Audio art festival aims to create connections
THE DETAILS
When: Nov. 9-12
Where: Venues around Saskatoon Festival pass: $25, individual tickets $5-$15
Box office: picatic.com Information: soundslikefest.com
The Sounds Like VII festival aims to create emotional connections between artist, work and audience and challenge the perception that experimental audio isn’t accessible.
This year’s festival, run through PAVED Arts, is curated by the Unheard Sound Collective, a threeperson team (Travis Cole, Tod Emel and Chad Munson) dedicated to showcasing experimental audio works by local and visiting artists. Emel founded the event in 2011.
“Maybe some people feel like they wouldn’t be able to take something away from sound art so they don’t really get exposed to it. I feel like this year there’s something in the festival for everybody to latch onto,” Munson said.
The lineup includes national and international performers in addition to local artists.
“We managed to get people we really did not expect we would be able to get, so we’ve very pleased with how it came out,” Munson said.
This year’s festival is called Sounds Like VII: Dialogues. They chose artists who create a strong dialogue between themselves and their work, their environment and/or their audience.
“Past years have been very sound-art focused and I feel like this year we have softened that focus just a little bit to be more inclusive of works we feel work within that theme we’ve chosen,” Munson said.
One such piece is a work by Brooklyn’s Robert AA Lowe.
“His whole practice is based around the concept of using electronics, a modular synthesizer, almost as a collaborator,” Munson said. “He’s never 100 per cent sure what the electronics are going to do and therefore he’s reacting to the electronics as well as guiding them. He kind of creates a dialogue between him and his machine, plus with the audience.”
The event also includes a performance by Toronto saxophone and guitar player Colin Fisher, a free improviser reacting to his environment, his instrument and the people watching him. Martin Rodriguez from Montreal is performing a piece that touches on cancer treatment and recovery and is based on his experience with a brain tumour. Winnipeg allfemale trio CIVVIE uses amplified bassoon, cello and a weaving loom.
Sounds Like VII takes place at several venues including PAVED Arts and Remai Modern, where Canadian-Australian duo Ora Clementi will perform.
An after-party program pairs visiting artists with local ones, many of them meeting for the first time. Munson said it was important to engage the local community and show outside performers what Saskatoon has to offer.
“Part of the idea is breaking down those barriers and showing that Saskatoon is a place where a lot of really great stuff is going on,” Munson said. “We want to be able to communicate that to the performers coming through and create a cross-pollination.”
The four-day festival also includes workshops and sound installations. More information can be found at soundslikefest.com.