Sounding the City with Jen Reimer & Max Stein

The IICSI and Musagetes are thrilled to welcome artists Jen Reimer and Max Stein to Guelph as the 2018 Improvisers-in-Residence.  Throughout their residency, Jen and Max will continue their ongoing project “Sounding the City”, dedicated to capturing urban environments and re-imagining their soundscapes through site-specific installations and acoustic interventions. These installations emerge from their surroundings and occur in the environments themselves. They invite our ears to focus on the music of the places we find ourselves in, and draw our gaze towards characteristics of urban environments that might otherwise go unnoticed. The Boarding House Gallery (6 Dublin St South) will host their exhibition and act as hub for exploring their site-specific installations throughout Downtown Guelph.

There is a musicality to the sounds of a city: the lingering resonance of a church bell, the rumble of an approaching train, the cacophony of cyclists, cars, trucks and trains in transit, and the gentle, pulsating drone that emanates from street lights, power lines and ventilation ducts. These sounds create a meditative counterpoint to the intermittent rhythms of the urban soundscape. 

–Jen Reimer and Max Stein, Sounding the City

Jen Reimer (CAN) & Max Stein (USA) are sound artists based in Montréal. Their work explores the resonances of urban and rural sonic environments through in situ performances, installations and spatial recordings. Since 2009 they have created performances and installations in abandoned, transient and resonant spaces in North America and Europe including St-Urbain Underpass, Wellington Tunnel (Montréal), Union Station (Winnipeg), Mãe d’Água (Lisboa, PT), Estufa Fria (Lisboa, PT), Rotonda della Besana (Milan, IT), Vapaan Taiteen Tila (Helsinki, FI) and Sottopassaggio di Porta Vescovo (Verona, IT). Their performances combine live and processed horn and field recordings with the inherent sonic environment to create an immersive and physical experience of sound and space.

Improvisers-in-Residence

Each year Musagetes, the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI), invite an improvising performer to spend time in Guelph-Kitchener-Waterloo to develop a large improvisational community project.

Jen Reimer & Max Stein: 2018 IMPROVISERS-IN-RESIDENCE
Sounding the City 003 : Guelph 
September 12-30, 2018
Boarding House Gallery,  6 Dublin St South, 2^nd Floor
Tues – Fri (12-5PM), Sat (9-5PM)
Opening Reception & Publication Launch: Wednesday, September 12 (5-7:30PM)