Play and build with disobedience through workshops and performances on transmission. Think sonic liberation.
The inputted value is unusual
This year’s What Is festival is a disruption: we’re testing noncompliance and are asking you to join us in practice. Or refuse: the only rule is that there are no rules.
Our second night of What Is: noncompliance is split into two parts.
- THE WORKSHOP at 6 PM: Intro to DIY Radio. Facilitated by Auto Feeder, this workshop introduces the fascinating world of radio beyond traditional broadcasting, from radio art to numbers stations to pirate transmissions and off-grid mesh networks. Build your own mini FM transmitter and take it home. The session ends with a live performance, where attendees will use their transmitters to contribute to an experimental sound composition, temporarily occupying the airwaves as a shared and contested space.
- THE PERFORMANCE at 8 PM: Auto Feeder and workshop participants perform their transmissions live, followed by a performance from underground worldwide techno legend and transdisciplinary artist Rrose which closes with a genre-twisting set based on work by James Tenney.
- THE ACTIVATION: Parkdale Pirate Radio will we taking over the waves from 9-11PM for a special edition of DISCO 3000. For those living in Parkdale/ High Park, tune in to 87.5FM. For those outside of the area, check in to the online stream on Wave Farm Radio. This will not be archived!
This is a low capacity workshop, tickets buyers are encouraged to not wait.
- Participants do not require any preexisting skills.
- Workshop participants are invited to perform as artists with Auto Feeder immediately following the workshop with the device they create.
- Workshop tickets include access to the full night, and participants are invited to perform as artists with Auto Feeder.
*By participating in the workshop, you are signing on as an artistic partner. You should ideally feel comfortable joining the performances.
NOTE: This is not a typical workshop and is not free to MG members. However, the usual membership discounts still apply.
ABOUT RROSE
Born 1969. Died 1909. After the release of three EPs and an album on the Sandwell District label in 2011 and the launch of her own Eaux imprint in 2012, productions out on Further Records, Stroboscopic Artifacts, Infrastructure New York and Khemia Records including collaborations with Bob Ostertag, Lucy, and others, Rrose has found a unique niche in the worldwide techno underground while remaining equally situated in the experimental and avant-garde artistic communities. His tracks incorporate ideas from early drone and minimalist music as prominently as they do the history of dance music. Whether as a DJ, live performer, or producer, Rrose crafts sonic ecosystems with patience and attention to detail, allowing the music to unfold gradually while tapping into deep, uncharted recesses of both the mind and body.
ABOUT AUTO FEEDER
Auto Feeder is the experimental noise project of Sarah Boo. It is rooted in emotive rumination, drifting through a changing apparatus of machines and pedals to create fearful and longing sounds across the frequency spectrum.
Sarah Boo is a multidisciplinary artist whose recent work reflects on how digital spaces shape the logics of the self and the collective imagination, and the underlying entanglement of bodies, physical infrastructures, and corporations. She is an analog enthusiast and builder of objects.
ABOUT PARKDALE PIRATE RADIO
Andrew O’Connor is an independent radio producer, and sound artist based in Toronto Canada. His work reflects an interest in sound, storytelling, and transmission, and explores these ideas through formal broadcast radio as well as installation art, sound design, and pirate radio. Andrew’s work has been featured across the CBC Radio network, syndicated internationally, as well as featured at Festivals like Radiophrenia in Glasgow, and the UK International Radio Drama Festival. Andrew currently hosts and produces a weekly pirate radio show called DISCO 3000 on his long running, clandestine radio project Parkdale Pirate Radio.
Andrew’s work in radio dates back some twenty years, and extends beyond standard broadcast forms, this work has been presented at festivals across North America including Megapolis in Baltimore, the Third Coast Filmless Festival at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, the Vancouver New Music Festival, and La Grande Rencontre des arts Mediatiques en Gaspesie. Andrew has been a visiting faculty member at the Banff Centre for the Arts, received a commission from the Klondike Institute for Art and Culture for their yearly thematic series, The Natural & The Manufactured, had his work included in the anthology Transmission Arts: Artists and Airwaves“ published in 2011. In recent years Andrew has been a tutor at the prestigious CAMP Artist residency in the French Pyrenees, developed a live radio play with William Parker presented at festivals like Suoni Per Il Popolo in Montreal and Vision Fest at Roulette Intermedium in NYC and created a site specific sound installations for FM transmitters in Sao Paulo, Brazil and Homer, Alaska.
TICKETING & ACCESSIBILITY INFO
REFUND, NO-SHOW, & RUSH LIST POLICY
Sometimes our shows sell out, and that can be a bummer for folks who didn’t get a ticket. We’ve developed a new ticketing policy that applies to advance ticket holders and those wanting tickets to ensure a fair, transparent process for releasing additional tickets to a sold-out show. Please read our full policy here.
TICKETING
Our new ticket type invites you to Pay What You Can Afford (PWYCA) which means that you can choose an appropriate level and where possible, help to offset community members attending at a discounted rate. Levels are decided by you based upon your income and financial flexibility and are not verified at the door.
ACCESSIBILITY INFO
Masking and social distancing is strongly recommended for attendees who are able to and audience members are encouraged to arrive scent-free to the performance.
For additional questions or accessibility needs, please contact: matthew@musicgallery.org.
COVID POLICY
We strongly encourage masking at all times. For our full policy, click here.
SAFER SPACE
We expect all attendees and community members to respect one another, and to respect the work that was created for you to explore. We will not tolerate harm or harmful behaviour of any kind. View our policy here.
