NB - this page needs some updating! -- I'll get there one day soon, I swear!
List of projects/events since June 2007
Selected Sounds: a collective investigation into the art of sample-based music (Ph.D thesis)
Successful Defence Date: Sept 15th 2007
Abstract:
Website: http://selectedsounds.org
Publications: R• "'Liveness' in Electronic Music: The Unbearable Silence of 'Aura'", Canadian Journal of Communication, 43 page scholarly article with references (forthcoming)
• "Selected Sounds: A collective investigation into the practice of sample-based music" (Audio CD) © Chapman, Friz, Gallant, Houde, Morris, Moscos, Williams, 2007. A collaborative CD compiling 7 tracks composed from the same 7 samples, but by different artists. The CD is an integral component of my PhD dissertation. NB--100 copies of this CD were commissioned for a limited edition version of Pivot: An interdisciplinary graduate journal of visual culture, Vol. 1, #1 (2007)
R• "The Affect of Selection in Digital Sound Art." M/C Journal, Vol. 8, #3 (2005). http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0507/03-chapman.php
Chapman's PhD dissertation was the first research-creation project to be successfully defended in his domain in Canada (2007) and was completed through Concordia, UQAM and UdM's Joint PhD Program in Communication.
The Icebreaker
Project Start Date: Sept 2007
Website: http://icebreaker.opositive.ca
Project Description:
Publications: R• "The Icebreaker: Soundscape works as everyday sound art." Organised Sound, Vol. 14, #1 (2009), pp. 83-88.
http://journals.cambridge.org/production/action/cjoGetFulltext?fulltexti...
Performances: Reservoir-Pneumatic t.o. and mont residencies and perfs, Studio 303 performance with Clara Jan 2009, residency with Mich - design build of ice-xylophone
• with Clara Furey, "The Icebreaker", Jan 24th, 2009. Shown as part of Studio 303's Verni 142 "Ground" event (Montreal). I am the artistic director and main interpreter of this piece. I also designed all musical arrangements as well as the system used (see "Most Significant Contributions" section below).
• as DJ/Musician/Composer/Performer in "Reservoir/Pneumatic" (sextet, 60 min version), a contemporary dance piece choreographed by George Stamos. Shown at Montreal's L'Agora de La Dance from Oct 15th-18th 2008 (see http://www.agoradanse.com/spectacle.php?id=67&saison=12) and also at the Toronto "Dancemakers" festival, Sept. 25-27 2008 (http://www.dancemakers.org/). "Reservoir/Pneumatic" was slated for a reprise at L'Agora due to popular demand from Feb. 19th-21st, but was cancelled on opening night due to sudden illness.
Funding received: Audio Art grant from the Canada Council, Jan-Dec 2008.
Principle Investigator/Artist: Owen Chapman
Previous Research Assistants: Rami Nuseir (Jan-Dec 2008), Sam Thulin (Sept-Dec 2008)
Commissioned Artists: Yvan Cazabon, Anna Friz, Clara Furey, Andra McCartney, Tara Rodgers, George Stamos
From Audion Tubes to the ‘Girl Who Never Finished Her Music Lessons’: a genealogical history of the Theremin, Ondes Martenot and Hammond Organ
Project Start Date: June 2008
Website: http://collectingdust.org
Project Description:
This issue of Wi can also be read as the first step in a wider project I have undertaken aimed at increasing awareness around the historical significance of the Ondes Martenot, Theremin and Hammond Organ.
Publications: R• "Radio Activity: Articulating the Theremin, Ondes Martenot and Hammond Organ." Wi: Journal of Mobile Media, Spring (2009). http://wi.hexagram.ca/?p=44
This issue of the online jounal Wi was launched on April 7th 2009. I was guest editor. I commissioned articles along the theme of "Active Radio" for this issue. A special introduction along with five articles were published (4 of which were peer reviewed). I wrote one of these articles, along with the introduction.
Funding received: FQRSC Nouveau Chercheurs-Createurs grant, June 2009-May 2012
Principle Investigator/Artist: Owen Chapman
Current Research Assistants: Allison Loader, Dave Madden, David Paquette, Sam Thulin
WMC - Wireless Mobile Communication – An MCRI Working Group
Project Start Date: June 2009
Website: http://wmcrg.wordpress.com
Project Description: From http://wmcrg.wordpress.com
"For those of us interested in mobile, portable communications, the increasing presence of cellular telephones, hand-held PDAs, netbooks, G3 smart-phones, gps-enabled tracking systems, and WiFi-equipped mobile media marks, or mars, the contemporary communications landscape. These technical variants of highly personalized hand-held digital devices now support a range of functions within education, culture, leisure, and commerce. A host of new practices – from SMS text-messaging, to proximity marketing, to podcasting, to mobile activism – are emerging in their wake.
The Wireless Mobile Communication MCRI research group will instigate theoretical and practical research on the rapidly changing landscape of mobile media in Canada. Canadians are at an important crossroads socially, economically and politically in the current telecommunications climate: this MCRI project/institute will pinpoint new and emergent issues and assist in showcasing creative solutions.
The future of education and culture is not only digital, as some have contended, it may be ‘mobile’. To fully understand the potential, and cut through the hype, we need to engage with it theoretically, practically and proactively."
Principle Investigator: Kim Sawchuk.
Other Core Researchers/Artists: Owen Chapman, Rae Staseson, Leslie Regan-Shade
Current Research Assistants whom I am working with for this project: Cyrus Lewis, Sam Thulin
The MCRI Working group is in its very initial stages, but I am already quite implicated. The letter of intent for SSHRC will be drafted this year, and especially after our meeting with various potential collaborators on Nov 7-8 2009. My own involvement at this point revolves around the anticipated creative axe of the MCRI initiative.