Bag Machine - 2010 Two unseen performers unfurl a paper bag, slowly. The paper bag is suspended in mid air by four nylon lines that are attached and threaded through the bag to two machines. One machine rests on the floor and the second machine is attached to the ceiling. Using these machines, the performers control the bag’s movements – the top four corners of the bag pulled upward by one performer, the bottom four corners pulled downward by the other. As the bag is unfurled, the nylon strings tighten. The sounds made by the unfurling bag and the tightening of the nylon lines are amplified by a contact microphone and guitar amplifier. The performers are asked to make their movements as slow as possible, the resulting sounds as slow as possible. The video is one bag, two simultaneous views and five attempts at unfurling as music.

 

A Case for Sound - 2009/ongoing A Case for Sound is a sound object made to look somewhere between a suitcase/carrying case, record album box, instrument and portable record player. The object is constructed with wood and finished to a high gloss, holes are cut in each side for the speakers. Inside an MP3 player loops an audio segment. A motion switch interrupts the audio when the object is tilted. If repeatedly tilted, the interrupted audio can sound similar to a skipping record.

 

Unlevel 2 - 2009 An edition of 8 levels made out of 2” painted wood balls with various numbers of bullseye levels. One of eight has one level, two of eight has two levels, etc. A bullseye level checks for level in all horizontal axes at once.

 

Curtain Machine - 2008 “Curtain Machine” is both a site work and performance. Located in Görlitzerstrasse 49, Berlin (Germany), "Curtain Machine" consisted of three mechanical curtains controlled by machine operator, Canadian dancer/choreographer Shannon Cooney www.shannoncooney.org. Located out of sight, in front of Shannon, were three speed/direction dials, one for each curtain. Using a set of performance instructions, audio and visual cues were used to determine when, how fast and how much to move each curtain layer. At night with the scrim-like fabric lit from inside, the space was visible through the fabric but visual access to the outside was severely limited; the aural cues were therefore critical. As machines were activated however, external environmental sounds were drowned out by machine sounds. As well, because of the surrounding architecture, many of the sounds bounced wildly creating confusion as to their origin. What resulted was a kind of conundrum - a score that seemed simple enough to perform – stand still, listen and respond with a turn of a dial – became an arduous performance.

 

Playing Piano - 2006/08 Playing Piano is a partially deconstructed upright player piano prepared in the spirit of John Cage. This fully mechanized 1920’s player piano is animated by a motor and pneumatics (as opposed to being played by a person). A perforated paper roll, the physical translation of the musical score, controls the mechanized elements. The preparations to Playing Piano include various machines which strum and press a pie plate against the strings, whistle using the air of the pneumatics and amplify various parts of the piano’s mechanics. An array of sensors placed on the strings in conjunction with a computer and a series of microprocessors, enables the player piano to control these preparations.

 

Wah Wah Teapots - 2006 Sound is coming from two teapots set apart on a table to create a kind of ‘false’ stereo. The teapot lids are kinetic – the fast moving gestures create a kind of analog wah-wah effect (typically achieved electronically using an effects pedal if the pedal is rocked back and forth, various specific frequencies are allowed to pass creating a sound something like when someone says the words “wah-wah”). The smaller gestures alter the resonant character of the teapot and change how much sound is emitted. The sound emitted is 49 seconds of signature Ry Cooder slide guitar taken from the opening scene of the film “Paris, Texas”. The guitar phrase cycles from a recognizable whole to fragments of various lengths and numbers of repetitions (according to a set compositional process) before returning to a recognizable whole again.

 

Wilderness Tourist 2 - 2006 Wilderness Tourist is a three dimensional iridescent fabric sculpture in two parts built to fill two windows. The fabric forms are punctuated with random patterns of industrial sized grommets and the interior of each form is fitted with a lighting system. The iridescent fabric’s surface changes with the shifting daylight. Depending on the quality of light and from which angle you look at the surface, the colour changes (iridescent fabric is typically made with a weave of two different colours). The exterior light also effects the interior lights of the sculpture through a light sensor and a computer: the darker it is outside, the more luminous the lights inside the sculpture, the brighter it is outside, the lower the interior light. As is common with window displays, audio is used but instead of the popular choice of music, the sound of a canoe being paddled is heard on the street.

 

Mixers - 2005/07 Mixer is a cocktail shaker fitted with parts to play two separate 60 second sound tracks. Each sound track is broken into many segments and these segments are played one after the other. Each soundtrack is activated individually when the mixer is picked up and moved, turning on LEDs in synch with the sound. There are 7 mixers in the series.

 

Sound Ball 4 - 2004 Sound Ball 4 is a sound work built into a perforated stainless steel tea ball. Made in collaboration with Eric Chenaux (a Toronto based musician and composer) for a series of performances with his band “The Tristanos”, each Sound Ball has a unique sound work made with recordings of the musicians in the band. These recordings were then treated with an effects pedal and recorded. When turned ON, the Sound Ball lights up in the spirit of a disco ball. Audio loops vary between 60 seconds and 2 minutes. Sound Ball was used as a percussion instrument for the performances.

 

Marla Hlady & The Tristanos - 2004 Sound work and performance in collaboration with Eric Chenaux and the Tristanos for Art Metropole (a concert night called Art Metronome) and Rat Drifting (a now defunct monthly experimental music night).The Tristanos played a range of tunes, mostly ones written by Eric but others as well, like Moon River. I performed with the musicians. In order to do this, I made a small, percussion version of a Soundball. A soundball is a sound object and instrument containing light and pre-recorded sound. Soundball #3 is the larger version. These 6 inch soundballs are mounted on stands and located between the musicians and the audience. When activated by a musician via a foot switch, the ball lights up and plays whammied, flerbed or wha-wha’d audio of that musician playing that particular tune.

 

Hum - 2003 Mounted on each ceiling fan is one speaker and audio equipment. Sound is activated with a tilt switch (movement activated switch) when a fan starts spinning. The sound consists of a simple, hummed melody. Each 2 minute recording is endlessly looped while the fan spins – six fans spinning six melodies to create a chorus. The spinning speakers give the audio a tremolo effect (like the spinning speakers of the Hammond organ) which varies based on the fan’s speed. Each fan is moving in the same pattern (controlled by a computer) but the staggered start time of each fan results in an ever-changing pattern.

 

Recording Machines - 2003 Recording Machines is composed in two parts. The first part is seven machines heard simultaneously, the field recordings taken from a small tie and belt manufacturer. One of these machines is a manual text stamping machine. In the second part of "Recording Machines", this machine's sound continues and is used to determine what and how much of the other sounds you hear: the other recordings are heard within the rhythm of the stamp machine. The other machine recordings have, whenever possible, been broken down into sections based on the length of the activity: the sound of one spool of yarn being woven, one customer's groceries being added, one latte being made, one unit welded, one complete unit drilled, one customer's order pressed, one part of a pattern sewn, one ceramic pot thrown. The title refers both to the apparatus used to record and to the literal process of recording machines.

 

The Only One My Arms Will Ever Hold (Blue Moon) - 2003 An arrangement of Harold Arlen's "Blue Moon" for vibraphone, piano, bass and drums. For the arrangement, a process was devised where every 7th note was selected (regardless of which instrument that note belonged to) and split off from the others. This was repeated 6 times for 7 fragments – one for each speaker in the ball. Using repetitions and loop lengths, the individual fragments playing on each speaker "come together" every hour in theory, though in practice this proved impossible with the technology. The piece is a fragmented kind of free-improvisation which now and then resembles a tune you think you remember. Once in a blue moon you realize recognize the tune.

 

Electro-Magnetic Chihuahua Nod Machine - 2002 This 4 minute video work combines video projection with crude electro-magnetic mechanics and heightened audio. A nodding dog, normally animated by the movement of a car, is now animated by switches controlling 4 electrically powered magnets. The control board with the switches is amplified with a contact microphone so that each pressed switch is audible. I attempt to nod the dog’s head in synch with the car’s movement.

 

Pipe Whistle - 2001 The sound of the British folk singer Anne Briggs singing the song “She Moves Through The Fair” originates in the large sound proof box via a small speaker. The music moves from the sound proof box through the different sizes and lengths of pipes simultaneously – these different sizes and lengths of pipe create varied resonate environments which alter the sound of the singing. At the end of each pipe a microphone picks up the altered sound. A small computer turns one microphone on at a time (the ON/OFF pattern is based on the structure of the song itself and takes 24 minutes to complete one cycle) and this sound is then heard through speakers. Hearing one microphone at a time allows the differently altered sounds to be heard consecutively. PLEASE NOTE that the video recording does not fully capture all of the subtle audio shifts.

 

Wind-Up - 2000 Edition: 100 wind-up toys, self published. Available in a variety of skin tones. Includes a spare set of hands. Cardboard box dimensions: 1” x 1” x 3”

 

Waltzing Matilda - 2000 Three wig machines are installed in a painted wood cabinet that has been fitted to the window area of an empty store. Three versions of the chorus of “Waltzing Matilda” are playing simultaneously: the British folk singer June Tabor, the Irish-English rock band The Pogues and Tom Waits. Each chorus has been digitally edited to a seamless loop, the three singers also made to sing in the same key. Each version of ‘Waltzing Matilda’ is connected to a wig machine via simple electronics. The electronics function as motor speed controls - the wig machines are literally waltzing to the music. The initial experience of the wig machines is without music, as you approach the storefront from the street. Once inside, the three choruses are playing through speakers located at the back of the space. The empty floor between the speakers and the wig machines is an invitation akin to an empty dance floor.

 

Drumming Displaced into Different Sized Jam Jars - 1999 The box interiors are lined with egg cartons to both sound proof and create an ideal sound recording space, a viewing window is provided. Additional soundproofing is provided through lead and plasticine layers. Each toy's drumming speed is controlled by its own seemingly random computer programme, varying the speed from a stationary position to rapid drumming. Each toy has a microphone strapped to the left arm picking up the sound of the toy’s motor, gears and drum tapping. The sound from each microphone is heard through four small speakers positioned beneath glass jars directly in front of the sound proof box. The jars act as resonating chambers, varying and complicating the speaker tone based on the size of the jar and distance above the speaker.

 

Untitled (Shelf Works) - 1996/2001 Materials: Shelves, battery operated mechanical toys, misc. electrical including in-line ON/OFF switches, misc. hardware and fabricated metal parts. Shelf Measurements: 9" x 6 1/2" x 2 1/2"

 

Gut Machine - 1994/95 When activated, the machines run for 15 seconds. The rubber surface of these units are casts from the solar plexus area of the body.

 

Off-Roader - 1993/94 The sculpture court is the shell of an industrial building flanked on two sides by remaining buildings. On the floor of this concrete shell, a grid of dirt squares remain tracing the building's absent wooden support beams. This grid is used to determine the number and location of boxes used: 31. Contained in each box is a motorized two-wheeled vehicle tethered by a cable/power line to horizontal cables extending between the two flanking buildings (17'6" above the sculpture court floor). The horizontal cables are connected to power and an on/off switch. When the viewer activates the switch, all 31 vehicles start in unison.

 

Beauty - 1992 Figurines with motors are evenly spaced around the room. Motion sensors are located to cover the entire space. Each sensor unit activates ten motors. The wiring for the motors and sensors adhere to the architecture of the room - all wiring following the line of the ceiling. As the range of the sensors is approximately 50', depending on where the viewer is located in the space, sets of ten figures will spin at what could appear to be at random depending on the number of sensor fields that are broken. Unless the viewer continually trips the sensors, the figures will spin for approximately 12-15 seconds, an average time to walk through the gallery.