Deep Wireless 2006 month-long Artists-in-Residencies

Thanks to the Drake, 2005 marked the first year that we were able to offer a month-long residency to an artist. Anna Friz stayed in one of the Drake's residency rooms for the month of May 2005 and from that residency she produced live on-air performances that were broadcast in the Drake as well as performances that were aired on Radio Canada and CKLN. Anna was also one of the four Radio Theatre artists last year and her installation "Who are the people in the radio?" ran for the entire month of May at the Drake as well.

For Deep Wireless 2006, we have extended the number of Deep Wireless month-long artist-in-residencies to three: Kathy Kennedy (Montreal) will be staying at the Drake for the month of May and giving workshops, creating a series of soundwalk/performances called Power Up, performing a solo show and speaking at the Radio Without Boundaries conference; Trevors Wishart (UK) will be premiering a new work created while here in Toronto for the month of May as well as presenting a concert of his works on May 13 th at the Music Gallery, giving workshops - one on extended vocal techniques and one on sound processing, as well as speaking at the RWB conference as part of Deep Wireless; and finally last but not least, John Oswald who will be curating a series of live performances called Power Down that will happen throughout the month of May at the Drake and also leading the All Request Radio Redirect for the opening and ending shows of the festival. In addition to presenting works for Deep Wireless they will participate in a number of public outreach initiatives designed to raise the profile of radio art in the general public through broadcasts, media interviews, artist talks, and site-specific performances.

Deep Wireless/Outfront Commissioning and Residency Program

New Adventures in Sound Art is once again presenting the Deep Wireless commissioning and residency program, co-produced with CBC Radio's Out f ront that was begun with Deep Wireless 2003. Occurring for the fourth time, this residency program allows both experimental sound artists and radio producers outside of the experimental realm to approach the form of personal narrative from a perspective that combines words and sounds in a fresh and innovative fashion.   Four Canadian artists - Christian Nicolay, Damiano Pietropaolo, Micheline Roi and Debashis Sinha - were selected from a Canada-wide call for submissions to produce a work for both CBC's Outfront radio broadcast and for the Deep Wireless 2006 "Radio Theatre" presentations.

The 2006 Deep Wireless commissions will be broadcast on CBC Radio 1 (99.1 FM) on May 3, 10, 17, and 24 2006 at 8:43pm, with spatialized versions being presented as part of the "Radio Theatre" performances (May 26 & 27, 2006). The four commissioned artists will also be giving a short artist talk at the Deep Wireless "Radio Without Boundaries" conference (May 26-28, 2006).

Deep Wireless/Outfront commissioned works

Taking the Bridge
by Christian Nicolay

Taking the Bridge is an attempt to resurrect abandoned and obsolete objects by amplifying and constructing their sounds, re-inventing their function into instruments for contemporary dialogue. Using a multitude of various pick-ups, guitar pedals, and amplifiers the collection of sounds are constructed together on broken tape recorders to further explore the gritty, choppy, linear qualities of analogue tape and accentuate this exploration of erosion and abandonment. Taking the bridge refers to the “bridge” in a passage of music, linking two separate parts of a composition together. Guitar/ synth and drum solos are usually found here, but in this exploration of sound from unusual places a traffic bridge is climbed and amplified and transformed into the instrument that is played. The bridge is not only an instrument, but also a way to cross over into places you would not know how to get to through logical investigations.

Riding a red Rocket
by Damiano Pietropaolo

A man riding the Red Rocket is enveloped in a soundscape that is part memory, part fantasy, part actuality ö an acoustic tone poem of disappearance into personal memory that finds musical resolve in the slick stillness of the Red Rocketâs wheels gliding into a Little Italy that is no more·

Silent Cecilia  
by Micheline Roi

It's starting again.

Somewhere between thought and sound

crystal winged Cecilia takes flight

leaving me and my pitiful scratching

silenced.

I'm dumbed and deaf,

and move from spirit (instinct) to machine

seducing time and rhythm to speak for me.

Is this my voice?

Cecilia, is this my voice?

Yes, I am begging

begging her to answer, to witness

my faithful (penitent)   empty grinding at sound.

There is no answer.

Just my own breath

sounding through the fear.

Is it enough

this tired lone flailing of noise?

It has to be.

And so I continue.

and still there is this,

this

hope.

______________________________________________________________

As a creative artist there is a power in flow and an even greater power in block.   This is where the interesting human drama unfolds; the questioning, the personification of muse, the penance and hopefully a sort of peace.

the 16 offerings are made
by Debashis Sinha

Sinha's audio work for deepwireless explores the Hindu myth of the Goddess Durga.   Using a sound palette that draws on traditional percussion, found sound, digital glitch noise and the like, Sinha creates an audio world that heavily refers to/retells the creation myth of the Goddess and the subsequent bloody battle between Her and the great demon Maheshasura.   The resultant world is both an aural transmission of the ancient myth and an exploration of our uneasy relationship with using power as a force for good.