Residency in collaboration with LABO, Toronto and SAT, Montreal
Coordination by Julie Tremble of LABO and Joseph Lefèvre from SAT
Visuals: Ryan Stec in collaboration with Véronique Couillard
Audio: Jan Pienkowski
The Swim installation is an audio visual piece using multi-screen projection and quadraphonic sound. This modular work, presented with a nostalgic aesthetic, focuses on the sounds and images of summer life. Blinding sparkling waters, meandering waves and even pesky flies create an immersive digital landscape to fend off the autumn chill.
The work is composed in Ableton (sound) and Modul8 (video) and linked via MIDI controllers to create a series of audio-visual elements. Each of the elements follow a series of programming rules creating an evolving or fluctuating composition. Essentially, five different chapters combine and recombine, moving out from a watery and wavy center, to create a slightly new piece every 20 minutes.
Swim was created for Meta_labo, a residency and training project initiated by Le LABO and realized in collaboration with the Society for Art and Technology (SAT).
Ryan Stec is a Winnipeg-born/Ottawa-based media artist and curator working in documentary and experimental forms. Stec has been experimenting with live video for the last 6 years, producing mixes, performances and visual design for a wide range of art events. He has made his visual mark on the now legendary JIZZ! parties at Galerie SAW Gallery, Inside Out Festival in Toronto, New Forms Festival in Vancouver and most recently with Ottawa’s brightest electronic producers and DJs – Jokers of the Scene.
His work has been presented at Struts Gallery, le Festival international de cinéma francophone en Acadie, in an upcoming traveling program from SAW Video and more widely at artist-run centres across Canada. As a curator, Stec has produced 5 editions of the Ottawa-based commissioned program, Remix (2002-2006) presented by SAW Video, the Available Light Screening Collective, Platform Gallery in Vaasa Finland, Art Star, and SAW Gallery’s Video Art Biennial. Stec is currently Artengine’s Artistic Director.
Jan Pienkowski is a composer, musician, sound designer, DJ, physician and founder of Ono Records. Pienkowski writes and performs with sounds reflecting his various experiences. His theatre projects (DIALOG) and dance (A.R.M. with choreographer Nikolas Dixon) heLped him develop savoir-faire for staging and subtle rhythms. Pienkowski collaborates with solists, visual artists and dancers. He helps produce [MixSessions] events and participates in SAT’s Fabrique Numérique.
LE LABO and SAT thanks our generous funders and sponsors for their support: Canada Council for the Arts & Conseil des arts du Québec, Ontario Arts Council, toronto arts council, Le Secrétariat aux affaires intergouvernementales du Canada (Government of Québec), The Ontario Trillium Foundation and Super8 Downtown Toronto.
Le Labo will host the following events:
15h00-18h00
Lecture: Immersive Environnements, applications and tools.
With Sébastien Dallaire
19h00-21h00
Opening reception: Installation of Ryan Stec et Jan Pienkowski
21h00–23h00
Performance: Ryan Stec and Jan Pienkowski