Newsletter for August 2025 (Vol.20; Iss. 8)
Produced by New Adventures in Sound Art
www.naisa.ca

1) Sound Travels Festival June 12 – September 15
2) Sound Travels Festival Exhibitions
3) Performance by Rani Jambak at SOUNDplay Festival opening September 20
4) SOUNDplay Festival Exhibition
5) 48-Hour Sound Art Challenge

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1) Sound Travels Festival of Sound Art

June 12 – September 15, 2025
All events at the NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 313 Highway 124, South River
Thursday to Monday, 10am – 4pm
Unless otherwise indicated
naisa.ca/festivals/sound-travels

Sound Fishing at Commanda Creek in Lount Twp (recordings used in Voice of the Water), photo by Darren Copeland

2) Sound Travels Exhibitions

Haptic Voices by David Bobier and Jim Ruxton
June 12 – September 15, 2025
Pay By Donation
View more information

Haptic Voices is a large scale ten channel vibro-tactile wall with the potential for 10 independent streams of sound signals. Visitors are invited to stand against the wall to experience vibrations that are controlled using an iPad. Using vibration as the final output, Haptic Voices is equally accessible to the Deaf, hard of hearing and able-bodied communities to experience the wall. Watch this video to learn more about Haptic Voices.

Voice of the Water by Eric Powell
*New* Permanent Installation ongoing
Pay By Donation

Voice of the Water is an interactive rotary telephone-based listening station. Using sounds collected from inside the lakes and rivers around South River, Voice of the Water encourages listeners to connect with the local waterways as they explore the boundaries and overlaps between planes of existence. The Artist’s goal is to create a venue for contemplation, catharsis, and a deeper engagement with the surrounding environment. Visit here for more information, media stories, and to explore the project sound map.

Sensation of Distribution by Mitchell Akiyama and Brady Peters
Ongoing

The Sensation of Distribution re-invites visitors to explore the unnoticed or imminent sonic and aesthetic potential of our built environment by connecting the exploration of acoustic pipe resonance with a more domestic vernacular

Decomposing Piano Exhibition and Events
Ongoing, Open Improv monthly – the 2nd Sunday of each month (June to September), 2pm

The Decomposing Piano has been transforming outside the NAISA North Media Arts Centre since December 2022 and continues to reveal new timbres and shifting tunings by the day and sometimes even by the hour.

3) SOUNDplay Festival opens September 20 with performance by Rani Jambak

September 20, 2025 – January 5, 2026
All events at the NAISA North Media Arts Centre, 313 Highway 124, South River, unless otherwise stated

New Adventures in Sound Art’s (NAISA) is proud to present the 24th edition of its SOUNDplay Festival, NAISA’s annual fall festival that encourages new avenues of exploration between sound and new media. Special highlights for this year include a performance by Rani Jambak from Indonesia and the Ice Voices installation by Joan Sullivan and Robin Servant.

SOUNDplay Performance by Rani Jambak and the Kincia Aia
September 20, 7pm
Tickets $15 / Doors open at 6pm if you wish to have a vegan/gluten free meal in advance of the performance
Get tickets & passes

This performance by Rani Jambak features an instrument that she developed called the Kincia Aia. It is inspired by the traditional water wheel from Minangkabau, West Sumatra, Indonesia. Kincia Aia has 10 pestles that can be activated manually and it plays many layers of live sound and pre-recorded samples. It is almost rare to see the traditional waterwheel now in Minangkabau, because of new technology and from the lack of current in the springs and rivers resulting from climate change in the area. The purpose of the instrument is to recall ancestral wisdom and creativity and to raise awareness about the current climate conditions.

4) SOUNDplay Festival Exhibition

Ice Voices by Joan Sullivan and Robin Servant
September 26, 2025 – January 5, 2026
Open Thursday to Monday, 10am – 4pm
Admission by Donation

Ice Voices is an interactive sound-photo installation by climate artivist Joan Sullivan and composer Robin Servant that invites visitors to listen to what the disappearing ice is trying to tell us and to use their sense of touch and vision to explore further. Underwater recordings of ice “voices” play in the artwork which can be both fascinating and destabilizing. They pull listeners into their evocative vortex, coaxing them to listen more intently to the non-human world.

5) 48-Hour Sound Art Challenge

October 18 – 20, 2025
Warbler’s Roost, 3785D Eagle Lake Road, South River, Ontario
$339 registration which includes 2 nights Accommodation / $215 without accommodation
Registration & Booking

The 48-hour now annual Sound Art Challenge will take place at Warbler’s Roost, in the Almaguin Highlands as part of NAISA’s SOUNDplay Festival. The weekend intensive invites artists to create a sound art miniature in a 48-hour period on the theme “There is Art in Our Nature.” Fall is undeniably a remarkable time for the changes in the tree canopy. However, there are also many changes and movements in the soundscape worth considering, as both people and animals prepare for the arrival of winter.

Participating artists should bring their own portable recording devices and computers and other tools necessary for their creation with NAISA augmenting with its own equipment as necessary. Peer learning and sharing is encouraged and NAISA Artistic Director Darren Copeland will facilitate and assist participants. Results will be broadcast on NAISA Radio and NAISA’s social media channels after completion.

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New Adventures in Sound Art is a non-profit organization that presents performances and installations spanning the entire spectrum of sound art. NAISA is partially funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage, Ontario Arts Council, and the Canada Council for the Arts. NAISA would also like to thank Reuten Construction, Charles Street Video, and Warbler’s Roost for their sponsorship of its Sound Travels Festival of Sound Art 2025.

NAISA North Media Arts Centre is Accessible

Inquiries & general information:
Nadene Thériault-Copeland, Executive Director
New Adventures in Sound Art
313 Highway 124, South River, ON P0A 1X0
705-386-0880