Dive into the Deep End at Night Swim
NIGHT SWIM is a cross between a sound and light installation, a music festival and a swimming pool party which will be held from sunset till sunrise at the Trinity Bellwoods Community Centre swimming pool in Toronto on Saturday September 30, 2006. Architect and artist Christie Pearson, co-organizer of the highly successful WADE festivals of performance art in Toronto’s public wading pools, has transformed this much loved downtown public swimming pool into a shimmering, reflective dream-space for one night only. Kinetic sculpture by Rob Cruickshank! Wire contributor Marcus Boon has invited sound artists, musicians and DJs to produce site specific works and sets in a sound environment designed by sound designer Darren Copeland, which will include underwater microphones and speakers. The event is free and open all night – visitors can swim (bring your bathing suit, towels provided!), lounge in the kiddies’ pool, or hang out in the bleachers and around the pool, soaking up the sound and light (clothes OK!). 120 people in the pool at a time maximum – first come, first served!
Sounds: colossal drone-scapes by Montreal's Tim Hecker; loops by Beijing-based creators of the Buddha Machine FM3; heavy ambient sounds by Boston-based Keith Fullerton Whitman a.k.a Hravatski; guitar and bass trance music from Michigan's Windy and Carl; turntablist-composer Marina Rosenfeld and experimental tribal rhythmist Raz Mesinai from New York; from Toronto, electronic composer and improvisor Sarah Peebles, Sandro Perri/Polmo Polpo’s indie funk, sexy nocturnal grooves with Luis Jacob, baile funk, grime and dancehall from Geoff Snack, a.k.a. DJ Showcase Showdown, lofi electoacoustics by Andrew Wedman and ecstatic sustained tones by Orixasound.
Night Swim is a part of Scotiabank Nuit Blanche, a signature event of the City of Toronto's Live With Culture campaign.
http://www.livewithculture.ca/content/view/full/6826
Night Swim
Trinity Bellwoods Community Center swimming pool
Queen West at Crawford,
Toronto
7 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Saturday, September 30th 2006
Contact: The Waves
Performance Schedule:
7-8 p.m. Sarah Peebles
8-9 Raz Mesinai
9-10 Marina Rosenfeld
10-11 FM3
11-12 Luis Jacob
12-1 a.m. Geoff Snack
1-2 Sandro Perri
2-3 Windy and Carl
3-4 Tim Hecker
4-5 Keith Fullerton Whitman
5-6 Andrew Wedman
6-7 Orixasound
About the Artists
Sarah Peebles has composed for electroacoustics, small ensemble, dance, animation, inter-disciplinary collaborations and music-theatre. Her current music focuses on computer-assisted composition and improvised performance using Max programming with internal sampling software, often together with live and/or prerecorded shô (Japanese mouth-organ).
Peebles' work encompasses performance art, installation work and video production, and often explores alternative performance settings, such as museums, bamboo groves, temples and parks.
http://www.keithfullertonwhitman.com
http://www.mimaroglumusicsales.com
http://www.entschuldigen.com
Keith Fullerton Whitman is a composer/performer obsessed with electronic music; from its mid-century origins in Europe through its contemporary worldwide incarnation as "digital music."
Currently he is working towards implementing a complete system for live performance of improvised electronic music that incorporates elements from nearly every era: a reel-to-reel tape machine, a selection of small "jerry-rigged" / "circuit-bent" battery-powered sound-producing boxes, an analog modular synthesizer, an early "consumer" home-computer, and at the core; a contemporary computer running a custom-built Max-MSP based modular system that both controls these elements and acts as a central conduit into which their sounds are captured/collected, processed, then diffused to up to eight separate channels/speakers/amplifiers.
Keith has recorded disks for Kranky Records and others, and has recorded, remixed and performed various dance musics globally as Hravatski.
http://www.cstrecords.com
http://www.audisensa.com
Polmo Polpo is the work of Canadian musician/producer Sandro Perri. Various releases since 1999 on Constellation, Alien8, Audi Sensa and Intr_version Records have brought his unique combinations of dance music, minimalism, electronics, jazz, and pop music to our ears. He has also recorded in collaborative efforts under the names Glissandro 70, Dot Wiggin, and Continuous Dick. For his Night Swim set, he will present some new material custom-made for the swimmers, utilising laptop, harmonica, and percussion.
Geoff Snack (aka DJ Showcase Showdown)
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=18334082
Geoff Snack lives and works in Toronto. He has been DJing parties for a couple years now. He enjoys playing with his cat, being with friends and good times."
"I plan on playing a diverse set consisting of dance-able music from around the world. This is including, but not limited to dancehall, reggaeton, funk carioca, electro and rap favourites.”
Tim Hecker
http://www.sunblind.net/
Tim Hecker is a Canadian-based musician and sound artist, born in Vancouver. Since 1996, he has produced a range of audio works for both international and Canadian recording imprints such as Mille Plateaux, Alien8, Force Inc, Staalplaat, and Fat Cat. His works have been described as “structured ambient”, “tectonic color plates” and “cathedral electronic music”, however for the most part, have focused on exploring the intersections of noise, dissonance and melody, fostering an approach to songcraft which is both physical and emotive. The New York Times has described his work as “foreboding, abstract pieces in which static and sub-bass rumbles open up around slow moving notes and chords, like fissures in the earth waiting to swallow them whole”. His Radio Amor was recognized as a key recording of 2003 by Wire magazine. His work has also included commissions for contemporary dance, sound-art installations, and various writings. He is also an acclaimed producer of techno, having toured and produced under the name Jetone. Tim has presented his work extensively including performances at Sonar (Barcelona), MUTEK (Montreal), Impakt Festival (Utrecht), Victoriaville in (Quebec), IDEAL (Nantes), Vancouver New Music Festival (Vancouver), and Transmediale (Berlin). His live performances have included collaborations with artists such as Oren Ambarchi and Fly Pan Am, and has supported bands including Godspeed you Black Emperor and Isis. He lives in Montreal.
Tim Hecker has also been invited by
Mercer Union to produce a new off-site installation work for
Nuit Blanche. Presented as an immersive surround sound environment, the piece
will introduce “pseudo-nature” field-recordings which will seek
to reclaim this unused and abandoned public space. For more information, see
the Mercer Union website.
http://www.fm3.com.cn/
http://www.fm3buddhamachine.com/
http://www.myspace.com/fm3buddhamachine
Founded in 1999 by Christiaan Virant and Zhang Jian, two active members of the Beijing music scene, FM3 are considered pioneers of abstract electronic experimentation in China. Known for dedicating prime space for "live" aspects within their work, FM3 produces mysterious, meditative and minimalist soundscapes, while subtly adding certain elements of ancient Chinese folk tradition into a universe abundant in micro-sounds and synthetic glitches.
FM3 has been called "the most prominent experimental act in China" by the US magazine Grooves. XLR8R described FM3's sound as "poetic noise" and the UK magazine The Wire calls FM3 live sets "meditative," "soothing" and "engagingly intimate."
In 2004, FM3 was commissioned by the Louvre museum in Paris to provide a new soundtrack for the 1930s film "La Croisifre jaune." The project concluded with three live performances at the Louvre Auditorium in early June. FM3's sound installations have been featured at the 2004 Shanghai Bienalle as well as the Beijing-Tokyo Art Project, the Dashanzi International Art Festival and the Kulturhallen Dampfzentrale in the Swiss capital of Bern. The mass-produced FM3 "buddha machine" loop box was named of the best "boxed sets" of 2005 by the New York Times and was one of the top selling electronic releases of 2005.
FM3 records for the Staalplaat record label, and has also released music on Bip-Hop records in France, Mutek_Rec in Canada, Mousike records in Italy, Nascente records in the UK, Leerraum records in Switzerland and Sublime Frequencies in the United States.
Raz Mesinai was born in Jerusalem in 1973. His first two decades were spent in frequent transit between Jerusalem and New York City, where he became immersed in both the worlds of traditional Middle Eastern music, and the dub and hip-hop scenes of the eighties and early nineties in New York City. He became involved in the avant-garde, downtown music scene of New York City, performing, improvising, and leading his own ensembles on percussion, piano and sampler. Mesinai's electronic and electro-acoustic music exists at the crossroads of composition, sound design and modern studio production. His acclaimed recordings under the moniker Badawi, and as one half of the seminal duo Sub Dub (with John Ward), are difficult to classify, but have been called hybrid electronica/dub/percussion/avant-garde compositions. Since 1999, Mesinai has been releasing music under his own name as well, including three releases on John Zorn's "Tzadik" label.
Mesinai has collaborated with many of New York's top musicians, including Eyvind Kang, Mark Dresser, Marc Ribot, Mark Feldman, John Zorn, Shelley Hirsch, Elliott Sharp and Zeena Parkins, among many others. His work has been commissioned by the Lincoln Center Festival, the Jerome Foundation and the American Music Center. In 2001, "Soldier of Midian" (ROIR) received an award from the Ars Electronica festival. In 2002, Raz was a featured artist in the "Next, Next Wave" festival of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and opened for Nubian master musician Hamza El Din at Lincoln Center, a personal highlight. In 2004, following his developing interest in visual narrative and storytelling in music, Mesinai was a Fellow at the Sundance Composer's Lab where he had the opportunity to participate in workshops with such artists as John Adams, Osvaldo Golijov and Thomas Newman. He's currently scoring several films (see music for film).
Marina Rosenfeld is a New York-based artist and composer, working at the intersections of composition and improvisation, visual and sound art. Her work has explored the social and situational contexts of music-making, digital/analogue culture, and experimental or open forms in a variety of formats. As a turntablist, she's developed her distinctive sound by playing exclusively her own custom acetate records, or 'dub plates', which are imprinted with original, fragmentary sounds she mixes and manipulates live. She performs frequently in the U.S. and Europe, and has performed with leading contemporary artists, including Merce Cunningham Company, Sonic Youth, Christian Marclay and Laurie Anderson. Rosenfeld's work has been presented in a wide variety of contexts including by the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Tate Modern Museum and festivals including Donaueschingen, Ars Electronica, Maerz Musik, Mutek, Wein Modern, and, in November, Taktlos Bern. Her most recent release is joy of fear (2006, Softl/Cologne).
http://www.kranky.net/artists/windycarl.html
Carl Hultgren has been recording his own guitar pieces since 1992, Windy Weber joined him in 1993. The duo write during the recording process and Carl's mixing process adds layers of effects and distortion to the basic tracks. Windy sings and plays bass, Carl plays the guitar and both play the odd keyboard. Their debut full-length CD was a reissue of their cassette release Portal , on the Ba Da Bing! label in 1995. Drawing of Sound came out in 1996 on LP from Blue Flea and on CD from Detroit's Icon label. Their full-length albums, 1998's Depths and 2001's Consciousness have been released by Kranky, as has their recent double CD, The Dream House/Dedications to Flea (2005), Dedications to Flea is a musical tribute to a recently departed canine friend. The Dream House was recorded at the duo's home studio in Dearborn, MI and consists of two tracks. The Dream House is in many ways the duo's simplest and most straight-forward release, concentrated as it is on two evolving pieces. In addition to these disks, numerous singles and split singles have been released by labels Ochre, Burnt Hair, Enraptured and Darla Records.
Windy & Carl perform live but are rarely on tour and have performed at all Terrastock Festivals. In addition to this, the two also run their own label called Blue Flea and their own record store in Dearborn, Michigan called Stormy Records.
An artist, curator, educator, writer, organizer and activist, Luis Jacob’s practice challenges categorization. His art production alone manifests itself as photography, sculpture, performance, artist multiples, public intervention, video and installation. Jacob’s pursuits are varied, but all are unified by his thoughtful concern for the philosophical and cultural possibilities of social interaction.
Recent solo exhibitions of his work include Habitat, Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, Ontario); Just Do It!, Khyber Centre for the Arts (Halifax, Nova Scotia); Flashlight, Toronto Sculpture Garden (Toronto, Ontario); Open Your Mouth and Your Mind Will Follow, which travelled to Articule, (Montreal, Quebec), Artspace Gallery (Peterborough, Ontario), AKA Gallery (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan), The New Gallery (Calgary, Alberta); and Towards a Theory, Het Wilde Weten (Rotterdam, The Netherlands).
Luis Jacob is resident DJ at Moustache, New Nails, Rhythm Box, and Gina Rock.
Luis Jacob is represented by Birch Libralato, Toronto.
“For Nuit Blanche, I plan to play a set of mostly ambient electronic music suitable for deep immersion.”
http://www.noisefactoryrecords.com/
Andrew Wedman studied piano, music theory and electro acoustic composition at McGill University. He is one half of the techno project tinkertoy, which has performed internationally and has been released on Noise Factory Records, Pie Head Records and numerous compilations. His solo work includes performing altered record and soundscape projects in Toronto, Montreal and Berlin. Recently he has been experimenting with casio circuit bending, feedback loops and "song writing."
Marcus Boon is a writer, DJ and associate professor of contemporary literature and cultural studies in the English department at York University. His work moves between interests in sound and music cultures of all kinds, transcendental and spiritual cultures and practices of various sorts, contemporary popular cultures around the world and theory of the most incomprehensible but valid kind.
Aside from teaching, Boon has written about music for the New Musical Express, Wire, Signal to Noise and others. He is the author of The Road of Excess: A History of Writers on Drugs, editor of America: A Prophecy by Sparrow and wrote the introduction to Walter Benjamin’s On Hashish. He has been DJing and performing for 20 years. The Orixasound project is concerned with amplified transmission of sustained tones, field recordings of nature sound, folk musics from around the world and silence.
Christie Pearson is an architect and artist who creates architectural sculpture and urban ritual. Installations and events seek to amplify our bodies’ relation to our natural and constructed environments, inviting participants into creative dialogue. They speak of renewal through the shedding of skins. Public bathing is taken as an intersection point in the relationship of the individual to the collective body, solid form to hollow container, and, in an age of toxicity, water to the sacred and profane.
Collaborations include: co-curation of the “Wade” biannual festival of installation and performance art with artist Sandra Rechico, located in wading pools throughout Toronto (http://www.wadetoronto.com/); the performance “Slip” at the Harrison Baths swimming pool with composer Juliet Palmer, writer Anna Chatterton, and choreographer Yvonne Ng of urbanvessel (http://www.urbanvessel.com/); and the dvd “108” with composer/musician Sarah Peebles (http://www.sarahpeebles.net/projects.htm).
As an architect she has worked in cultural and recreational spaces in Toronto, including Trinity Bellwoods Community Centre. Writing has been published in On Site, Senses and Society, and Samplesize, with projects featured in Canadian Architect, Spacing, Mix and Alphabet City. She has presented at The Power Plant, The Goethe Institute, York Quay Gallery, The Canadian Centre for Architecture, and streets, parks, foyers and alleys in Toronto and Tokyo.
http://www.darrencopeland.net/
Darren Copeland is an electroacoustic composer and sound designer who has produced work since 1985 for concerts, radio, theatre, dance, and site-specific installation. After studying theatre sound design at Niagara College, he studied electroacoustic composition with Barry Truax (Simon Fraser University) and Dr. Jonty Harrison (University of Birmingham). His concert works have received mentions in international competitions and appeared on compilation CD releases (Storm of Drones, Radius #3, DISContact I & II, Lieu - Non Lieu, Soundscape Vancouver, and Radiant Dissonance). Rendu visible, a CD devoted to his work, is available on the empreintes DIGITALes label.
Some of his works combine his background in theatre and electroacoustic composition, such as his adaptation of August Strindberg's A Dream Play, his soundscape documentaries Life Unseen and The Toronto Sound Mosaic, his DORA nominated soundtrack for Samuel Beckett's That Time, and his text-sound compositions "Lapse in Perception", and “They’re Trying to Save Themselves”. He has composed a number of soundtracks for theatre and dance productions in Toronto, including works by Jessica Runge, Danny Grossman Dance Company, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, and Factory Theatre.
Darren Copeland is the Artistic Director of New Adventures in Sound Art, which produces electroacoustic and experimental sound art events in Toronto, Canada, and is the President of the Canadian Association for Sound Ecology. Previously he served on the board of directors for Canadian Electroacoustic Community, Vancouver Pro Musica, and Rumble Theatre.
Robert Cruickshank is a Toronto-based multidisciplinary artist. His work in various media including electronic and robotic installations, sound art, electroacoustic music, and photography have been exhibited in Toronto, and internationally. He has also developed a number of workshops at InterAccess Electronic Media Art Centre, providing artists with an opportunity to learn electronics.