2020 Tag

Presence

09.08.2020 , Digital Media, Embodied Media/Performance/Scores, Gallery Artwork, Music Composition, Performance, Physical Media, Portfolio

Presence (2020)
Screen capture from performance at Network Music Festival 2020. Online.

2020

In Presence, artists Erin Gee and Jen Kutler reconfigure voice and touch across the internet through a haptic/physical feedback loop, using affective and physical telematics to structure an immersive electronic soundscape through physiological response.

(March 2020) I was quarantining intensely during the coronavirus pandemic when Jen Kutler reached out to me asking if I would like to collaborate on a new work that simulates presence and attention over the network. We have never met in real life, but we started talking on the internet every day. We eventually built a musical structure that implicates live webcam, endoscopic camera footage, biosensor data, sounds rearranged by biosensor data, ASMR roleplay and touch stimulation devices delivering small shocks to each artist. We developed this work at first through a month-long intensive online residency at SAW Video, while in conversation with many amazing artists, curators and creative people.

Presence is a telematic music composition for two bodies created during the Spring of 2020, at the height of confinement and social distancing during the COVID19 epidemic in Montreal and New York state. This work has been performed for online audiences by both artists while at home (Montreal/New York), featuring Gee and Kutler each attached to biosensors that collect the unconscious behaviours of their autonomic nervous systems, as well as touch simulation units that make this data tactile for each artist through transcutaneous nerve simulation.

Audiences are invited to listen attentively this networked session for physicalized affect through the sonification of each artists’ biodata, which also slowly triggers an ASMR roleplay that is actively reconfigured by the bodily reactions of each artist. Music and transcutaneous electronic nerve stimulation is triggered by listening bodies: these bodies are triggered by the sounds and electric pulses, everything in the system is unconscious, triggering and triggered by each other through networked delays, but present. Through this musical intervention the artists invite the listeners to imagine the experience and implicate their own bodies in the networked transmission, to witness the artists touching the borders of themselves and their physical spaces while in isolation.

Credits

web socket for puredata (wspd) created for Presence by Michael Palumbo. Available on Github here.

Biodata circuitry and library created by Erin Gee. Available on Github here.

Electronic touch stimulation device for MIDI created by Jen Kutler. Available on Github here.

Performance built with a combination of puredata (data routing), Processing (biodata generated visuals), Ableton Live (sounds) and OBS (live telematics) by Erin Gee and Jen Kutler.

Presence was created in part with the support from SAW Video artist-run centre, Canada.

Exhibition/Performance history

SAW Video “Stay at Home” Residency March-April 2020

Network Music Festival July 17 2020

Fonderie Darling – As part of Allegorical Circuits for Human Software curated by Laurie Cotton Pigeon. August 13 2020

Video

Presence (2020)
Performance by Erin Gee and Jen Kutler at Network Music Festival.

Gallery

Amplify D.A.I. 2020

04.08.2020 , Award, News, Research

I am happy to announce that I have been selected as part of the 2020 cohort for Amplify: D.A.I. More news to come!

AMPLIFY D.A.I is an initiative developed by the British Council in partnership with MUTEK and Somerset House Studios in the UK. Since 2018, the programme has connected an active network in Argentina, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Peru and the UK.

AMPLIFY D.A.I is a platform that creates international visibility in the industry for women-identified artists and curators. The programme offers networking opportunities, showcases, exhibitions and performances, residencies, workshops, creative labs and field trips.

THE BRITISH COUNCIL
The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries. We do this by making a positive contribution to the UK and the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust. https://www.britishcouncil.ca

MUTEK

In 2018 MUTEK Montréal achieved gender parity in its program for the first time. Building on this accomplishment the festival remains committed to opening space for women, non-binary and diverse artists—providing opportunities for performance, exhibition, career building, workshops and networking. A not-for-profit organization dedicated to the dissemination and development of digital creativity in sound, music, and audiovisual art since its first edition in 2000, the festival has distinguished itself as an international rendezvous. Over the years, MUTEK has expanded to include recurrent editions in Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Barcelona, Tokyo, Dubai and San Francisco. http://www.mutek.org/en/

SOMERSET HOUSE STUDIOS

Somerset House Studios is an experimental workspace in the centre of London connecting artists, makers and thinkers with audiences. Located inside the repurposed former Inland Revenue building, the Studios offer space and support to artists pushing bold ideas, engaging with urgent issues and pioneering new technologies. It is also a platform for the development of new creative projects and collaborations. Up to 100 artists are resident at any one time and are supported to develop their practice for a defined period. The Studios is also home to Makerversity, a community of 300+ professional makers and Studio 48, a shared workspace for individuals and groups working critically at the intersection of design and technology. https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/

Darling Foundry Montreal

03.07.2020 , News, Performances

Erin Gee and Jen Kutler Presence (2020) with Xuan Ye, What lets lethargy dream produces lethargy’s surplus value (2020)

August 13, 2020 – online performances for Darling Foundry, Montreal

I have been invited to participate in a project by curator Laurie Cotton-Pigeon called Allegorical Circuits for Human Software, a cyberfeminist exploration of Marshall McLuhan’s writing on technology that includes performances and virtual interventions spanning several months from JUNE 11, 2020 – AUGUST 20, 2020 (5 PM TO 10 PM)

I’m very happy to be sharing the performance evening with Xuan Ye, a great Canadian artist working across code, sound, and performance. The programming also includes:

MÉGANE VOGHELL

AVALON

NADÈGE GREBMEIER FORGET

ANNA EYLER & NICOLAS LAPOINTE

XUAN YE

ERIN GEE & JEN KUTLER

FABIENNE AUDÉOUD

ILEANA HERNANDEZ

NINA VROEMEN & ERIN HILL

EMMA-KATE GUIMOND

Cotton-Pigeon writes of our work:

“The notion of mediated connectivity is also present in the performative work of artists Erin Gee and Jen Kutler. As the two artists live in two different places (Gee is based in Canada and Kutler in the United States), they developed a system of sensorial connection without ever meeting in person, which has allowed them to overcome the constraints associated with geographical distance and concretize the “virtuality” of the Internet. Interested in the unconscious and autonomous nature of bodily sensations and their associated emotions, the artists simulate touch by combining an ASMR relaxation technique with the use of DIY devices (Touch Simulation Units) that work similarly to transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS).”

Allegorical Circuits for Human Software has been conceived in dialogue with the collective exhibition FEEDBACK, Marshall McLuhan and the Arts, which will be presented in summer 2021 at Fonderie Darling.

Dyscorpia 2.1 Online Exhibition

03.07.2020 , Exhibitions, News

I was invited to contribute my video work Machine Unlearning (2020) as a part of the Dyscorpia 2.1 online exhibition

DYSCORPIA 2.1 is an online exhibition that responds to ideas of THE BODY AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE TIME OF COVID – 19 organized by Marilene Oliver at the University of Alberta.

DYSCORPIA is a project conceived and developed by a core team of researchers at the University of Alberta that came together to share their research and ideas about future of the body and technology. Together, they coined the term DYSCORPIA to describe the uncanny feeling we are increasingly subjected to as are called to relearn to use our bodies are a result of new digital technologies such as smart phones, automated cars, contemporary medical devices and digital assistants such as Siri and Alexa. This led to a series of collaborations and interdisciplinary projects that are central to the Dyscorpia exhibition.

Network Music Festival

03.07.2020 , News, Performances

July 17, 7:45pm BST (London) // 2:45pm EST (Montreal)

Erin Gee and Jen Kutler: Presence (2020). Streaming music performance for networked biodata and transcutaneous nerve stimulation devices.

Info:

The fourth Network Music Festival will take place online 15-18th July 2020.

Exploring innovative digital music, art and research which investigates the impact of networking technology on musical creation and performance practice, Network Music Festival presents cutting edge musical performances, workshops and discussions.The Network Music Festival took place 2012-2014 at the heart of Birmingham’s (UK) creative community. Responding to the move to online music making during the 2020 global pandemic and with increasing concern in artistic communities about the climate emergency, the festival is returning for a global fourth edition, which will take place entirely online 15-18th July 2020.

The main theme for 2020 is communities near and far. As many people find themselves socially distant, the importance of community is not diminished, but rather transformed. People rely on sound to bridge physical gaps, from singing or applauding out their windows, to connecting with others online. Our connections, then, are either intensely local, or virtually borderless. We stay in touch with friends and neighbours, but also find that collaborating across the world is not harder than collaborating across town. In this year’s festival, we want to celebrate and strengthen the musical communities people have built with networking tools, as well as exploring the aesthetics, performance practice and technologies around topics such as web-streaming, multi-location performance, collaborative music making environments, accessible and sustainable performance practice and more.

https://networkmusicfestival.org/

NYC Remote Music Hackathon

22.05.2020 , Artist Talks, News, Teaching

I have been invited with Jen Kutler to present the open-source technologies behind our first collaborative work Presence (2020) as part of the NYC Remote Music Hackathon. As part of this workshop we will walk through the various technologies we are using, which include open source hardware and software, in order to allow fellow hackers and makers to create their own wild togetherness apparatuses.

For more information please click here for the event website , otherwise you can check out the live streaming video links below! We are presenting our work at 4pm EST.

Web Residency: Saw Video

22.05.2020 , News, Performances, Research

I have been selected alongside three other residents for Saw Video’s Stay At Home Internet Residency.

I am especially pleased to have the opportunity to collaborate with Jen Kutler on a new work for telematic sound and video during the course of this residency. We are having an insane amount of fun creating feedback systems for music and biodata that integrate transcutaneous nerve stimulation over web sockets.

Over the course of five weeks (April 29th – May 29th), we will meet via zoom/hangouts to discuss readings, media, and art making. Individual web-based studio visits with national scholars, curators and artists will be had, and we will diffuse the artists’ works on May 28th. Please sign up for our newsletter here, and follow us on social media for more information on artists’ diffusion scheduling!

Review of solo exhibition – Canadian Art

11.04.2020 , Exhibitions, News, Reviews

“To the Sooe” is my first solo exhibition in a major Canadian institution, curated by Tak Pham at the MacKenzie Art Gallery . I am happy to announce the exhibition was recently reviewed by artist and curator Lauren Fournier and published in Canadian Art. This is my first solo exhibition in a major Canadian institution and I am thrilled by the positive response from critics. The exhibition closed early due to COVID-19, which is noted elegantly by the reviewer:

“Erin Gee’s “To The Sooe” reflects on the valences of emotional life in a post-internet world, gesturing to the many resonances between humans and machines in a time when the humanity of algorithms, data and screens might seem at odds with the complexities of feeling. Having visited the exhibition just weeks before the gallery’s temporary closure due to COVID-19 physical distancing measures, I am now struck by how prescient the work is in this moment of quarantine and self-isolation, when, for most of us, our primary means of communication, intimacy, and connection with others is through technology.”- Lauren Fournier

Click below to read the full review on Canadian Art.

Erin Gee

Well Now WTF? Online Exhibition

25.03.2020 , Exhibitions, News

Museums are closed. School is cancelled. The world is shut off and we’re stuck indoors. All the bread has been sold and Twitter has lost its mind. Fox News is killing off its own demographic. While everything is cancelled, why not have a show?

In spite of everything, Silicon Valet is pleased to present Well Now WTF?, an online exhibition curated by Faith Holland, Lorna Mills, and Wade Wallerstein featuring 80 artists with moving image practices opening April 4, 2020 from 8 to 10 pm EST.

URL for the exhibition: https://wellnowwtf.siliconvalet.org

With everything going on, we ask ourselves: Well Now WTF? We have no answer, but we do know how to make GIFs. We can come together and use the creative tools at our disposal to build a space for release outside of anxiety-inducing news cycles and banal social media feeds. As co-curator Lorna Mills suggests, “Why masturbate alone, when we can all be wankers together?”

Well Now WTF? is available online at wellnowwtf.siliconvalet.org. The exhibition will be free and open to the public, with a $5 suggested, pay-what-you-wish entry that gets redistributed to the artists contributing work.

The exhibition will be accompanied by essays by Wade Wallerstein and Seth Watter.

Participating artists: A Bill Miller, Ad Minoliti, Adrienne Crossman, Alex McLeod, Alice Bucknell, Alma Alloro, Andres Manniste, Anneli Goeller, Anthony Antonellis, Antonio Roberts, Ben Sang, Benjamin Gaulon, Carla Gannis, Carlos Sáez, Casey Kauffmann, Casey Reas, Cassie McQuater, Chiara Passa, Chris Collins, Cibelle Cavalli Bastos, Claudia Bitran, Claudia Hart, Clusterduck Collective, Daniel Temkin, Devin Kenny, Don Hanson, Dominic Quagliozzi, Elektra KB, Ellen.Gif, Eltons Kuns, Emilie Gervais, Erica Lapadat-Janzen, Erica Magrey, Erin Gee, Eva Papamargariti, Faith Holland, Geoffrey Pugen, Guido Segni, Hyo Myoung Kim, Ian Bruner, Jan Robert Leegte, Jenson Leonard, Jeremy Bailey, Jillian McDonald, Kamilia Kard, Laura Gillmore, Laura Hyunjhee Kim, Lauryn Siegel, Libbi Ponce, Lilly Handley, Lorna Mills, LoVid, Mara Oscar Cassiani, Mark Dorf, Mark Klink, Maurice Andresen, Maya Ben David, Molly Erin McCarthy, Molly Soda, Nicolas Sassoon, Nicole Killian, Olia Svetlanova, Olivia Ross, Pastiche Lumumba, Peter Burr, Petra Cortright, Rafia Santana, Rea Mcnamara, Rick Silva, Rita Jiménez, Ryan Kuo, Ryan Trecartin, Santa France, Sara Ludy, Sebastian Schmieg, Shawné Michaelain Holloway, Stacie Ant, Sydney Shavers, Terrell Davis, Theo Triantafyllidis, Tiare Ribeaux, Travess Smalley, Wednesday Kim, Will Pappenheimer, Yidi Tsao, Yoshi Sodeoka, and more to be announced

Media: Well Now WTF? has been discussed in The Japan Times, Canadian Art, CBC, and Art Forum

Artist Project Toronto

25.02.2020 , Exhibitions, News

?Project H.E.A.R.T. (Holographic Empathy Attack Robotics Team)? (2017) made by Erin Gee in collaboration with Alex M Lee is featured as part of the Telegenic booth at Artist Project Toronto. Our booth is just left of the entrance (can’t miss it) and is part of a sponsored exhibition with six other exciting new media artists.

Much thanks to EQ Bank, Telegenic, Radiance VR, and House of VR for sponsoring and organizing the exhibit. ☠️