Electricity is Magic

As we plan our 2012 season, we invite submissions from individual artists, collectives, or curators to submit proposals for the EiM Gallery. Our space is non-traditional, and as such, we have some unique parameters for artists to contend with. Our presentation spaces are as follows:

- The Blue Wall. appx. 5m x 2.5m, appropriate for any wall-based works. These works should probably look good on blue.

- The Scrim. appx. .7m x 1m, hole in a wall between two rooms, covered with a scrim. This space will be used primarily for video works. The Scrim is viewable from both sides, a fact which should be considered when proposing works.

- The Dining Room. our dining room comes completely empty, and is appx. 4m x 3m. This space can be used for a large sculptural work, installations, performances, audio work, etc.

- The Backyard. we have a small, unkempt, mostly concrete-covered backyard, which, legend has it, has a pond hidden somewhere underneath the concrete and planks of wood. There is a large brick wall at the back of the yard, and four steps leading down from the house. This space is appropriate for installations, performances, sculptures, etc.

- The Basement. We have a large, poorly-lit, unfinished basement. This space is appropriate for installations, performances, sculptures, audio work, etc.

When applying, please include:

1) A description of the proposed piece(s), including proposed presentation space
2) Bio/C.V.
3) Appropriate links, including website, images, publications, etc.
4) If the work you are proposing a new piece, any appropriate diagrams, etc.
5) Dimensions, durations and technical requirements of the proposed piece.
6) If the work has been presented previously, please include details as to where and when.

Submissions are ongoing. Please apply via email to submissions@electricityismagic.com.

An intimate and haunting glimpse into an emotive reinterpretation of an ancient mystical practice performed by traditionally trained Mevlevi whirling dervish Raqib Brian Burke of the Open Secret School of Whirling and Canadian soundscape artist Eric Powell accompanied by a visual composition by artist and dervish Mira Hunter. Eric will create music using acoustic instruments recorded live into harmonies as Raqib translates them into movement through a 13th century lens. Every Room has its own voice, hiding there until it is made visible.

Chorégraphe : Mira Hunter
Interprète : Raqib Brian Burke
Artiste sonore : Eric Powell

Dear friends,

It’s been quite a year of excitement and adventure here at Electricity is Magic; much of it was unexpected, but most of it was wonderful. We started the year based out of Chicago and Regina, and ended it based out of Toronto and Montreal. As such, we were forced to bid some (temporary) adieus, but we’ve met some amazing new friends along the way.

Our programming this year was exciting, challenging, and diverse. Some highlights included our “Dissecting the Mediator” show at Jennifer Norback Fine Art in Chicago, featuring Nigel Taylor delivering an astonishing set for solo trumpet, Daniel Arkfeld performing Max Alexander’s “Fast Hearts” (the first performance of the piece in four years), and Eric Powell’s historic world premiere of his piece for bassoon and breathalyzer.

We also performed with the inimitable Campbell Foster as the Nouveau Futurist Art of Noise Orchestra in Toronto’s Nuit Blanche, transforming two trucks and one 30-foot sculpture into playable feedback instruments. A special thanks goes out to the amazing group of artists who joined us for that piece, including Lee Blalock, John Puciele, Tyler Hagan, Lana Gorlitz & Meghan Armstrong.

In May, we released Max Alexander’s “Ornament & Crime”, his fourth full-length record (and second on EiM). And along with this email, we’re proud to announce not one but TWO end-of-year gifts! The first is Eric Powell’s “Under Singing Skies”, an EP song suite commissioned by the Saskatchewan Arts Council in 2010; the second is Max Alexander’s “Exit Strategy: Selections from Chicago 2007-2011”, including soundtrack work, b-sides, and other unreleased material.

As proud as we are of the work we’ve done in 2011, we’re even more excited about 2012. We have an ambitious agenda, including the opening of the Electricity is Magic Gallery in Toronto, and new releases from Nigel Taylor and Max Alexander. There will be many details in the months to come, so check electricityismagic.com often for updates.

Thank you fellow artists, friends, collaborators, for your continued support. We really had a blast this year, and it meant so much seeing you at the shows, or hearing your feedback on the music, or high-fiving us when we pass you in street.

All the best over the holidays, and enjoy the new music!

Your friends,
The EiM Team

Soul of the Street is a dynamic presentation of new media technologies integrated with installation artwork fused with live improvisational performances to create a distinct form of living archive and landscape, an interactive experience created by media and performance artists.

During Supercrawl 2011, audiences follow the SOS Map on Iphones, cellphones and Blackberries to discover the Squatters assembling Shantytown, track a roaming Squatter Minstral, and journey to multiple presentation nodes to discover film & video and audioscape implants on the street.

Live videotape of the improvisational performance of Shantytown: The Squatters at Supercrawl 2011 will be projected back onto the shacks and environs superimposed onto subsequent performances over the exhibition term building layered visual sequences to the Shantytown installation.

On completion of the exhibition, a videotaped version of the integration–live performances and projections will be posted to the website—another layer of virtual exhibition. The inter-disciplinary nature of Soul of the Street – media, installation and performance arts creates a synergistic experience for the Artists, audiences, and the cultural community at large.

"This year, the children of Artasia are going beyond what they see in their communities. They're also paying attention to what they hear. Acoustic (Sound) Ecology is all about listening to the environment we live in. Sound artist Victoria Fenner has worked with children in five Artasia sites this summer to show them how to become Sound Ecologists. She has recorded soundmaking and listening sessions with the children and used these recordings to create special sound art compositions. Eric Powell is also a sound artist. He is known for his innovative uses of technology for sound installations and performances. He joins us this summer from Regina, Saskatchewan.

The first movement, 'what do you hear in your neighbourhood?', explores what the children hear in their neighbourhood every day. 'What would like to change in your neighbourhood?' is the second movement and is a conversation exploring what they like about their communities, and what they want to change. The third movement, 'what do you imagine in your neighbourhood?' is a flight of fantasy, reflecting an imaginary world where the children would like to live.

The five locations:

Wesley Urban Ministries
155 Queen Street North

YMCA - Jamesville Community Centre
209 MacNab Street North

Eva Rothwell
460 Wentworth North

Boys and Girls Club
45 Ellis Avenue

Today's Family
47 Ottawa Street South

As a little bonus, here's a piece by Eric:

Paper Session #6: Curation, chaired by Bentley Jarvis

Saturday, August 13th
14:30–16:00

We Built Ourselves a Ghetto: An Analysis of Curatorial Practices in Electroacoustic Music
by Matthew Griffin

The notion of the Electroacoustic Concert bases itself on a single and simple premise: that we, as a group or as a collective, should listen to audio art that was specifically created to sound ideal played through an array of speakers. There is nothing inherently incorrect about this premise. In fact, this premise is rather magnificent. We should note the suggested democracy in such a premise: any audio, without respect for musical or social context, can be experienced on a formal level in the Electroacoustic Concert. However, the fundamental problem is that this simply doesn’t happen. There are covert parameters placed on that which is appropriate for such a listening context. To which one must say: fair enough. If these additional parameters exist within a genre of listening contexts, they must serve some aesthetic purpose, some way of furthering a pursuit of the audio arts that would be compromised if corrupted. However, this paper will argue that that is not the case at all. In fact, the notion of the Electroacoustic Concert effectively denies the necessary genre dialogue that would allow electroacoustic music to grow, expand, and change.

This dialogue, though, absolutely exists, though largely through other genres listening to and gleaning many fascinating compositional and studio techniques from electroacoustic music. Specifically, the work of David Toop and Paul Hegarty take a broad view of studio-based composition and frame in such a way that electroacoustic composition can and should be respected within and dialoguing with a larger scope of contemporary audio art, and this paper will propose that a more contemporary view of the Electroacoustic Concert should include a broader range of compositions to facilitate this dialogue.

Broadly, there will be a proposal that certain subsets of contemporary acoustic compositions, dance music, hip-hop, and pop music strive for the same goals as those sought after in electroacoustic music, and further that those genres are already in dialogue with the practice, and thus should be engaged accordingly. Specifically, this paper will go in to detail discussing what it means for audio to be conceived for the speaker, parsing those attributes in the above genres which can be seen as in dialogue with electroacoustic music, ultimately arriving at the conclusion that, to properly contextually asses various musics, the musical compositional motivation and acoustic compositional motivation can and should be viewed independently.

The goal, as ever in electroacoustic music, is to be those who are truly listening, to that which extends beyond social context, and can effectively judge that which is an effective (and affective) use of the tools and techniques which can generate some sort of aesthetic change through audio art. The Electroacoustic Concert, from a curatorial standpoint, can be seen as a gesture of sharing; that there is a moment of collectivity presented, in which the collective shares a unique acoustic experience. But this simple artistic gesture can include a much more sophisticated dialogue than it currently does. From where we now stand, we’re inside a self-made ghetto, and it’s only through a more democratic curatorial vision that we can get out.

Matthew Griffin is a musician and composer from Kitchener, Ontario, Canada now living and working in Chicago. He got his BFA from Simon Fraser University’s School for the Contemporary Arts and his MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In addition to his work with Electricity is Magic, he is the Audio Curator with LiveBox Gallery. His recent exhibitions include a commission from the Experimental Sound Studio’s Florasonic audio installation series at the Lincoln Park Conservatory; his audiovisual work “Empire” showed in Seoul, South Korea as part of the [chicago] group exhibition presented by Prak-Sis Contemporary Art Association; and he premiered his new piece for Solo Trombone and car stereos, “Second Line for We”, in December.

Electroacoustic Ageism
by Steven Naylor

This paper explores some of the ways ageism may appear in the practice and study of electroacoustic music. Its perspective is rooted in direct involvement in the subject area, similar to participantobservation work. However, the analysis is not objective ethnography or sociology. Rather, it is fundamentally a series of subjective observations and reflections about an area of artistic practice of personal importance to the author. In its broadest sense, ageism is discrimination based on age. Originally associated with prejudice towards the elderly, the term is increasingly applied to any situation where a group or individual’s competence, desirability, acceptance, or skill is assessed primarily (and presumably unfairly) on the basis of length or stage of life — whether young or old — rather than pragmatic criteria. To fully understand the potential range of ageism in electroacoustic music, we must extend that definition to include not only a priori assessments of artists and scholars based on their chronological age, but also pre-judgements of the techniques and technologies they use, and of the stylistic trends or approaches evident in their work. Its impact in those additional areas is amplified both by the accelerating pace of information dissemination, and by frequent shifts in our technological and stylistic expectations. This extended definition provides us with three distinct, though ultimately interlinked, categories of ageism to consider: chronological; technological; and stylistic. We consider these manifestations of ageism from two complementary pairs of perspectives: internal vs. external assessment, and inclusionary vs. exclusionary group behaviour.

Steven Naylor composes electroacoustic and instrumental concert music, performs (piano, electronics, seljefløyte) in ensembles concerned with collective creation, through-composition, and improvisation, and creates scores and sound designs for theatre, film, television and radio. His electroacoustic works have been performed in festivals and concerts in Canada, UK, France, Brazil, Australia, and USA, and broadcast on radio and over the internet. Naylor is the artistic director of the recently formed subText Ensemble (2009), a group that combines instrumental and electroacoustic resources in throughcomposed and improvised music. He is a former president of the CEC, and co-founder/co-artistic director of the Oscillations Festival of Electroacoustic Music in Nova Scotia. Steven Naylor completed the PhD in Musical Composition at the University of Birmingham, UK. He is presently an Adjunct Professor in the School of Music at Acadia University, and resides in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Further information: www.sonicart.ca

A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and… an acousmatic composition? An analysis of contemporary cross-sensory curatorial and presentation practices in electroacoustic art music
by Eric Powell

Public presentations of electroacoustic art (EA) music exist in a wide range of formats – from simple studio-based show-and-tells, to low-key happenings in gritty artist-run venues, to technically elaborate multi-channel concert hall performances. Regardless of venue, there is a growing interest in creating a sense of the presentation existing as an ‘event,’ moving beyond the basic audience/performer, ear/loudspeaker relationships to one that brings the listener into an active role in the performance, integrating elements of cross- or multi-sensory perception. This practice is becoming increasingly popular in visual and contemporary art, with a large number of artists integrating olfactory elements into their installations including Koo Jeong A & Bruno Jovanovik, Haegue Yang, and Federico Diaz (ARTnews, March 2011).

I am interested in documenting the growing number of EA concert events that combine sound with chemosensory elements (taste and smell). Since 2009 the number of EA presentations that have featured a curated concert with specially selected wine, food or liquor pairings to accompany each piece has grown rapidly. By combining elements of performance theory, sensory perception, wine culture and electroacoustic listening practices, this paper examines 5 recent public presentations in Canada and the USA that have combined food, drink and sound to create a cross-sensory concert experience: the Experimental Sound Studio’s Vinosonic I and II, Holophon’s Wine & JTTP-based Friend-raiser, their presentation of 60x60 at the Bushwakker Brew Pub, as well as Julia Miller’s Articular Facet 3. These events will serve as case studies for this paper, with comparisons made to other cross-sensory installations and presentations from artists working across contemporary art disciplines.

In addition to outlining contemporary electroacoustic music listening practices, presentation strategies and curatorial methodologies, I will outline the difficulties and rewards of attempting to curate a multi-sensory presentation environment, as well as outlining the strategies curators and composers have employed to impose or obscure meaning in the perceptual cross-talk between chemo- and vibratory-sensation. Using curatorial statements, artist interviews, audience feedback and first-person recollections, this paper outlines both how composers have created work for a particular sensory combination and to the methods employed by curators when they make their choices to combine certain sounds and flavours. I will also examine wine-tasting practices, terminology and the role of sommeliers in the curatorial process. I aim to determine whether this quasi-synesthetic curatorial model has value in enhancing the perception of both sound and taste. Is this a sustainable method of EA concert curation, or is the offer of wine or liquor simply a ploy to encourage the normally reserved elecroacoustic concert-going audiences to show up to an event? Other considerations will be brought into these case studies, including the importance of venue selection, and how these events differ from a popular music experience in a bar or restaurant. The final component of this paper will look to the future of this cross-sensory practice. Can these events bring in new audiences – further developing the appreciation of EA music in a long-term, sustainable way, or is this a flash-in–thepan, a momentary affinity for a new or unusual concert experience?

Eric Powell is a sound artist and composer working with a wide variety of presentation methods including stereo and multi-channel tape, live performance with integrated electronics, as well as site-specific and interactive installations. In 2008 he received his MFA in electroacoustic composition from Simon Fraser University. Recently, he was commissioned by the Saskatchewan Arts Board to write a piece for multi-channel tape and chamber ensemble exploring the aural character of Saskatchewan. His work has been heard throughout Canada, Mexico and the USA with recent presentations at Toronto’s New Adventures in Sound Art, Hamilton’s James Street North Art Crawl, the Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago and the CanAsian Dance Festival in Toronto. He is a founding member of the Saskatchewan-based Holophon Audio Arts organization, and co-founder of electricity is magic — two groups dedicated to the creation and presentation of sound-as-art.

Choreography: Davy Bisaro
Music: Max Alexander

Movers: Davy Bisaro & Miko Jones Sobreira

Players: Max Alexander, David Schotzko, Chris Aslandis, Lauren Hall, Ryan Wilding

*****

www.davybisaro.com
www.maxalexander.net
www.artspin.ca

*****

From Artspin.ca:

"This Thursday June 30th come out and join us for our first tour of the season! We meet at the gates Trinity Bellwoods Park between 6:30 and 7pm, and ride out from there!"

Part 1 (including a protracted introduction - I'd recommend starting at about 90 minutes in...):


Part 2:

Max will be presenting a piece of fixed tape and improvised instrumental; Nigel will be performing solo trumpet w/ amplifier; Eric will be digitally processing his solo bassoon playing using a breathalyzer; SCA will be improvising with electronics and a digital third member.

Each artist's unique approach will be presented, followed by a Q&A regarding the work.

-----

Max is a musician and composer from Kitchener, Ontario, Canada now living and working in Chicago. He got his BFA from Simon Fraser University's School for the Contemporary Arts and his MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In addition to his work with Electricity is Magic, he is the Audio Curator with LiveBox Gallery. His recent exhibitions include a commission from the Experimental Sound Studio's Florasonic audio installation series at the Lincoln Park Conservatory; his audiovisual work "Empire" showed in Seoul, South Korea as part of the [chicago] group exhibition presented by Prak-Sis Contemporary Art Association; and he premiered his new piece for Solo Trombone and car stereos, "Second Line for We", in December.

Sound Collision Alliance is a group of three composers brought together by their shared interest in exploring the world outside of the Western classical conservatory style of sound creation (where they were studying when they met). Now in an undefined sound realm, the SCA rarely discusses melodic or harmonic structure in preparing for performances. Instead, they use improvisation as a vehicle to investigate the interplay of sound. Through experimenting with the spatial, harmonic, and chronological elements of sound, SCA members seek to provide themselves—and the audience—with a forum to experience vibrations and resonance in an uninhibited environment.

Nigel Taylor is a trumpet player and composer based in Boston. He was brought up in the orchestral tradition and held the position of assistant principal trumpet with the Regina symphony orchestra from 2003-2009. In 2009 he resigned his position to further explore post jazz forms of improvised music and contemporary composition at the New England Conservatory. The past two years he has performed and recorded with Boston based groups, 'Joint Raker' and 'Elbow Room' as well as with 'Survivor's Breakfast' where he will be featured on an upcoming 'Tzadic' release by NYC's downtown stalwart, Anthony Coleman.

Eric Powell is a sound artist and composer working with a wide variety of presentation methods including stereo and multi-channel tape, live performance with integrated electronics, as well as site-specific and interactive installations. In 2008 he received his MFA in electroacoustic composition from Simon Fraser University. His work has been heard throughout Canada, Mexico and the USA with recent presentations at Toronto’s New Adventures in Sound Art, Hamilton’s James Street North Art Crawl, the Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago and the CanAsian Dance Festival in Toronto.

Listen to "In Stereo Live @ ThreeWalls":


Also, head over to Book Thug to purchase a copy of Paul's wonderful collection.

Listen to "Put Your Lips Together and Blow":

The evening begins at 6:30 with a sound experience by Max Alexander.
Max Alexander has shown around the world, from Takaka Hill, New Zealand, to Regina, Saskatchewan. Also known as Matt Griffin, he runs the experimental music record label Electricity is Magic. He has curated programs for the Experimental Sound Studio, The West Coast Composers Symposium, the Two Can Play at That Game Festival (Chicago). Later in the evening, Max teams up with Eric Powell for a live improvisational performance.

Eric Powell is a multidisciplinary artist working with the interrelationship between space, place and sound. This work has found him integrating immersive soundscapes, live musical composition, theater and dance. In addition to multi-channel electroacoustic compositions, he has created sound and music for several theatrical productions and gallery installations. In 2008, Eric installed sound.garden.scape: Gastown, an interactive short-range FM piece mapping Vancouver's Gastown area into the VIVO Media Arts Centre using portable FM radios.

We are very excited to announce the Literary participants for the night: Zach Dodson, Natalie Edwards and Justyn Harkin.

Zach Dodson’s hybrid typo/graphic novel, boring boring boring boring boring boring boring, came out last year under the nom de plume Zach Plague. He hosts The Show N’ Tell Show. His writing has appeared in The2ndHand, ACM, Take the Handle, and Proximity Magazine. Zach Dodson is the creative mind behind featherproof books, bleached whale design studio, and the Show 'n Tell Design Show.

Natalie Edwards once worked at an Australian indoor theme park, but now writes about art. You can find her fiction in the Chicago Reader, theRumpus.net, Mcsweeney’s Internet Tendency, and on TripleQuick Fiction. What to expect on Friday night: one piece is going to be about fruit and bassoons, and one is going to be about dub music and sound poetry, kind of animal remixes. Reading: “Animal Remix”

Justyn Harkin lives in Chicago with his wife and daughter. His work has appeared in Word Riot, Thieves Jargon, and The Angler. He also has a cat, Frida, who knows you just might meet her on Friday.

Written and recorded in the Summer of 2009, this long-gestating work features 10 tracks, including "The Frosted Glass/Scotch Tape Trick", which was choregraphed for by Davy Bisaro and Lee Blalock, and "I Was a Headphone Walker", which premiered at the first Vinosonic event in 2009, co-produced by Electricity is Magic and The Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago. Guest musicians include Luke Griffin on Tenor Saxophone on "Frosted Glass" and "Synonumeral", Galen Elfert on Drums on "One Hundred Bees", and Owen Pallett on "Make New Human" (but we're pretty sure he doesn't know about it - feel free to tell him if you see him.).

Sonically, "Ornament and Crime" takes its materials from a wide variety of sources, including hijacked internet feeds ("Make New Human"), web-based tone generators ("The Abortionists of Unity are Indeed Angel Makers") and unauthorized hip-hop samples ("Synonumeral"). You can download the album here, free for a very temporary period.

Listen to "Make New Human":