News

Cover Story: Prairie Dog Magazine

“Modernity and the Age of Reason kind of championed the brain as this really important thing that defined us as human,” she adds. “I’m interested in recent scientific studies that [show] it’s not all about the brain. Our thinking process actually happens in concert with our body beyond the brain. What I’m interested in is using technology to create a culture of the body.”

“I’m interested in making a conversation about technology that doesn’t centre on intelligence but on emotion.”

– Erin Gee, excerpts from interview with Gregory Beatty

My exhibition “To the Sooe” at the MacKenzie Art Gallery is front page news in Regina’s Prairie Dog Magazine!  The Prairie Dog is Regina’s top source for what is going on in entertainment and the arts, so it is a great honor to be featured.  I also appreciate the reporting done by Gregory Beatty on this interview.  Click here to read the full article.

As a very brief aside, I want to address to the use of the words “Sound-Shaman” on the cover of this magazine.  I have never used these terms to describe my practice, as I am not currently practicing any form of spiritual faith that would qualify me to do so. These words are not my own, but were an editorial decision that I do not identify with and strongly reject.

Toronto Biennial

November 16, 2019: 3pm-7pm

Toronto: (Check the web link here for updates)

I am please to be presenting my Larynx series (2015) compositions for live vocal quartet in the context of a  fantastic looking posthuman vocal concert curated by Myung-Sun Kim and Maiko Tanaka. The concert is included in the programming for the Toronto Biennial 2019.

Erin Gee - Larynx Series

Erin Gee – Larynx1. Epson UltraChrome K3 ink on acid-free paper.
Edition of 5.
86 x 112 cm.

TELLINGS—A Post-Human Vocal Concert seeks to challenge traditional conceptions of voice. Artists working experimentally with sound—live electronics, deep listening, sound art—perform compositions that explore new modes of vocal production. The experimental vocal compositions in solo and ensemble formats question the way we imagine the body of a voice and the “receiver” as well as the divisions made between nature and technology. Each composition performed in TELLINGS presents increasingly inter-species, inter-organ, feminist, and collaborative notions through the languages of plants, animals, and even human organs not normally associated with having authorship or intention.

Artists: Jeneen Frei Njootli, Erin Gee, Ts̱ēmā Igharas, Stephanie Loveless, and Miya Masaoka

Co-curated by Maiko Tanaka and Myung-Sun Kim.

Co-presented in partnership with Trinity Square Video and MVS Proseminar, University of Toronto—John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design

BIOS

Erin Gee (born in Regina, SK, Canada; lives in Montreal, QC, Canada) is an artist inspired by feminist, posthumanist approaches to ontology, consciousness, and the human body. Known for her work in choral composition, biodata-driven interfaces, robotics, and ASMR, she uses art to explore the autonomous nature of sensory cognition, emotion, and empathy in humans and non-human assemblages. Her work has shown internationally at venues such as: Ars Electronica, Linz; NRW-Forum Düsseldorf, and Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal. In 2020 she has a solo exhibition at MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina.

Jeneen Frei Njootli (Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation, born in Whitehorse, YK, Canada; lives in Vancouver, BC, Canada) is a Vuntut Gwitchinartist working with mixed media, sound-based performances, textiles, and installation to explore Indigeneity in politics, community engagement, and history embedded in cultural materials. She was the 2017 recipient of the Contemporary Art Society of Vancouver’s Artist Prize. In 2018 alone she had solo exhibitions in venues such as: Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver; FIERMAN, New York City; and Artspace, Peterborough. Her work has appeared in numerous international exhibitions, including the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto, Canada and Nottingham Contemporary among others.

Maiko Tanaka (born in Toronto, ON, Canada; lives in Buffalo, NY, USA) is the Executive Director of Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Art Center in Buffalo NY. She holds a BFA from OCADU and MVS from the University of Toronto. She has curated projects in Canada and abroad, including for TSV, Nuit Blanche at OCADU, Onsite, Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, InterAccess, Gendai, all in Toronto, as well as Casco, in Utrecht/NL. She co-edited The Grand Domestic Revolution Handbook (Casco) and Model Minority (Gendai) and has written for Scapegoat, C Magazine, and Fuse as well as various artist publications.

Miya Masaoka (born in Washington, USA; lives in New York City, NY, USA) is an American artist and composer. Her work explores bodily perception of vibration, movement, and time while foregrounding complex timbre relationships. Her work has been presented at the Venice Biennale; MoMA PS1, New York City; Kunstmuseum Bonn; and the Caramoor, NY. She is a 2019 Studio Artist for the Park Avenue Armory, and has previously received a Doris Duke Artist Award, Fulbright, and Alpert Award in the Arts. She teaches at Columbia University, New York City where she is the Director of the Sound Art Program.

Stephanie Loveless (born in Montreal, Canada; lives in New York, USA) is a sound and media artist whose research centres on listening and vocal embodiment. Her recent projects include a mobile web-app for geo-located listening and sound works that channel the voices of plants, animals, and musical divas. She holds MFAs from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and Bard College, both in upstate New York, and a certification in Deep Listening from composer Pauline Oliveros. She teaches courses on Deep Listening and ecologically-oriented sound art at RPI.

Ts̱ēmā Igharas (Tahltan First Nation, born in Smithers, BC, Canada; lives in San Francisco, USA) is an award-winning interdisciplinary artist and a member of the Tahltan First Nation. Igharas is influenced by Potlatch methodology, teachings from her mentorship in Northwest Coast Formline Design at K’saan, her studies in visual culture, and time in the mountains. Igharas has shown and performed in various places in Canada and internationally, presenting her work that connects materials to mine sites and bodies to the land.

Pop Montreal

I will be part of a panel of artists as part of the Pop Montreal Symposium to discuss ASMR from artistic/scientific perspectives, come out to see me talking about my number one passion right now, also featuring…

Philippe Battikha holds a BFA in Integrative Music Studies and an MFA in Studio Arts (Interme-dia Concentration) from Concordia University. He is the co-founder of the Samizdat Records (SZR) label, based in Montreal and Brooklyn.

Jann Tomaro (Detroit/Montreal) is a doctoral student, researcher, and mental health practitioner who facilitates //practice//, a series using psychoacoustic properties of noise and sound to guide group meditations.

Click here for the facebook link to the event

Details!

What’s That Noise? ASMR For The Uninitiated
28 SEPT, 12 H 30, Piccolo Rialto

Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) is the static-like, tingling experience that people experience as a sensory response to auditory stimulus. ASMR has become a movement of its own in recent years, with the development of entire online communities of creators composing audio specifically tailored to produce pleasurable and relaxing effects for their audiences. So what’s the science behind ASMR? And where does it fit in the long tradition of “Brain Music,” from binaural beats to Muzak, through noise, musique concrète, and experimental sound art?

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C’est quoi ce bruit? L’ASMR pour les néophytes
Le 28 sept à 12 h 30 Piccolo Rialto

La réponse autonome sensorielle méridienne (ou ASMR pour Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) est une réponse sensorielle au stimulus auditif qui se manifeste sous forme de pico-tement ou d’électricité statique. L’ASMR est devenu un véritable mouvement en soi au cours des dernières années à travers le développement de communautés digitales de créateur·rice·s qui créent des pièces élaborées afin de susciter un effet plaisant et relaxant pour l’auditeur·rice. Quelle est la science derrière l’ASMR? Et quelle est sa place dans la longue tradition de « mu-sique cérébrale », allant des sons binauraux à la Muzak et passant du bruit à la musique concrète et à l’art sonore expérimental?

Erin Gee est une artiste qui travaille dans la composition chorale, les interfaces de données bio-métriques, la robotique et l’ASMR, explorant la culture numérique à travers les métaphores des voix humaines dans des corps électroniques. Dans sa pratique, Gee s’inspire des approches fé-ministes et posthumanistes qui remettent en question les concepts traditionnels de la conscience humaine.

Philippe Battikha est titulaire d’un baccalauréat en Études des musiques intégratives et d’une maîtrise en Studio Arts (concentration Intermedia) de l’Université Concordia. Il a bénéficié de nombreuses bourses et distinctions, dont le programme d’accompagnement et de mentorat du MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels). Il est co-fondateur de l’étiquette Samizdat Records (SZR), ba-sée à Montréal et à Brooklyn. De 2008 à 2012, il a été membre fondateur du projet d’artistes L’Envers à Montréal.

 

 

ASAP Journal

Happy to announce that my short article on machine learning, ASMR and sound “Automation as Echo” written with Sofian Audry is now published in ASAP/Journal 4.2 in a collection of articles assembled by Jennifer Rhee covering automation from diverse/creative/critical perspectives.

From the article:

“The echo is a metaphor that goes beyond sound, speaking to the physical and temporal gaps in human-computer interaction that open up a space of aesthetic consumption problematized by the impossibility of comprehending machine perspectives on human terms. The echo unfolds in time, but most importantly it unfolds in space: sound travels as a physical interaction between a subject and an object that seemingly “speaks back.”

The mythological nymph Echo “speaks” or “performs” her subjectivity through reflection or imitation of the voice of human Narcissus. Her (incomplete, sometimes humorous, sometimes uncannily resemblant) nonhuman voice is dependent on the human subject, who is also the progenitor of her speech. The relationship between these two mythological entities creates an apt metaphor for machine learning: its processes are not of the human, yet its “neural” functions are crafted in imitation of and in response to human thought. As machine subjectivity is crafted from human subjectivity, we cannot grasp its machined voice, nor perceive its subjective position, through analysis of its various textual, sonic, visual, and robotic outputs alone. Rather, the “voice” of machine learning is fleeting, heard through the spaces, the gaps, the movements between the machine and the human, the vibrational color of nonhuman noise.”

ABOUT ASAP JOURNAL

ASAP/Journal is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal published by John Hopkins University Press that explores new developments in post-1960s visual, media, literary, and performance arts. The scholarly publication of ASAP: The Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present, ASAP/Journal promotes intellectual exchange between artists and critics across the arts and humanities. The journal publishes methodologically cutting-edge, conceptually adventurous, and historically nuanced research about the arts of the present.

Sound Gender Feminism Activism – Tokyo

My interactive website for survivors of sexual violence Laughing Web Dot Space will be a part of the exhibition at the SGFA Conference in Tokyo!  I am truly honoured to have been selected for this exhibition and conference, and the opportunity to spread awareness, togetherness, and healing through laughter.

SOUND::GENDER::FEMINISM::ACTIVISM – TOKYO

Chinretsukan Gallery, Tokyo University of the Arts (Tokyo, Japan)

4 & 5 October 2019

A collaboration between

Creative Research into Sound Arts Practice (CRiSAP), University of the Arts London

Graduate School of Global Arts (GA), Tokyo University of the Arts

Erin Gee - Larynx Series

Saskatchewan Arts Board Purchase

Above: Larynx3 (2014), Epson UltraChrome K3 ink on archival paper. Edition of 5. 86 x 112cm. Collection of the Saskatchewan Arts Board, Canada.

 

Happy to announce that my work Larynx3 (from my four-part Larynx Series) has been purchased by the Saskatchewan Arts Board for their Permanent Collection in Canada.

Saskatchewan Arts Board’s Permanent Collection is a comprehensive collection of Saskatchewan artists (and expats such as myself) which includes approximately 3,000 works and represents the work of Saskatchewan province’s artists over the past seven decades. Its goal is to represent the contemporary art practices of artists within the province for the purpose of public access.

Click here for more information on the Saskatchewan Arts Board Permanent Collection.

FILE Festival São Paolo

FILE Festival – SESI Arte Galeria

Exhibition Opening June 25, 2019

Exhibition runs from June 26 to August 11, 2019

Avenida Nossa Senhora da Penha, 2053, Ed. Findes, Santa Lúcia, Vitoria – ES – Brazil

I am proud to present my interactive web work Laughing Web Dot Space in São Paolo, Brazil through the FILE Electronic Language International Festival. Laughing Web Dot Space is an online website for recording and listening to the laughter of survivors of sexual violence. The site does not collect any data beyond presence.

I’m encouraged that the curators invited me to show this work in the context of media art in Brazil. Currently, the President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro is known for his anti-homophobic and misogynist statements. He has taunted woman about rape and called women tramps. Under this government, artists have been subject to death threats and intimidation, including calls to dissolve the culture department into education. I look forward to sharing the defiant laughter, hope, joy, and solidarity of Laughing Web Dot Space with the public in Brazil during this very important festival for media art.

Elektra Festival Montreal

Project H.E.A.R.T. (Holographic Empathy Attack Robotics Team) (2017), my popstar/militainment VR game mashup with an affective control interface made in collaboration with Alex M Lee, is going to be featured at the upcoming Elektra festival XX in Montreal!  Look for it this June!

 

Exhibition opening: June 7, 6pm-9pm

Exhibition Dates: June 7-15, 2019

Perte de Signal 5445 Avenue de Gaspé local #107, Montréal, QC H2T 3B2, Canada

 

Click here to check out the full programming of Elektra Festival 2019

Book: Robotic Imaginary

My robotic artwork Swarming Emotional Pianos is featured in image and text on p 131-132 of Jennifer Rhee’s newly published book: The Robotic Imaginary: The Human and the Price of Dehumanized Labor (2018, University of Minnesota Press).  The image above is just a photo of me relaxing with a coffee as I read the first few pages…

This amazing book details AI from a perspective that is driven by emotion and humanity, while referencing the work and the influence of women and poc in a way I haven’t seen before. I found myself constantly thinking: yes, yes as I read the book!

 

From the official description of the book:

The word robot—introduced in Karel Čapek’s 1920 play R.U.R.—derives from rabota, the Czech word for servitude or forced labor. A century later, the play’s dystopian themes of dehumanization and exploited labor are being played out in factories, workplaces, and battlefields. In The Robotic Imaginary, Jennifer Rhee traces the provocative and productive connections of contemporary robots in technology, film, art, and literature. Centered around the twinned processes of anthropomorphization and dehumanization, she analyzes the coevolution of cultural and technological robots and artificial intelligence, arguing that it is through the conceptualization of the human and, more important, the dehumanized that these multiple spheres affect and transform each other.

Drawing on the writings of Alan Turing, Sara Ahmed, and Arlie Russell Hochschild; such films and novels as Her and The Stepford Wives; technologies like Kismet (the pioneering “emotional robot”); and contemporary drone art, this book explores anthropomorphic paradigms in robot design and imagery in ways that often challenge the very grounds on which those paradigms operate in robotics labs and industry. From disembodied, conversational AI and its entanglement with care labor; embodied mobile robots as they intersect with domestic labor; emotional robots impacting affective labor; and armed military drones and artistic responses to drone warfare, The Robotic Imaginary ultimately reveals how the human is made knowable through the design of and discourse on humanoid robots that are, paradoxically, dehumanized.

 

Click here to view more information on the book at University of Minnesota Press