CANCELLED
ONLINE

Playing with Soundscapes

Curated by 
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Monday, March 8, 2021
 to 
to
Thursday, March 25, 2021
6pm
 - 
9pm

A workshop on listening imaginatively through technology, with soundscape researcher & composer Helena Krobath.

Sign up: https://playingwithsoundscapes.eventbrite.ca

6 hours total over 2 sessions, online // $62, or $42 for members

** By donation for those facing reduced income due to COVID-19

Session 1: Thu Mar 18, 6pm-9pm

Session 2: Thu Mar 25, 6pm–9pm

All times listed are Pacific Time  

 

Prerequisites & minimum requirements:

  • No experience necessary other than basic computer use.
  • Before the first session of this workshop, participants must download and install Audacity, available free here: https://www.audacityteam.org. Please check that your computer meets the minimum requirements to run the software.
  • To join the workshop, participants must download and install Zoom Client for Meetings, available free here: https://zoom.us/download
  • Participants will be supplied some files with which to do exercises, and are also encouraged to bring audio files that they want to discuss and experiment with during the workshop. Participants will also record sounds for homework to then bring to the Session 2.

This workshop will help you expand your art practice by introducing you to audio recording and signal processing as unique ways of listening. This workshop presents audio technology as a way of exploring the perception of sonic environments and playing with their meanings. You will experiment with processing sound recordings by drawing on concepts from soundscape compositionand sound art.

Intimidated by audio technology? Don’t be! This workshop meets you where you’re at. The focus will be on making meaningful sound using the equipment you already have. Through hands-on exercises, you’ll learn how to tune-in to sonic complexities and discuss the meaning of what you hear with others.

Learn how to listen to details and transform them to create custom sounds that enhance your specific projects, including movie soundtracks, radio dramas, documentaries, podcasts, ethnographic and environmental studies, and sound art installations.

By the end of the workshop each student will have created a collection of audio components to incorporate in their own projects and will have techniques for generating more in future.

Venue Accessibility

VIVO is located in the homelands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples in a warehouse space at 2625 Kaslo Street south of East Broadway at the end of E 10th. Transit line 9 stops at Kaslo Street on Broadway. From the bus stop, the path is paved, curbless, and on a slight decline. The closest skytrain station is Renfrew Station, which is three blocks south-east of VIVO and has an elevator. From there, the path is paved, curbless, and on a slight incline. There is parking available at VIVO, including wheelchair access parking. There is a bike rack at the entrance. The front entrance leads indoors to a set of 7 stairs to the lobby.

Wheelchair/Walker Access

A wheelchair ramp is located at the west side of the main entrance. The ramp has two runs: the first run is 20 feet long, and the second run is 26 feet. The ramp is 60 inches wide. The slope is 1:12. The ramp itself is concrete and has handrails on both sides. There is an outward swinging door (34 inch width) at the top of the ramp leading to a vestibule. A second outward swinging door (33 inch width) opens into the exhibition space. Buzzers and intercoms are located at both doors to notify staff during regular office hours or events to unlock the doors. Once unlocked, visitors can use automatic operators to open the doors.

Washrooms

There are two all-gender washrooms. One has a stall and is not wheelchair accessible. The other is a single room with a urinal and is wheelchair accessible: the door is 33 inches wide and inward swinging, without automation. The toilet has 11 inch clearance on the left side and a handrail.

To reach the bathrooms from the studio, exit through the double doors and proceed straight through the lobby and down the hall . Turn left, and the two bathrooms will be on your right side. The closest one has a stall and is not wheelchair accessible. The far bathroom is accessible.

About the 
Instructor
Mentor
Artist
(s):

Helena Krobath was born in Matsqui and grew up in Mission and Abbotsford, BC. Her family immigrated from across Eastern Europe to Manitoba and British Columbia in the 1930s and 1950s. She lives in Vancouver, on unceded and occupied territory.

Helena takes keen interest in how information is created and communicated. Her fieldwork in places like ports and recreational nature zones investigates how infrastructures, sensory tuning, and narratives co-construct place. Her practices include radio, electroacousic composition, photography, painting, writing, and soundwalking. She has taught workshops on sound, sensory observation, and field recording, including Audio Story-crafting for VIVO in 2017; assisting in VIVO’s 2018 mentorship, Still Creek Salmon Sounds; and leading VIVO's 2019 mentorship on Vancouver Housing Stories. She has given presentations with the Simone de Beauvoir Institute, CiTR 101.9 FM (UBC), the Feminist Media Studio, Vancouver Podcast Festival, and more.

Helena collaborates on soundwalks and interactive events with Vancouver New Music and Vancouver Soundwalk Collective. She composed a soundscape for Echos and Reflections: A co-located audio mapping exchange, hosted by Lancaster University’s Centre for Mobilities Research and published the Journal of Design and Culture’s first audio-essay in their special issue on COVID-19 (exploring political economic dimensions of “sheltering in place” through changing soundscapes of East Vancouver). She created audio work for Arts Assembly (Ghost Story Commute), New Adventures in Sound Art’s Deep Wireless 14 Transmission Festival (I dreamt this was my home), and Frank Theatre (Be-Longing sound design). Helena has co-hosted the Soundscape Show on Vancouver Co-op Radio and volunteers with Vancouver Tenants Union.

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