Jessica Thompson – one of our favourite Canadian artists – is currently doing a residency at ISIS Arts in Newcastle, during which she is exploring sonic notation, borderlines, gentrification and big data.
This project called ‘Borderline’ is supported by Attaya Projects in the form of myself (Lalya), working on it with Jessica. The two of us – both having worked with soundscapes and urban space throughout the years – are identifying borderlines during times of social and economic change that manifest themselves sonically. Alistair MacDonald from Makerspace Newcastle is also participating in the tech side of the project by helping producing interactive sound maps.
Jessica is giving a talk tonight at ISIS Arts HQ at 6pm, which will be followed by a sound walk through the city centre. Free entry! There will be biscuits!
Jessica’s practice investigates spatial and social conditions within urban environments through interactive artworks situated at the intersection of sound, performance and mobile technologies. Her current research investigates the ways that sound reveals spatial and social conditions within cities, and how mobile technologies complicate our relationship to place, territory and community.
Her work has shown in exhibitions and festivals such as ISEA (San Jose, Dubai), the Conflux Festival (New York), Thinking Metropolis (Copenhagen), (in) visible Cities (Winnipeg), Beyond/In Western New York (Buffalo), NIME (Oslo), Audible Edifices (Hong Kong), Artists’ Walks (New York), Locus Sonus (Aix-en-Provence) and Fluid States-Fluid Sounds (Copenhagen), as well as publications such as Canadian Art, c Magazine, Acoustic Territories, the Leonardo Music Journal, and numerous art, design and technology blogs.
She is an Assistant Professor in Hybrid Practice at the University of Waterloo in the Department of Fine Art and the Stratford Campus.
Lalya /