles Street Video, and Warbler’s Roost for their sponsorship of SOUNDplay 2024.
The SOUNDplay Festival takes place at the NAISA North Media Arts Centre and Warbler’s Roost, South River and runs September 26, 2024 to January 6, 2025. There is a Pay-What-You-Can Donation for the exhibition and artist talk, $12 for the Video Screening, and a $283 registration and accommodation fee for the 48-Hour Sound Art Challenge.
For more information visit NAISA’s website.
