Deep Wireless Festival of Radio & Transmission Art

NEW ADVENTURES IN SOUND ART Presents:

DEEP WIRELESS FESTIVAL of RADIO & TRANSMISSION ART

May 1 - 31, 2009 at Artscape Wychwood Barns and Gladstone Hotel

http://www.deepwireless.ca

Toronto, ON, April 1, 2009: New Adventures in Sound Art is pleased to launch the 8^th edition of the Deep Wireless Festival of Radio & Transmission Art, taking place May 1-31, 2009. As part of a month-long celebration of radio and transmission art, NAISA presents cutting edge performances, a theatre production, sound installations, new commissions for CBC's Outfront, special radio broadcasts, a compilation CD and the Radio Without Boundaries conference. "In an era when the channels for creative radio are rapidly being extinguished, Deep Wireless returns every May to bring people together from around the world who are continually pushing the creative boundaries of the world's oldest electronic media as well as redefining radio and transmission through new technologies."’Äì Darren Copeland, Artistic Director, New Adventures in Sound Art.

The month-long festival is launched with a whirlwind first week of activities beginning on May 1^st with an open house at the NAISA space where the public and media are invited to experience radio and transmission first-hand as well as to sample upcoming highlights of the festival. Then on May 3^rd in Mississauga the soundscape becomes the focus for International Dawn Chorus Day - a worldwide celebration of Nature's daily Miracle, the chorus of sound initiated by birds at sunrise. The environs provide the concert, as Mark Cranford from the South Peel Naturalists' Club will be on-hand to help identify the performers all of which will be recorded for later broadcast. Then on May 6^th at Theatre Direct's Loop Studio and May 7^th at the Gladstone Hotel, NAISA launches three installations: Phoning in the Answer by John Gzowski and Camellia Koo, the Radio Art Salon curated by Darren Copeland and GOWANUS: Over/Under-Water by Kevin T. Allen. When we think of communications technology there is always a physical component. The rotary telephone had its handset, the radio its dial. With the installations at Deep Wireless, listening becomes a physical encounter ’Äì an ear to the handset, a gaze into a stereoscope with accompanying binaural soundscapes, and a listening lounge for radio art using a modified hair salon dryer dome.

On May 7^th the NAISA space becomes both the venue and conduit for its annual translocal event in a realization of Quasimodo the Great lover, by Alvin Lucier and directed by Matt Rogalsky and Laura Cameron. Whale and bird sounds are transformed by their passage through acoustic spaces and connected via the internet across Lake Ontario and then down to the bottom of the Americas in Buenos Aires. Canadian performers include dreamSTATE at the NAISA space in Toronto, Gayle Young/Reinhardt Reitzenstein in Grimbsy, Laura Kavanagh/Ian Birse in Buenos Aires and Matt Rogalsky/Laura Cameron in Kingston.

The week ends with two cutting edge performances on May 8^th and May 10^th by BenoˆÆt Maubrey (director of Die Audio Gruppe, Germany), as Feedback Fred and Toronto dancer Marie-Josˆ©e Chartier as the Audio Ballerina both perform wearing electronics clothes. FEEDBACK FRED, equipped with an oversized loudspeaker box on his back and a microphone-mask, "feeds back" his own voice through the interaction of his wearable PA system and physical gyrations throughout the performance space. This personality can be likened to a cross-cloning of Hamlet and an electronic-laden Hunchback of Notre-Dame. The AUDIO BALLERINA uses -- among other electronic instruments-- light sensors that enable her to produce sounds through the interaction of her movements and the surrounding light (PEEPER choreography). Via movement sensors, she can also trigger electronic sounds that are subsequently choreographed --or "orchestrated"-- into musical compositions as an audio ballet.

Threshold Theatre joins forces with NAISA to present i dont want to be an inside me anymore an adaptation of the radio documentary by Darren Copeland based on the autobiography i dont want to be inside me anymore by Birger Sellin and performed by German actor Sebastian Schˆ§fer. Birger Sellin is determined to throw off the loneliness that "like a great clod of earth" threatens to "weigh down his soul." But, despite the eloquence and power of his writing, he remains severely autistic; his world is unbelievably remote from ours. Yet the uncompromisingly honest messages he sends to "humanity-without-me" will touch all those who read them and serve as he hopes, as inspiration for others who must struggle to express ideas and emotions locked deep inside themselves.

May 27^th the NAISA space is the venue for the annual RADiO iN AMBiENCE performances co-presented with the AMBiENT PiNG. Listen to Vancouver sound/radio artist Kristen Roos with Anna Friz and Nilan Perera as they coax the radio ether into an outer-worldly electro ambient chill.

The Radio Without Boundaries conference will close the month-long celebrations May 28 ’Äì 30, 2009 as it explores the many potentials, boundaries and artist perspectives of radio. Conference speakers include keynote speakers Gregory Whitehead (USA), Hank Bull (Can) and Brandon LaBelle (Germany/USA), Chris Brookes (Can), Andrea Dancer (Can), Paul Ingles (USA), Neil Sandell (Can) and many more. Workshops by Chris Brookes, Andra McCartney and others will be offered during the conference for attendees only. The weekend also includes performances that will surprise and delight audiences both familiar and unfamiliar with radio art. Kristen Roos (of Ghost Station fame at Nuit Blanche 2007) performs using radio transmitters, Italian Alessandro Bosetti performs using his Mask/Mirror, a sampler that processes recordings of spoken language in real time. And finally, performances that challenge disciplinary boundaries by the Deep Wireless Ensemble this year consisting of sound and media artist Jessica Thompson, musician and sound artist Franˆßois Girouard, sound artist Brandon LaBelle, and actor and interdisciplinary artist Lisa Pijuan-Nomura. Also included are works commissioned by CBC Outfront by Paolo Pietropaolo, Hˆ©lˆ®ne Prˆ©vost, Iain Reid and Andra McCartney.

NAISA will launch its 2-CD set Deep Wireless 6 Radio Art Compilation CD that includes radio art collected in response to the 2008 call for submissions on the theme Ecology: water, air, sound. This radio art compilation was curated from these submissions and represents the many talented radio and sound artists world-wide.

The Deep Wireless festival is partially funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Toronto Arts Council, and the SOCAN foundation.

New Adventures in Sound Art is a non-profit organization that produces performances and installations spanning the entire spectrum of electroacoustic and experimental sound art. Included in its Toronto productions are: Deep Wireless, Sound Travels, and SOUNDplay.

What: Deep Wireless

Where: Various venues at the Artscape Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie Street including: the NAISA Space (#252), Theatre Direct's Loop Studio (#170), the LOOP Centre for Lively Arts and Learning (#176) as well as The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St W

When: May 1 - 31, 2009

Singles tickets: $5-$15

Conference Pass ’Äì includes Radio Without Boundaries plus 6 performances: $150/130

Performance Pass ’Äì includes 6 performances: $40/30

Passes and tickets can be purchased online at www.naisa.ca

www.deepwireless.ca