Director
Doug Van Nort is Canada Research Chair in Digital Performance at York University, and an Assistant Professor cross-appointed between the departments of Computational Arts, Music and Theatre & Performance Studies. Van Nort is an artist, researcher, composer and performer. His work is concerned with issues of performance and sensorial immersion in technologically-mediated environments. He holds a particular interest in affective and visceral experiences of the sonic and haptic senses, the complex and embodied nature of listening, and the phenomenology of time consciousness. In this context, Van Nort examines improvisation as an important site of investigation and model of creative, social exchange. He creates works that integrate improvisation and collective performance with machine agents, interactive systems and experiences of telepresence. Van Nort regularly presents this work internationally, and recent projects have spanned telematic music compositions, transforming an elevator into an electroacoustic sculpture, interactive textiles, developing machine improvisation systems, interactive music composition for a dance piece based on muscle sound, and performing sonified data streams from NASA's Kepler mission. This work is informed by his background in mathematics, media arts, music composition and performance, and draws upon disparate areas ranging from perception and cognition, systems theory, performance studies, cybernetics, machine learning, signal processing and various forms of ritual.
As a performer specializing in truly improvised electroacoustic music, over the past decade Van Nort has developed his own digital systems for performance that assume a turntable-like, sculptural approach to shaping sound using his hands and voice. He often performs solo as well as with a wide array of artists across musical styles and artistic media. Ongoing collaborations include the trio Triple Point with Pauline Oliveros and Jonas Braasch as well as a duo with underground noise legend If, Bwana; he also participates as a member of the Composers Inside Electronics, founded by the late David Tudor. In recent years he has performed and recorded with dozens of artists including Francisco López, Stuart Dempster, Chris Chafe, Kathy Kennedy, Ben Miller, Alessandra Eramo, David Arner, Anne Bourne, Eric Leonardson, Judy Dunaway, Katherine Liberovskaya, Carver Audain, Paul Hession, Jefferson Pitcher, Jonathan Chen, and in Sarah Weaver-conducted ensembles alongside the likes of Gerry Hemingway, Min Xiao-Fen, Ray Anderson, Miya Masaoka, Franz Hackl, Mark Helias and Dave Taylor among many others. He has performed his work at a range of venues including the [SAT] and Casa del Popolo in Montreal, on WNUR in Chicago, Casa da Musica in Porto, Betong in Oslo, Cafe OTO in London, Skolska28 in Prague, Liebig12 and QuietCue in Berlin, The Red Room in Baltimore, Studio Soto in Boston, The Guelph Jazz Festival, Roulette, Harvestworks, the Flea Theatre, Socrates Sculpture Park, the New Museum, the Miller Theatre, Issue Project Room and the Stone in NYC, at Town Hall (NYC) on an 'intonarumori' as part of the Performa futurist biennial, at EMPAC in Troy, NY, at the International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD), New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME), as part of the legendary Phil Niblock-curated 'festival with no fancy name' at Experimental Intermedia, at the NYC electroacoustic music festival and many other festivals and events across the U.S. and Europe.
His creative/research work has been supported and recognized by disparate sources including the NY Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), the NY State Council for the Arts (NYSCA), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the International Computer Music Association (ICMA).
Recordings of Van Nort's music can be found on Deep Listening, Pogus, Zeromoon, MIT Press and Attenuation Circuit among other experimental music labels. In late 2014 a Triple Point 3-CD set, released on Pogus Productions, was produced (edited, mastered, graphic design) by Van Nort. It has drawn praise such as: "Electroacoustic improvisation has the potential to be a music of timbral complexity, of rapid shifts of sound colors within a multi-layered environment...Triple Point lives up to that potential, as would be expected from such a fine assembly of improvisers….Each has a distinctive voice, but the group’s sound is a genuinely collective, emergent object in its own right." (Daniel Barbiero, Avant Music News). In a scholarly vein, Van Nort's writing has recently appeared in Organised Sound, the Computer Music Journal, the Leonardo Music Journal, Kybernetes and the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. He has also published in a variety of international conference proceedings, and was given the Best Paper Award at the 2010 International Computer Music Conference (ICMC). As a teacher, in recent years Van Nort has led workshops, seminars and courses that are designed towards enhancement of listening and creativity through a mixture of bodywork, breathing/sounding/listening exercises, and the use of analog/digital electronics as a shared medium for these collective experiences. These events leverage Van Nort's experience of Deep Listening (certificate holder) and his life as a practitioner of electroacoustic composition/improvisation and sound-focused art/research.
As a performer specializing in truly improvised electroacoustic music, over the past decade Van Nort has developed his own digital systems for performance that assume a turntable-like, sculptural approach to shaping sound using his hands and voice. He often performs solo as well as with a wide array of artists across musical styles and artistic media. Ongoing collaborations include the trio Triple Point with Pauline Oliveros and Jonas Braasch as well as a duo with underground noise legend If, Bwana; he also participates as a member of the Composers Inside Electronics, founded by the late David Tudor. In recent years he has performed and recorded with dozens of artists including Francisco López, Stuart Dempster, Chris Chafe, Kathy Kennedy, Ben Miller, Alessandra Eramo, David Arner, Anne Bourne, Eric Leonardson, Judy Dunaway, Katherine Liberovskaya, Carver Audain, Paul Hession, Jefferson Pitcher, Jonathan Chen, and in Sarah Weaver-conducted ensembles alongside the likes of Gerry Hemingway, Min Xiao-Fen, Ray Anderson, Miya Masaoka, Franz Hackl, Mark Helias and Dave Taylor among many others. He has performed his work at a range of venues including the [SAT] and Casa del Popolo in Montreal, on WNUR in Chicago, Casa da Musica in Porto, Betong in Oslo, Cafe OTO in London, Skolska28 in Prague, Liebig12 and QuietCue in Berlin, The Red Room in Baltimore, Studio Soto in Boston, The Guelph Jazz Festival, Roulette, Harvestworks, the Flea Theatre, Socrates Sculpture Park, the New Museum, the Miller Theatre, Issue Project Room and the Stone in NYC, at Town Hall (NYC) on an 'intonarumori' as part of the Performa futurist biennial, at EMPAC in Troy, NY, at the International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD), New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME), as part of the legendary Phil Niblock-curated 'festival with no fancy name' at Experimental Intermedia, at the NYC electroacoustic music festival and many other festivals and events across the U.S. and Europe.
His creative/research work has been supported and recognized by disparate sources including the NY Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), the NY State Council for the Arts (NYSCA), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the International Computer Music Association (ICMA).
Recordings of Van Nort's music can be found on Deep Listening, Pogus, Zeromoon, MIT Press and Attenuation Circuit among other experimental music labels. In late 2014 a Triple Point 3-CD set, released on Pogus Productions, was produced (edited, mastered, graphic design) by Van Nort. It has drawn praise such as: "Electroacoustic improvisation has the potential to be a music of timbral complexity, of rapid shifts of sound colors within a multi-layered environment...Triple Point lives up to that potential, as would be expected from such a fine assembly of improvisers….Each has a distinctive voice, but the group’s sound is a genuinely collective, emergent object in its own right." (Daniel Barbiero, Avant Music News). In a scholarly vein, Van Nort's writing has recently appeared in Organised Sound, the Computer Music Journal, the Leonardo Music Journal, Kybernetes and the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. He has also published in a variety of international conference proceedings, and was given the Best Paper Award at the 2010 International Computer Music Conference (ICMC). As a teacher, in recent years Van Nort has led workshops, seminars and courses that are designed towards enhancement of listening and creativity through a mixture of bodywork, breathing/sounding/listening exercises, and the use of analog/digital electronics as a shared medium for these collective experiences. These events leverage Van Nort's experience of Deep Listening (certificate holder) and his life as a practitioner of electroacoustic composition/improvisation and sound-focused art/research.
Research Associates/Assistants
Ian Jarvis is a sound artist, performer and researcher who is currently a first year PhD student in the Theatre and Performance Studies program.
Michael Palumbo is a sound artist and researcher whose work employs networked performance, systems thinking, and self-organization. Selected works: Stethoscope Hero (2014) for networked ensemble, presented at the Network Music Festival (U.K.); CrossTalk (2013), presented at the Toronto Electroacoustic Symposium; a telematic rendition of Soup Phase (2013) in Stazione di Topolo's "ToBe Continued" (Italy, via Montreal); and Iron Harvest (2012) at Conservatoire de Musique du Québec à Montreal.
Michael has presented lectures at the Network Music Festival, Toronto Electroacoustic Symposium, 135th AES Convention, Eastern Bloc, and co-presented an engineering-brief at the 135th AES Convention in New York. As a producer, he created Telematic Embrace: You Had Me at Hello World (2014) a four-city telematic concert, founded the Objet Sonore Podcast, and co-produced Objet Sonore Lectures (2013-2014), a funded, multidisciplinary lecture series, which spanned three seasons in Montreal.
He was awarded a research-creation grant from Concordia University to study composing for meaningful play in laptop orchestras. Michael is based in Toronto, holds a BFA in Electroacoustic Studies from Concordia University, and is a graduate student in the department of Theatre and Performance Studies at York University.
Michael has presented lectures at the Network Music Festival, Toronto Electroacoustic Symposium, 135th AES Convention, Eastern Bloc, and co-presented an engineering-brief at the 135th AES Convention in New York. As a producer, he created Telematic Embrace: You Had Me at Hello World (2014) a four-city telematic concert, founded the Objet Sonore Podcast, and co-produced Objet Sonore Lectures (2013-2014), a funded, multidisciplinary lecture series, which spanned three seasons in Montreal.
He was awarded a research-creation grant from Concordia University to study composing for meaningful play in laptop orchestras. Michael is based in Toronto, holds a BFA in Electroacoustic Studies from Concordia University, and is a graduate student in the department of Theatre and Performance Studies at York University.
After working in IT for 15 years, Raechel Kula is following her passion and studying Dramaturgy, Digital Media & Devised Theatre at York University's School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design.
Victor Zohni is is an undergraduate student at York University in his final year for Digital Media. As an aspiring musician (Guitarist-Singer-Songwriter) and digital artist, Victor has been searching for innovative ways to improve music and art.
Victor has worked with various departments and student organizations at York, such as Winter’s College, The Creative Arts Students Association (CASA), The Digital Media Students Association (DMSA), and CHRY Community Radio. Notable projects include “Guitar Plays You” an engaging musical project which includes a guitar employing Wii remote accelerometers to adjust a generated pitch through Max/MSP, Digital Media Team Audio Lead for “Beggars Opera” creating soundscapes suiting a prison atmosphere, Host and Producer of “In The Zone CHRY” highlighting music (alternative/indie) for a mid-day variety program broadcast to listening audience 200,000+. Recently Victor has had the pleasure to work as a York Research Assistant for Professor Doug Van Nort, assisting him with his work on sound-based mapping systems.
Victor has worked with various departments and student organizations at York, such as Winter’s College, The Creative Arts Students Association (CASA), The Digital Media Students Association (DMSA), and CHRY Community Radio. Notable projects include “Guitar Plays You” an engaging musical project which includes a guitar employing Wii remote accelerometers to adjust a generated pitch through Max/MSP, Digital Media Team Audio Lead for “Beggars Opera” creating soundscapes suiting a prison atmosphere, Host and Producer of “In The Zone CHRY” highlighting music (alternative/indie) for a mid-day variety program broadcast to listening audience 200,000+. Recently Victor has had the pleasure to work as a York Research Assistant for Professor Doug Van Nort, assisting him with his work on sound-based mapping systems.
Rory Hoy is a undergraduate Digital Media student at York University, and a member of the DisPerSion Lab's Electro-Acoustic Orchestra.
With works focusing upon innovative and improvisational mapping techniques, Rory tries to create unique sonic experiences through his use of coding and live playing as a multi-instrumentalist. Producing under the pseudonym "Nebularion", Rory explores many avenues of sound ranging from dance to drone music, and applied his work to scoring Gary Probert's short film "Erebus".
Rory looks forward to completing his studies and creating new interactive performances in the future.
With works focusing upon innovative and improvisational mapping techniques, Rory tries to create unique sonic experiences through his use of coding and live playing as a multi-instrumentalist. Producing under the pseudonym "Nebularion", Rory explores many avenues of sound ranging from dance to drone music, and applied his work to scoring Gary Probert's short film "Erebus".
Rory looks forward to completing his studies and creating new interactive performances in the future.
Ian Macchiusi is a drummer and teacher interested in the intersection of computer software with musical performance, improvisation and composition. He is currently working on his PhD. dissertation at York University examining the influence of the computer screen in software composed popular music.
Akeem Glasgow is a drummer and teacher interested in the intersection of computer software with musical performance, improvisation and composition. He is currently working on his PhD. dissertation at York University examining the influence of the computer screen in software composed popular music.
Kieran Maraj is a drummer and teacher interested in the intersection of computer software with musical performance, improvisation and composition. He is currently working on his PhD. dissertation at York University examining the influence of the computer screen in software composed popular music.
Visiting Artists/Scholars
Margaret Anne Schedel is a composer and cellist specializing in the creation and performance of “ferociously interactive” media. Her interactive multimedia opera A King Listens, created while she was a doctoral candidate, premiered at the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center and was profiled by apple.com. Her works have been performed throughout the US and beyond.
Schedel’s research focuses on gesture in music, the sustainability of technology in art, and sonification of data. She co-chaired the 2010 International Computer Music Conference and the 2011 Electro-Acoustic Music Studies Network Conference, and ran SUNY’s first Coursera Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), an introduction to computational arts. She is an associate professor of Music at Stony Brook University, where she serves as co-director of Computer Music and director of cDACT, a consortium for digital art, culture and technology.
Schedel’s research focuses on gesture in music, the sustainability of technology in art, and sonification of data. She co-chaired the 2010 International Computer Music Conference and the 2011 Electro-Acoustic Music Studies Network Conference, and ran SUNY’s first Coursera Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), an introduction to computational arts. She is an associate professor of Music at Stony Brook University, where she serves as co-director of Computer Music and director of cDACT, a consortium for digital art, culture and technology.
Cornelius Pöpel is Professor for sound in media at Ansbach University of Applied Sciences in Germany. He received a Doctorate in Music from the University of Birmingham on Audio-Signal-Driven Sound Synthesis in 2011. He has studied viola with Jürgen Kussmaul and Hatto Beyerle at the Music Universities in Düsseldorf and Hannover, Germany as well as audio design with Wolfgang Heiniger at the Music Academy Basel, Switzerland. As orchestra musician he performed internationally with conductors like Claudio Abbado, Peter Eötvös or Michael Gielen e.g. in the opening concert of the Salzburg festival in 1992 or the festival Vienna modern. As an audio designer he worked for swiss and german TV and Radio stations, as a sound director for live-electronic music and for orchestras like the Basel Symphony Orchestra or the European Chaos String Quintett. After his position as a research associate at ZKM Karlsruhe (Centre for Art and Media), he was artistic and academic staff member at the Cologne Academy for media arts before joining Ansbach University in 2008. His current research interests lie in human aspects in Media, in perception and cognition of music and in the development and use of computer-based musical instruments.
Judy Dunaway performs avant-garde compositions and free improvisations on
amplified latex balloons played as musical instruments. She is known
internationally as a “virtuoso of the balloon.” She plays a variety of
shapes and sizes of balloon instruments, each with it’s own special
qualities, pushing the extremes of both pitch range and artistic limits.
Her large rubbed “tenor” balloon gives Jimmy Hendrix’s guitar a run for
the money and her giant balloon pulsates into the depths of the subaudio.
Her abstract music and sounds are difficult to equate with other forms,
depending upon the perception of the individual like the images seen in
fire or clouds.
Dunaway has presented her works for balloons at many major venues and festivals throughout North America and Europe, including Academy of Media Arts Cologne (Cologne), Avant-Garde Schwaz Festival (Austria), Alternative Museum (NYC), Bang on a Can Festival (NYC), Everson Art Museum (Syracuse), Fylkingen (Stockholm), Frau Musica Nova Festival (Cologne), Guelph Jazz Festival (Canada), Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors (NYC), New Museum of Contemporary Art (NYC), Performance Space 122 (NYC), Podewil (Berlin), Roulette (NYC), CEAIT Festival (Los Angeles), Seltsame Musik Festival (Krems, Austria), SoHo Arts Festival (NYC), STEIM (Amsterdam) and Zentrum fuer Kunst und Medientechnologie (Karlsruhe). She has also performed on balloons with many outstanding musicians including Roscoe Mitchell, Jennifer Walshe, John Hollenbeck, Yasunao Tone, and the FLUX Quartet. CDs of her works for balloons have been released on the CRI (Composers Recordings Inc) and Innova labels, among others.
Dunaway has presented her works for balloons at many major venues and festivals throughout North America and Europe, including Academy of Media Arts Cologne (Cologne), Avant-Garde Schwaz Festival (Austria), Alternative Museum (NYC), Bang on a Can Festival (NYC), Everson Art Museum (Syracuse), Fylkingen (Stockholm), Frau Musica Nova Festival (Cologne), Guelph Jazz Festival (Canada), Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors (NYC), New Museum of Contemporary Art (NYC), Performance Space 122 (NYC), Podewil (Berlin), Roulette (NYC), CEAIT Festival (Los Angeles), Seltsame Musik Festival (Krems, Austria), SoHo Arts Festival (NYC), STEIM (Amsterdam) and Zentrum fuer Kunst und Medientechnologie (Karlsruhe). She has also performed on balloons with many outstanding musicians including Roscoe Mitchell, Jennifer Walshe, John Hollenbeck, Yasunao Tone, and the FLUX Quartet. CDs of her works for balloons have been released on the CRI (Composers Recordings Inc) and Innova labels, among others.
Michael Century is Professor of New Media and Music in the Arts Department at Rensselaer, which he joined in 2002. Long associated with The Banff Centre for the Arts, he directed the Centre’s Inter-arts program during the 1980s and was the founding director of the Centre's Media Arts programs in 1988. As a producer in the field of new media art, he initiated The Art and Virtual Environments project (1991-94), one of the first large-scale and sustained investigations of virtual reality technologies as a new medium for artists. He was program director for cultural research at the Montreal Centre d’innovation en technologies de l’information, served as senior policy advisor for art and new technologies to the federal Department of Canadian Heritage, and taught in the Graduate Program in Communications at McGill University before joining Rensselaer. Century authored the study Pathways to Innovation in Digital Culture for the Rockefeller Foundation, and was panelist and co-author for the U.S. National Academy of Science 2003 report on information technologies and creative practices, Beyond Productivity. A pianist, and of late, accordionist, Century’s scholarly interests are in software cultures and theories of socio-technical innovation.
Tout Croche
is Stephen Harvey & Dominic Thibault
a haven of post-genre sonic experimentation
music making that marvels at noise
from beautiful ambience to digital distortion
Pauline Oliveros
Ione
Resident Ensembles and Working Groups
The Electro-Acoustic Orchestra (dir. Doug Van Nort) is an ensemble comprised of a mixture of acoustic and electronic performers. It is an emergent sonic organism that evolves through collective attention to all facets of sound, soundpainting-inspired conducting and improvisational practice. The EAO performs a range of pieces by its members, invited guest artists and from the experimental music repertoire.
For more information, please visit the EAO page here.
For more information, please visit the EAO page here.