ellen moffat

Gallery 12-14 Schleifmuhlgasse Contemporary, Vienna

Surface Resonance is a situated sound installation using the gallery’s windows as amplifiers with surface excitors as transducers to connect interior and exterior space as acoustic interfaces. The composition, constructed around harmonics and frequency modulation, references the serial method of the Viennese School. Sound is heard and felt as tangible, embodied experience through direct contact with the vibrating glass membrane. Ambient sound from the gallery mixes with sounds of the street, generating an evolving composition of fluctuating sound. The work was included in Discs, a 2-person exhibition with Michael Koch, curated by Denise Parizek.

Sound Samples: Field Recordings

Headphones or Speakers Required

<LISTEN>   Surface Resonance_Inside    01’58

<LISTEN>   Surface Resonance _Outside   01’35

My sound installation and performance projects are sensorial environments of materials, matter, and sonic becomings that offer a speculative timespace of sound, sensation, and differing. Listening to the sense and nonsense of sound is a subjective and intersubjective engagement with the materiality and relationality of sound  in the timespace of sound’s occurrence. The sensoriality of sound affirms embodied knowing and fluctuation. Also see STATEMENT.

My work has been presented throughout Canada and internationally in solo, collaborative, and interdisciplinary projects with performing and visual artists, computer scientists and engineers, and community groups.

Born in Toronto, I have lived and worked across Canada.

CONTACT:

moffat.e@sasktel.net

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UPCOMING

Stay tuned.

RECENT

2023: Virtual Encounters, with Endlings (Raven Chacon & John Dietrich): performance and virtual conversation, May 18 (7:30) EDT, conversation at 8:00. Presented by LOMAA (London Ontario Media Art Association). seeds strings and sounding things is available on Vimeo on-demand: https://vimeo.com/lomaa

CD Launch, A Rested Development with Eeva Siivonen + performance with Marla Hlady + multiple other performances. Presented by squint press in conjunction with Suoni Per Il Popolo, June 11, Casa del Populo, Montreal

Interlude, in 20/50 Anniversary Show, with Steve Bates, Terry Billings, Lisa Birke, Linda Duvall, Sandra Semchuk, Adrian Stinson, curated by David Laviviere, PAVED Arts, Saskatoon

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SOLO Exhibitions

2021: becoming again beginning undone, Thesis Exhibition, McIntosh Gallery, London

2018: Small Sonorities: A Little Piece of String, curated by Troy Gronsdahl, Remai Modern, Saskatoon

2015: Playing with Gertrude, New Adventures in Sound Art and Charles Street Video, Toronto

2013: She I Her, Gordon Snelgrove Gallery, Saskatoon

2011: PickUpPutDown, PAVED Arts, Saskatoon

           Lines, Tones and Spaces, Port Loggia, NSCAD U, Halifax

           vBox, Project Space, Open Sound, Surrey Art Gallery

           COMP OSE, Thames Art Gallery, Chatham, Ontario

2009: COMP OSE, Doris McCarthy Gallery, U of T-Scarborough, Toronto

2008: COMP OSE, College Building Gallery, U of S, Saskatoon (catalogue)

2006: Claybank Voices, Art Gallery of Swift Current

           BLOW, Estevan National Exhibition Centre, Estevan

           SoundsNervouse, The New Gallery, Calgary

           SoundsNervouse, WPK Kennedy Centre, North Bay

2005: Fault Lines, MacKenzie Art Gallery (New Acquisitions), Regina (catalogue)

2004: BLOW, Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon (catalogue)

2001: Line Break, Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario, Sudbury

1999: Shades of Black and White, Neutral Ground, Regina

1998: Shades of Black and White, The Little Gallery, Prince Albert (catalogue)

1995: Still Life/Nature Morte, MFA Exhibition, Scotia Centre’s Galleria, Regina

TWO & THREE PERSON Exhibitions

2017: Discs, with Michael Koch, Gallery 12-14 Contemporary, Vienna

2011: Marking Space, with Lezli Rubin-Kunda, Kentler International Drawing Gallery, Brooklyn (publication)

2009: Eidola, W Brent & E Moffat, Open Space, Victoria (catalogue), curated by Ted Heibert and David Cecchetta

2003: Guessed House, E Moffat, L Duvall, R VKnowles, AKA, Saskatoon (catalogue)

2003: Surface Tension, E Moffat & R Horowitz, NAC, St Catherines

2002: Passages, E Moffat & J Ryckman, TRUCK Gallery, Calgary (publication)

2000: E Moffat & F Robson, The Photographers Gallery, Saskatoon

1999: Fixations, E Moffat & D Askevold, MSVU, Halifax(catalogue)

1999: Non-Places, E Moffat & J Peacock, Dunlop Art Gallery – Sherwood, Regina

1994: Inside Outside, E Moffat & R Chambers, Rosemont Art Gallery, Regina

GROUP Exhibitions (Selected)

2021: Written on the Earth, curated by Helen Gregory, McIntosh Gallery, London

2019: Please – Do Not Take This Lightly, Project Coordinator, Patrick Mahon, artLAB, UWO, London

2018: Transformables V, curated by Eric Mattson, Latitude 53, Edmonton

2017-2020: VibraFusionLab: Bridging Practices in Accessibility, Art and Communication, SW Ontario tour: Chatham (Thames Art Gallery); Toronto (VTape); London; Hamilton (Centre 3); Guelph (Civic Museum)

2017: Roaming 2: Bridges, curated by Xiao Han, International Faculty Show, Hubei Institute of Fine Art and University of Saskatchewan, Wuhan, China

2017: Greatest Hits, Staff and Sessional Exhibition, Gordon Snelgrove Gallery, University of Saskatchewan

2016: Echoing (Silent) Mechanisms, curated by Eric Mattson, Sounds Like, PAVED Arts, Saskatoon

2015: rhubarb, rhubarb, peas and carrots, curated by Blair Fornwald, Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina

2013: ping ting tootle, situated interactive sound installation in CAFKA, Kitchener

2012: in pulse with Kim Morgan in Place Markers: Mapping Locaitons and Probing Boundaries, curated by Peter Dykhuis, Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax

2010: How I Learned to Stop…, Gordon Snelgrove Gallery, U of S, Saskatoon

2008: spinning slowly, Night Trains, Salon Ba’stav, Tel Aviv

2007: Art is Not Mute, Ersta Konsthall Sound Archive, Stockholm, Sweden: Institute of Contemporary Art, Dunaújváros, Hungary; Botkyrka Konstall, Sweden; Hit, Gotenburg, Sweden

2006: Claybank Voices: How Men Turned White Mud into Cape Canaveral, curated by Kathleen Irwin and Rory McDonald in Mama Wetotan / Crossfiring, Knowhere Prod & CommonWeal, , SK (publication)

2005: Sound Madness 1, Sound + Vision Residency, The Banff Centre, Banff

2004: Civil Fugue, in Future Cities, curated by Shirley Madill, Art Gallery of Hamilton (publication)

2003: Utopia Station, FLEAS collective with M Rosler, Arsenale, Venice Biennale

2003: Utopia Station Poster project, FLEAS collective with M Rosler, Haus der Kunst, Munich

2003: Sprawl: Beyond the Field of Vision, Museum London (publication)

2002: Altars and Shrines, The Little Gallery, Prince Albert (catalogue)

2001: The Infinite Between, Confederation Centre for the Arts, Charlottetown

2001: Viewing Distance, touring exhibition. Swift Current, Estevan, Moose Jaw, Prince Albert

2001: The Infinite Between, Gallery 44, Toronto (publication)

2000: Utopia and Desire, The Little Gallery, Prince Albert

1998: Do It, Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina

COLLABORATIVE PERFORMANCES

2022: Sounding Bodies|Body Soundings, collaborative performance with Helen Pridmore, Sonorities Festival, Belfast (April 6-10)

2019: Sounding Bodies|Body Soundings, with Helen Pridmore, Real Sound, \Sounds Like\ An Audio Festival, Saskatoon (Oct 10-12)

2018: Texturings, with Eeva Siivonen, in attendance, Forest City Gallery, London

2015: (un)quiet d, with Robert Luzar, Gallery G, Toronto

2014: Book Chair Table with Lia Pas; performed with SSO Chamber Players, Core Series V (In Transformation), Saskatoon

2013: book.table.chair, interdisciplinary project with Kathryn Ricketts; Nightswimming – Pure Research, with Brian Quirt and DD Kugler, Vancouver

2013: cruising, video with Kim Morgan as part of Tracing the City, SSHRC-Creation and Production Grant with Kim Morgan, Solomon Nagler, Martha Radice

2011: Strung with Jeff Morton, Sounds Like Audio Festival, AKA Gallery, Saskatoon

2010: MOO, site-specific sound installation with Jeff Morton, Agribition, Regina

2010: Realms of Knowing, performative book and sound project with Lezli Rubin-Kunda, Toronto

2007: Convocare/Consonare with David Gerhard, International Computer Music Conference, Copenhagen

2007: Art of Immersive Soundscapes with David Gerhard, U of R, Regina

2002: Track, SPASM Public Art Festival, Video Vérité, Saskatoon

PERFORMANCES and SCREENINGS

2021: A Rested Development with Eeva Siivonen, 12-12-12, curated by Christof Migone, Dec 12

2020: Virtual presentation of recorded sound performance: duet with Helen Pridmore, and trio with Marla Hlady and Gordon Monahan, Drone Day, of-the-now

2016: Surface : Signal, solo performance in Echoing (Silent) Mechanisms, Sounds Like Audio Festival, Saskatoon

2015: book, solo performance at Club Saw, Ottawa and Cathedral Village Art Festival, Regina

2014: Repetition, performed by members of Bozzini Quatuor and others, Concordia Creative Music Institute, La Vitrola, Montreal

2013: Chaser, solo piano performance for PLAY by Kathleen Irwin and Jeff Morton, Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina

2013: in pulse, video presentation, Poeticizing the Urban Apparatus Conference, Culture of Cities Centre, NYC

2012: in pulse, video presentation, Ambiances, Montreal

2009: Art’s Birthday, PAVED Arts, Saskatoon

2006: Far and Few: Art in the Air, Struts Gallery, Sackville

2006: Performed Installation, Western Front, Vancouver

2006: This City is a Radio, PAVED Art + New Media, Saskatoon

2005: Video Installation, Curb Appeal, Confederation Centre, Charlottetown

2005: Art in the Air, Struts Gallery, Sackville

2005: Now, PAVED Art + New Media, Saskatoon

2005: Upstream Saskatchewan (video), PAVED Art + New Media, Saskatoon

2003: Screening, Production Support Projects (video), Video Vérité, Saskatoon

COMPOSITIONS & DISCOGRAPHY

2016: Book (remix) in Oscar’s Salon, on-line project, Betsy Warland

2013: Chaser, performance in PLAY by K Irwin & J Morton, Dunlop Art Gallery

2011: MOO, with Jeff Morton

2009: urbansubsonic, Saskatoon

2007: spinning slowly, with Yonatan Kunda and nilsOn Muniz, Tel Aviv

2005-08: The Phoneme Project

2006: Claybank Voices: How Men made White Mud…  (CD catalogue )

2004: BLOW (catalogue with audio CD)

2002: Fault Lines (catalogue with audio CD and DVD)

2000: Transitive (artist book / catalogue with CD)

RESIDENCIES

2019: Collaborative Senior Artists Residency with Helen Pridmore, PAVED Arts, Saskatoon

2016: Research and Travel Residency, Yosuga Art Space, Kyoto

2015: Co-prod, Charles St Video and New Adventures in Sound Art, Toronto

2013: Jean Johnston Residency, Art and Art History Department U of S, Saskatoon

2012: Paris International Residency, Canada Council for the Arts

2011: Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax

2010: Canadian Western Agribition, Saskatchewan Arts Board, Regina

2010: Interrarium Interdisciplinary Workshop, The Banff Centre, Banff

2007: Production Residency, Oboro Media Centre, Montreal

2007: Art of Immersive Soundscapes 2 (ais2), University of Regina

2006: Western Front Artist-run Centre-Media Lab, Vancouver

2006: New Media Studio Lab, Dept of Media Production, University of Regina

2005: Confederation Centre for the Arts, Charlottetown

2005: Visual Arts Department, University of Regina, Regina

2005: Sound & Vision Residency, The Banff Centre, Banff

2002: Atlantic Centre for the Arts, New Smryna Beach, Florida

2001-02: Artist in Residence, Video Vérité Artist Centre, Saskatoon

2000: Discovery Residency, Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff

1998-99: Artist in Residence, CARFAC – Saskatchewan, Prince Albert

1998: Artist in Residence, Dunlop Art Gallery – Glen Elm Branch Library, Regina

1997-98: Artist in Residence, CARFAC – Saskatchewan, Prince Albert

1995-97: Artist in Residence, Prairie Trails Arts Council, Fort Qu’Appelle and area

COMMISSIONS and PUBLIC ART

2017: Small Sonorities: Material Signals, Web commission by Remai Modern Gallery

1998: Bench Marks Place, Core Area Art Park, Regina (commission)

1998: PLAY, Lakeridge Sports Park, Regina (commission)

1996: Signatures of Time (community collaboration), Fort Qu’Appelle, SK

1996: Inheritance, permanent installation, (collaboration), Lebret, SK

1995: A Place Called Home, (community collaboration), Lipton, SK

1994-95: Trace Elements, Rosemont Art Gallery – Les Sherman Park, Regina

1993: Threshold, University of Regina, Regina

1990: Imperial Highway, Concordia University (student competition)

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

2011-2017: Professional Affiliate, College of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Saskatchewan

2011-2014: member of Tracing the City, Social Sciences and Humanities Research-Creation and Production Grant: Principals: Solomon Nagler, Kim Morgan, Martha Radice

TEACHING & CULTURAL WORK

2020: Sessional Instructor, Visual Art Department, University of Western Ontario, London

2017: Sessional Lecturer, Extended Media, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon

2016: Sessional Lecturer, Extended Media, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon

2016: Co-Instructor, Digital Storytelling, Sage Hill Writing and ICCC, U of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon

2015: Sessional Lecturer, Extended Media, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon

2014: Co-Instructor, Digital Storytelling, Sage Hill Writing and ICCC, U of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon

2013: FreeLab, co-instruction, The Asphalt Gallery Project, SSHRC (Tracing the City Project) and Dalhousie University, Halifax

2010: Sessional Lecturer, Extended Media, U of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon

2007-2010: Guest Curator, aneco new public art, City of Saskatoon

2007: Mentor, The Walls Have Ears, Audio Production, PAVED Arts, Saskatoon

2005-07: Mentor, CARFAC-Sask Mentoring Program, Saskatchewan

2002-04: Projects Coordinator, SPASM Public Art Festival, PAVED Arts, Saskatoon

2001: Interim Programming Coordinator, Video Vérité, Saskatoon

2001: Sessional Lecturer, Intro to Extended Media, U of S Extension, La Ronge

1999: Coordinator, Land Art Walkabout, Prince Albert

1998: Coordinator, Satellite of Superposition, Art & Science Fair, Prince Albert

1997: Sessional Lecturer, Sculpture, University of Regina

1995: Sessional Lecturer, Introduction to 3-Dimensions, University of Regina

1994: Teaching Fellowships (2 semesters), University of Regina

1993: Teaching Assistant, Introduction to 3-Dimensions, University of Regina

1993: Coordinator, Metal Urges, Neutral Ground-CMS Metal Yard Project, Regina

1991-92: Co-Director, Visual Arts Gallery, Concordia University, Montreal

CONFERENCES (Selected)

2013: cruising with Kim Morgan, Urban Encounters – SSHRC Conference, NSCAD U, Halifax

2013: in pulse, video presentation, Poeticizing the Urban Apparatus Conference, Culture of Cities Centre, NYC

2012: “Affective Space, Locative Bodies”, with Kim Morgan, Ambiances International, Montreal

2012: in pulse, video presentation, Ambiances, Montreal

2011: Artist Talk, Cineflux, Tracing the City, NSCADU, Halifax

2011: “Unmediating the City” Media Ecology Association, Edmonton

2011: Artist Talk, Big Things, Sculpture Symposium, Allen Sapp Gallery, North Battleford

2007: Convocare / Consonare, presentation with David Gerhard, International Computer Music Conference, Copenhagen

EDUCATION

PhD in Studio, University of Western Ontario, London (2021)

MFA, Sculpture, University of Regina, Regina (1995)

BFA, Studio, Concordia University, Montreal (1992)

BA, Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto (1977)

Physical interfaces, materials, objects, surface exciters, and frequency modulation produce audible and physical vibration. In a stand where it did shake, objects positioned on the vibrating interfaces create small,  percussive, localized sound in reaction to the signal. The work is an installation and performance. In performance, I work with the dynamics and rhythms of the component elements and their kinetic actions, sound and silence. Group Exhibition, Latitude 53, Edmonton, 2018

 a stand where it did shake, 2018

A Pen. A Sponge.: Low frequency signal transferred to physical interfaces via vibrotactile transducers results in a kinetic sonic performance. Cycles of frequency modulation trigger material sonic actions as recurring composition of acoustic-electronic sound. A stylus circumnavigates  around the interior perimeter of a glass bowl as spectral sonic writing. A sponge moves in the speaker cone to create sonic texture. Touring Exhibition (Chatham, Toronto, London, Hamilton, Guelph) organized by Vibration Fusion Lab, 2017-2020

A Pen. A Sponge., 2017

<Video> https://vimeo.com/21854633

Study in FM: Variation: Base frequencies relate to states of mind and body and the Earth’s electro-magnetic field. Kinetic and sonic actions of materials add a layer of analog sound. The empirical combines with experimental play in an endless loop of recurring signal. Group Exhibition, Gordon Snelgrove Gallery, Saskatoon, 2017

                                                                         Study in FM: Variation, 2017

                                                             <Video> https://vimeo.com/210866309

Surface : Signal is a 4-channel performative installation using objects and physical interfaces, low frequency signal and vibrotactile technology. Table interfaces are “stages” for objects (glass bowl, whisks, metal funnel), materials (garlic skin, pebbles, aluminum foil, road salt) and object-assemblages. Signal generated in Max/MSP is transferred via puck transducers to physical interfaces, activating the surfaces directly and the objects indirectly. Objects perform variably as harmonic, staccato, cacophonous or drone sound.

Sounds Like Audio Festival, Saskatoon. Curated by Eric Mattson.

Video: vimeo.com/178658336

See: https://www.flickr.com/photos/oral_records/sets/72157670796846890

Interdisciplinary collaboration (dance, new music/theatre) and independent projects using Gertrude Stein’s Tender Buttons as source material and influence. Stein shifts the identity and stability of words as perceptual, spatial and playful experiment. Her emphasis on sound and rhythms over rational sense privilege the body, sound and the mind state over conventional meaning.

Book Chair Table (2014): a new media chamber music theatre piece for oboe, double bass, voice and electro-acoustic instrument by composer and vocalist, Lia Pas. My instrument uses materials, objects and actions for sound and image creation. The composition involves fixed and improvisational elements, repetition and experimentation with polyphonic sound and projection. Performed in Core Series V, a collaboration of PAVED Arts and the Saskatoon Symphony.

Book Table Chair (2013): a sound and movement research intensive with dancer Kathryn Ricketts. Our inquiry into text, character, sound and story uses physical objects, and live and spoken word (female and male) recordings of Stein’s text to explore relations of objects, movement, sound, space and performative actions. Experimentation and improvisation opened up our process as interdisciplinary investigation. The project was supported by Nightswimming Theatre’s Pure Research.

<LISTEN> BookTableChair   1’11”

she i her is an open work of image, text, video, sound and light. Language(s) intersects with somatic rhythms, experimental writing with structure, and knowing with uncertainty with overlapping subjectivities. Texts by Woolf, Stein and Cixous, and walking through Parisian streets as a dérive were my influences and process. I privileged direct experience before language. Woolf and Stein’s texts opened up the imperceptible and chance, stream of consciousness and language/word play. Cixous proposed writing as a form of journeying through the world using one’s body as transport. The project is an iterative exploration of processes, materials, visualization and analysis of sound.

Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina

Video (6’08): https://vimeo.com/142544432

Curatorial Essay: she i her_Curatorial_At the Dunlop

The interdisciplinary installation uses disjunctive elements, integrated as a poetic, conceptual and progressive inquiry into language, translation and transcription. Media includes videos as animated notation, performative text and field recordings using projection and flat screen monitors and intoned sound (vocal, strings and virtual piano. Laser-cut prints on paper are glyphs of the original text. The project has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions.

Gordon Snelgrove Gallery, University of Saskatchewan

Playing with Gertrude is an interactive installation for sound and image creation inspired by poems from Stein’s Tender Buttons. Objects and text(s) are props, players and instruments. Participants perform the installation as direct actions triggering spoken word recordings and creating new sounds and text-images through experimentation, play and interaction. Sound is output to 8-channels; text-images are projected as a live feed.

Co-production residency of Charles Street Video and NAISA, Wychwood Barns, Toronto. Also see Performative: Book Table Chair.

View video: https://vimeo.com/123158793

Durational live collaboration with Robert Luzar using objects, architectural features of the gallery, extended techniques and bodily actions for sound-making. Our actions included bowing, dragging and pouring with glasses, bowls, lids and other assorted items. Our bodies perform objects and materials within fragile structures, uncertainty and shifting decisions. Reverberating materials, frequencies and frictions transform the gallery into an acoustic chamber of resonance, dissonance, experimentation and perpetual (un)quiet.

Performance at G Gallery, Toronto, coordinated by Yam Lau. The work occurred within the context of Alexandre David’s project, My work has no meaning unless it is used.

view video: https://vimeo.com/122457326

Walper Hotel, CAFKA, Kitchener

ping ting tootle is a situated installation in the main stairwell of the Walper Hotel using existing fixtures, transducers, and live and recorded sound. Contact mics positioned behind brass handrails capture events on their surface — a hand sliding, a ring pinging, fingers strumming — and trigger recordings of spoken word and cell phone rings. Hotel guests, staff and visitors perform the stairwell through intentional or chance actions, releasing or creating spoken word, technological tones and percussive rhythms. Output to multiple speakers, sound animates the stairwell as residue and improvisational sound.

<LISTEN_1>  PingTing4   00’25

<LISTEN_2>  PingTing3   00’25

Place Markers: Mapping Locations Probing Boundaries, curated by Peter Dykhuis

Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax

in pulse, a collaboration with Kim Morgan, is a research-driven project using mobile technologies to collect bio-data (heart beat) and locative video as an inquiry into affect, bodies and urban space. Our first site was Paris. We collected data in select arteries of the city – La Defense, Les Passages, Bastille Market, Forum des Halles, Layfayette Department Store, La Gare du Nord – using a dérivian structure of chance encounters and play. Our field recordings took into account different ways individuals – ourselves and other people – reacted to and experienced people, places and things. As a gallery installation, projected video was synchronized to the sound of the differentiated rhythms of our pulses amplified through subwoofers, emphasizing the eye and somatic presence of each of us. Raw video footage was presented on a Google map.

in pulse is part of a three-year SSRHC Research and Creation Grant, Tracing the City: Interventions of Art in Public Spaces. Subsequent locations for our field work were Halifax, Regina and Saskatoon.

View video here.