Nighttime views from the window projection/installation/exhibition entitled A Small and Quiet Winter Screen
Troy Ouellette and Mike Rollo | Thursday, December. 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Risa Horowitz)
Troy Ouellette and Mike Rollo | Thursday, December. 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Risa Horowitz)
Breathing Patterns, 2022
16:9 (looped) silent digital video, 9 Minutes
Breathing in domestic patterning in the stages of transmittable isolation.
In this work, I reflect on isolation. During the pandemic's initial stages, some people became paralyzed to the point of being agoraphobic. This video shows a curtain opening into online shopping sites and displays. Then, the endless patterns of curtains and outdoor spaces open and are timed (in this work) with average breathing rhythms as the trauma of being detached from social engagement plays out. The colours and patterns of domestic space, I believe, helped alleviate some of the stress of being shut in, and online activities (for those with access) allowed the transmission of cultural activity to be seen or described to the outside virtual world as commiseration/condolence/sympathy and empathy.
This work is subtly influenced by Michael Snow's Solar Breath (Northern Caryatids), 2002 and the scene in David Lynch's Twin Peaks where Nadine Hurley (actor Wendy Robie) repetitively opens and closes curtains.
16:9 (looped) silent digital video, 9 Minutes
Breathing in domestic patterning in the stages of transmittable isolation.
In this work, I reflect on isolation. During the pandemic's initial stages, some people became paralyzed to the point of being agoraphobic. This video shows a curtain opening into online shopping sites and displays. Then, the endless patterns of curtains and outdoor spaces open and are timed (in this work) with average breathing rhythms as the trauma of being detached from social engagement plays out. The colours and patterns of domestic space, I believe, helped alleviate some of the stress of being shut in, and online activities (for those with access) allowed the transmission of cultural activity to be seen or described to the outside virtual world as commiseration/condolence/sympathy and empathy.
This work is subtly influenced by Michael Snow's Solar Breath (Northern Caryatids), 2002 and the scene in David Lynch's Twin Peaks where Nadine Hurley (actor Wendy Robie) repetitively opens and closes curtains.
Sound Art Innovation Lab, 2021-Ongoing
https://www.soundartinnovationlab.org/
S.A.I.L. continues my long-term interest in building art organizations as part of my artistic practice. Based in St. Catharines, Ontario, the Sound Art Innovation Lab focuses on experimentation. It is meant to assist sound artists, musicians, actors, producers and theatre and film directors who use sound within their workflows. The lab has computer workstations, microphones, audio booths, near-field monitors, turntables, mixers, tape decks, and keyboards to allow the artistic community to record and mix audio on computers running Logic Pro and Ableton. In addition, 3rd party plugin developers are an essential part of the equation for post-production software for our digital audio workstations. Finally, we are in the process of securing surround sound speakers. The organization features workshops in field recording, sound production, foley work, digital and analogue recording, and post-production. If you have any questions about joining the lab, please get in touch with us at soundartinnovationlab@gmail.com
The Weakened State, 2022
In this work, I argue that many subdued transnational voices, crucial to maintaining peace during the pandemic, diminished within sociocultural contexts. In the wake of this, political elites, using the military-industrial complex's excesses, acted to expand their power. Larger states mobilized campaigns of devastation and propaganda to create state-sanctioned violence amidst uncertain futures. Ironically, the weakened state is not the one that has lost territory; instead, it is the state that, through the suppression of dissent, cannot recognize that its population has lost its voice. As a result, it will remain a shadow of its aspirations.
Ultimately, what is presented here is a tyranny of numbers where bodiless whispers reporting civilian casualties fail to account for the actual cost of intergenerational loss. Yet, at the same time, the creative act is generative and hopeful, countering a troubled era.
Modes of Life, Ongoing
In this work, I used a microscope camera and mic to analyze the tiny organisms and materials that inhabit a small sampling of the local forest. The presentation of the work will consist of some pre-fabricated parabolic speakers and will be broadcast through the use of a CRTC-approved radio transmitter. This will exemplify the space within audible perception that often goes unnoticed, bringing into focus the generative aspects of creation. This project combines my interests in sound recording, digital and analogue capture and foregrounds the temporal and ephemeral conditions of actants, interactions and assemblage theory.
Modes of Life, Ongoing
In this work, I used a microscope camera and mic to analyze the tiny organisms and materials that inhabit a small sampling of the local forest. The presentation of the work will consist of some pre-fabricated parabolic speakers and will be broadcast through the use of a CRTC-approved radio transmitter. This will exemplify the space within audible perception that often goes unnoticed, bringing into focus the generative aspects of creation. This project combines my interests in sound recording, digital and analogue capture and foregrounds the temporal and ephemeral conditions of actants, interactions and assemblage theory.
Mixed Polarity, Entangled Fields, A Matter of Degrees, 2023
In these works, I combine diagrams of magnetic fields, overlapping microphone polarities, polar charts and bubble imagery that alludes to fragility. The magnetic field diagrams express how design makes invisible forms visible. This work is a departure from my work involving atmospheric field recordings deriving inspiration from the experimental orchestral compositions of John Cage and his use of Czech Astronomer Anton Becvar's Atlas Eclipticalis.
