send + receive: a festival of sound [version 11]
Oct. 13-17, 2009Winnipeg, Canada
send + receive: a festival of sound will celebrate its eleventh year this October 13-17, 2009. For over a decade, send + receive has produced one of the few annual media arts festivals in North America focusing exclusively on sound-based work. It has become an invaluable opportunity for showcasing the innovative work of Manitoban, Canadian and international artists, offering a rare critical platform for audio art in Canada.
In past years, we have hosted performances and workshops from the likes of Oren Ambarchi (Australia), Aki Onda (Japan/USA), Lee Ranaldo (USA),Tim Hecker (Canada), OVAL (Germany), Kaffe Matthews (UK) Jason Kahn (Switzerland), Martin Tétreault (Canada) and countless others, providing a unique opportunity for Winnipeg's creative media arts community to experience internationally established artists of a high calibre in an intimate environment.
For send + receive [version 11] this fall, we have invited several Canadian and international sound artists to participate as performers and speakers, and confirmed participants include world renowned sound artist Francisco Lopez (Spain), electronic artists from the Anticipate label Mark Templeton (Edmonton/Canada) & Ezekiel Honig (USA), Montreal based small object manipulator Magali Babin (Montreal/ Canada), scent + sound artist Heribert Friedl (Austria), percussionist Jeffrey Allport (Vancouver/Canada), prolific electronic artist Machinefabriek (Netherlands), noted American sound artist Stephen Vitiello (USA), trumpeter Nate Wooley (USA) and possessor of the ‘howling voice’ Ami Yoshida (Japan). Live performances will take place at Urban Shaman Gallery and the University of Winnipeg’s Eckhardt Hall.
send + receive is a festival focused on sound, and this year we have put together a program that focuses the senses in very concrete ways as well as showcases a broad approach to sound art. A perfect example of stripping away the senses to focus on listening would be our Thursday, October 15th performance by Spanish sound artist Francisco Lopez. A truly unique listening event and one well overdue for s+r’s audience! Removing our most dominant sense, this event will seat the audience in the round in a completely pitch-black room. With surround sound Lopez weaves carefully selected field recordings that gradually envelope the audience in a dense and physical sound space that no listener will leave unaltered by.
send + receive has always focused on community-building and bringing both emerging and established artists together from different parts of Canada and the world to share their ideas and work. For the 11th edition of send + receive, we will showcase this collaborative energy through two specific performance nights. On Friday, October 16th Machinefabriek and Stephen Vitiello will be performing the world premiere of their project “Box Music”. This project came out of a long-distance collaboration that led to a 2008 release on NYC based 12k Records. This performance at send + receive will mark the first time that they have ever performed together in person. The two artists will also conduct a talk about this process at Aqua Books earlier that same day, and will invite audience members to provide objects to be utilized in the Friday performance. On the final night of the festival this collaborative theme culminates with Nate Wooley (trumpet), Jeffrey Allport (percussion) and Ami Yoshida (voice) performing a series of free improvisations together. All seasoned improvisers, this evening will mark the first time Ami Yoshida has played with either Wooley or Allport, and we have no doubt extraordinary things will happen!
In 2009, send + receive’s workshop series is sponsored by Assiniboine Credit Union, and will continue to focus on Winnipeg’s core downtown area, with both a professional-level workshop for practicing artists, and free youth oriented workshops. Bringing workshops to children and youth in the city’s core is an exciting opportunity for the artists, and for the festival to further its goal of bringing sound art into more accessible forums. This year’s workshops will include an a workshop with inner-city neighborhood centre Rossbrook House, a workshop with Winnipeg sound artist Ken Gregory at Grafitti Gallery, and an in depth workshop with Francisco Lopez, delving into ideas of homemade music and field recordings, and virtual sonic spaces and sound immersion at Video Pool Media Arts Centre.
Bolstering our campaign of accessibility will be the long-awaited launch of send + receive’s 10th Anniversary audio + video DVD set, featuring select performances from the past ten years of send + receive’s remarkable history, extensive liner notes by festival founder Steve Bates, and a feature-length documentary about the festival by Winnipeg filmmaker/writer Caelum Vatnsdal.
Film and video screenings will include the Winnipeg premiere of Pilgrimage From Scattered Points, British filmmaker Luke Fowler’s hypnotic documentary about 1960s avant-garde composer Cornelius Cardew and The Scratch Orchestra. The film examines the struggles Cardew went through in developing his theories of improvisation and the group’s all-access philosophy toward music making. Audiovisual work by Italy’s USO Project + Selfish and Montreal media art collective TIND (this is not design) will be presented on the eve of the 14th.
In addition to send + receive’s weekly radio program S+R Radio on the University of Winnipeg’s CKUW 95.9 FM, the station will also be celebrating its tenth anniversary with a radio series in collaboration with send + receive throughout the festival, consisting of hour-long features on Canadian sound artists selected from send + receive’s open call.
Free Artist Talks will include Heribert Friedl elaborating on his concept of the non-visual object (scent + sound) at the University of Manitoba School of Architecture, and Magali Babin will engage Winnipeg’s vibrant Francophone community with a French-language performance and Artist Talk at La Maison des Artistes.
One of send + receive’s most popular features is the sound-based installations we showcase at every festival. For [version 11], along with his audio performance on the 16th, Austria’s Heribert Friedl will be presenting a contemplative scent installation at Ace Art. Having installed & performed his work all over the world, this event will mark Heribert’s first time presenting his work in Canada. Further to this, send + receive is partnering with the University of Winnipeg’s Gallery 1C03 to co-present a new exhibition by Winnipeg artist Ken Gregory, and will be presenting six public sound installations throughout Winnipeg’s historic Exchange District by local artists John Coutanche, Heidi Phillips, Robert Taite, Daryn Bond and Garth Hardy, as well as Swedish artist Conny Blom.
send + receive [version 11] will kick off with a 5pm-7pm cocktail at Ace Art on Tuesday October 13th, with the unveiling of the festival’s many installations, all demarcated on a special map created just for the occasion.
Stay tuned for the full schedule, to be posted at www.sendandreceive.org in early September.