Songs of Place is a series of 6 experimental audio art portraits of places which use innovative surround-sound production and split-screen video techniques to create immersive audio and video portraits of places.
This series of artist residency productions began in 2000 and ended in 2007, with 5 productions from Canadian locations and 1 European portrait, Songs of Place: Vienna, commissioned by ORF Kunstradio in 2005.
The compositional and conceptual production structure of Songs of Place uses a combination of cartographical mapping architecture (15 or more kilometres wide) and compass rose, plus a system of proportional geometry referred to as the squaring of the circle, and Acoustic Mapping Process. The post-production structure of Songs of Place series utilizes digital edit rates of between 10 and 40 edits per second per audio channel, weaving together at very high rates layer upon layer of quadraphonic (surround sound) source location audio recordings. This allows the Songs of Place compositions to become an immersive and omni-directional composite of all the locations recorded for each place, creating an immersive and vibrational representation of the specific large scale environment.
Exhibitions and Festivals
2007 – The Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery, Songs of Place, 5.1 video series, solo, Kitchener, ON/CA
2007 – Western Front, “Art’s Birthday 2007: The 100th Anniversary of Radio: network vs propaganda”, Songs of Place: Vancouver, Quadraphonic audio art screening, Vancouver, BC/CA
2006 – Diapason Gallery for Sound and Intermedia, Songs of Place, Quadraphonic audio art screening, New York City, New York, United States of America.
2005 – OBORO, Songs of Place, Bookwork and DVD 5.1 screening / Publication launch, Montréal, QC/CA
2005 – Kunstradio (ORF – Osterreichischer Rundfunk) / Top Kino, Songs of Place: Vienna,Quadraphonic audio art screening, Vienna, Austria.
2004 – Kunstradio (ORF – Osterreichischer Rundfunk), Radio Kulturhaus and Sky Medialoft – Ars Electronica Center, Linz, Re-Inventing Radio – Die Lange Nacht der Radiokunst 04, Songs of Place, Quadraphonic audio art screening, Vienna, Austria.
2004 – Paved Art + New Media, Songs of Place, Quadraphonic audio art screening, Saskatoon, SK/CA
2001 – Centre for Art Tapes, “Earful Audio Art Festival”, Songs the City Sang: Halifax, Quadraphonic audio art concert, Halifax, NS/CA
Credits
• For Songs of Place: Vienna – MAX video programming: Étienne Grenier
• Individual Songs of Place productions were produced from the artist residency programs of the following commissioning organizations: Centre for Art Tapes – Halifax, NS/CA, Vidéographe – Montréal, QC/CA, Western Front – Vancouver, BC/CA, ORF Kunstradio – Vienna, AT, Qube Assemblage – Springwater, SK/CA, Open Ears Festival – Kitchener, ON/CA.
• Songs of Place received research assistance from the Media Art Sections of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des arts et des lettres Québec, and the Saskatchewan Arts Board.
Publication
SONGS OF PLACE BOX SET DVD (2005), published by OBORO and Qube Assemblage, Montreal, distributed by Electrocd, Montreal.
The Songs of Place series is described fully in the Songs of Place box set, containing a full-colour 120-page book work and 2 NTSC 5.1 Digital Video Discs, presenting the first 4 productions from Canada (Halifax, Montreal, Springwater, Vancouver). This publication is designed to be experienced in the intimacy of a private home or office with a home theatre system or a small multimedia screening room.
steve heimbecker 