Gordon Monahan Residency

Artist: Gordon Monahan (Ontario, Berlin) 

Date: October 1 to 6, 2007

Workshop: October 1, 7 pm

Installation: October 3 and 4:  11am – 3 pm, October 5: 11am – 7pm, October 6: 11am – 5 pm

Opening and Artist Talk: October 5, 7:30 pm

Artist Talk and Screening: October 4, 1:30pm

Performance: October 4, 8pm

Open Space and the Victoria Conservatory of Music welcomed sound artist Gordon Monahan ,  to Victoria. Monahan presented an exiting array of sonic works, including a new 8-channel sound installation, a performance featuring solo piano, Theremin and swinging speakers, an artist talk and a workshop all taking place Monday October 1 to Saturday October 6.

Sound Artist Gordon Monahans' works for piano, loudspeakers, video, kinetic sculpture and computer-controlled sound environments span genres from avant-garde concert music to multi-media installation and sound art. He juxtaposed natural acoustical phenomenon with elements of media technology, environment, architecture, popular culture, and live performance. 

Workshop: Mechanics of Sound Play
Monday, October 1, 7 pm
Open Space, 510 Fort Street
Drop in fee
Monahan discussed and about demonstrated his approach to creating improvised works that illuminate basic and surprising elements of sound in this first edition of the Open Space Music Improvisation Workshop Series. Monahan played Theremin for this event.

Installation: A Very Large Vinyl LP Constructed in Acoustic Space
Wednesday through Saturday October 3 - 6: 11am – 4 pm
Alix Goolden Hall, Victoria Conservatory of Music, Johnson Street entrance at Quadra
Free
An 8-channel surround sound installation on the stage of the Alix Goolden Hall. A collage of vintage easy listening records fades in and out, spinning simultaneously clockwise and counterclockwise, creating a layered illusion of a virtual vinyl record in space.

Opening and Artist Talk: A Very Large Vinyl LP Constructed in Acoustic Space
Friday, October 5, 7:30 pm
Alix Goolden Hall, Victoria Conservatory of Music
Tickets: By donation
Gordon discussed and presented his new sound installation. 

Artist Talk and DVD Screening: Sound installation and composition
Wednesday October 3, 1:30 – 2:30pm
University of Victoria Room B120, School of Music, Maclaurin Building
Free

Monahan joined Christopher Butterfield’s composition class in a discussion about his work and his approach to composition.

Performance: Gordon Monahan – Swinging Speakers and Piano Mechanics
Thursday, October 4, 8pm
Alix Goolden Hall
Ticket prices: $12/$15
Tickets available at Open Space and Victoria Conservatory of Music

Gordon Monahan presented  a concert with solo piano, processed Theremin, speakers and electronics including his works Piano Mechanics, Speaker Swinging and Layered Lines Fading Away.
 

Piano Mechanics: A work for solo piano in 9 movements in which the acoustical properties of the piano are explored. The piano is not treated as a traditional concert instrument, but rather as a machine for the synthesis of sound. An extreme, un-pianistic keyboard technique is used to excavate acoustical sounds that are not normally associated with the piano. Awarded First Prize at the 1984 CBC Young Composers Competition. 

"At the piano, Gordon Monahan produces sounds we haven't heard before." (John Cage)

Speaker Swinging: An experiment for three or more swinging loudspeakers and nine audio oscillators in an enclosed space. The idea comes from hearing such things as Leslie speakers, moving vehicles with broadcasting sound systems, airplanes, and other moving sound sources, both industrial and organic. The subsequent acoustical processes of phasing, vibrato, and tremolo are fundamental to the work, as are the elements of sweat, struggle, fear, and seduction. Speaker Swinging grew out of a desire to animate the typical electronic music concert and in effect, to realize the loudspeaker as a valid electronic music instrument in itself.

http://gordonmonahan.com/speaker_swinging.html

Layered Lines Fading Away: Solo performance for processed Theremin processed through a Max patch in real time, using an eight channel delay system to create layers of repeated frequencies that form beat patterns in acoustic space. At certain high frequencies, these difference tones can be felt ‘tickling’ one’s ear cavities. The Theremin is an historical electronic instrument that represents mystery (the tones are produced through the 'ether' without physical contact to the instrument) and old-school analog kitsch, as it was used on the soundtracks of many sci-fi movies of the 1950's.