v. 16 – 2014

Featuring

v16 Artwork: Robert Taite

Design & Layout: Paul Phillips

Statement from the Director

Let’s get Physical…

The focus of the 16th edition of send + receive is physical sound. The artists who are featured this year explore many different angles of this theme, with a particular emphasis on the physical ways in which the body generates and manipulates sound and the physiological ways that sound can effect us.

Donna Legault’s site-specific installation Subtle Territory, installed in the Cube throughout the festival, captures inaudible low frequencies from the physical environment, transforming them into fluctuating audible tones that intermingle back into the urban surroundings.

Simple experiments can manifest the most profound and almost magical conclusions, and several of this year’s artists have made aural experiments the focus of their work. American composer Alvin Lucier is by far one of the most unique and innovative composers of the 20th century and is the feature of the wonderful film No Ideas But In Things. Like Lucier, Sarah Davachi employs techniques to stimulate psychological and physiological effects in the listener through her psychoacoustic investigations. Erin Sexton converts the stage into a scientific laboratory for fascinating chemical and physical sonic experiments in her unique performances.

Since 1980, guest of honour Ellen Fullman has developed her unique long-string instrument, an installation built of numerous suspended piano wires spanning the length of a large resonant space. Like a hypnotic ballet, Fullman plays the installation with rosin-coated fingers, controlling each tone with slow movements and delicate touch, filling the venue with entrancing floating harmonics. Dynamic cellist Okkyung Lee will accompany Fullman on this special occasion that takes place in one of the city’s hidden gems, the historic Ukrainian Labour Temple.

The rousing duo of cellist Okkyung Lee and dancer/choreographer Michelle Boulé utilize the entire space in which they perform, continually shifting the audience’s perspective and perceptions in a dizzying use of movement, light, and amplified and acoustic sound. This physical and hands-on approach ties in to local trio Burden. Using the gutted soundboard of a piano placed on the floor, they surround it – hammering, stroking, plucking, and generally manhandling its viscera, using the floor’s resonance and select amplification to generate raw and compelling music. Taking this approach to a more minuscule scale, BC duo kiiln animate and excite small objects, surfaces, and devices to compose an intricate sound world of seamlessly shifting textures and tones.

Jason Lescalleet takes a hands-on approach to manipulating sound on analog tape, but his palette – from gentle cloudy lo-fi to vibrant harsh extremes – defines the tactile and distinctly physical nature of his music.

We are honoured to present these distinct artists at the 16th edition of send + receive. Each performance, screening, installation, and talk brings a new perspective to this year’s theme and guarantees to stimulate and invigorate.

–crys cole, Director

Photo Galleries for v16 

v16 STAFF

director: crys cole

festival technician: Kelsey Braun

assistant to ellen fullman: Aston Coles

head sound engineer: Craig Boychuk

assistant engineer: Joel Mierau

visual documentation: Robert Szkolnicki

copy editor: Sissy SoFunk

Programming Comittee:

crys cole

Robert Taite

Kelsey Braun

Fletcher Pratt

v16 FUNDERS + PARTNERS