PROCESS — Our process typically begins by traversing a selected course in a chosen environment, gathering sonic material using various cellular technologies and sampling directly onto electronic voice mail. The material gathered during these audio walks is then used as source material to be manipulated in a performative context, generally using computers and sound fx and ocationally adding other instumentations such as voice, turntables, samplers, keyboards and other electronic instruments.
CONCEPT — One of the key theoretical aspects when thinking about recording technology is how these technologies reflect the way we perceive our environment; a kind of surrogate sensory system that we can compare to our own perceptual interaction with the world. As these systems become more mobile, and in a sense apart of our contemporary couture, they in fact function as a kind of second skin; or better yet, they are our digital ears and eyes for plotting a course across the telematic landscape. Our interaction through communications technologies emerges as a prosthetic relationship, one that offers a type of connectivity that immerses us in the digital network. Even during a simple conversation on a cellular phone, the individual is distributed, augmented, amplified and extended through the digital landscape -- a transformation that constitutes a psychological projection of presentness. The question then emerges : are these technologies an extension of our own psychological awareness; are we wearing these technologies or are they wearing us ?
ECHO LOCATIONS --- is a project that seeks to explore the contemporary relationship between mobile communications technology and the body, seeking to expose intersections between the infomatic space and human cognition. Our audio performances simultaneously explore the parallelism between the hyper-space of the virtual and aleatory environments that are manifest in a living space. Through improvisation we generate soundscapes that assume a hybrid form, between landscape and the netscape, between virtual metamorphosis and the information architecture of the cellular network.
ARTIST — Jackson 2Bears is an Kanien’kehaka (Mohawk) installation and performance artist currently based in Victoria B.C. Canada. 2Bears' installation works have been exhibited nationally, in both artist-run centres and alternative public and private spaces . He has also presented his theoretical work to an international audience, and has numerous ongoing projects available on the world wide web. Currently he is the Production Assistant at the Pacific Centre for Technology and Culture and a PhD student at the University of Victoria.
ARTIST — Kristen Roos is an artist whose approach to creating sound art is informed by aspects of acoustic ecology, radio art and phonography. His current work involves using a low-power radio transmitter to broadcast audio art to portable radios and car radios in public spaces (www.microradio.ca). His work has been exhibited in artists-run centers and festivals nationally. He has completed a BFA at Concordia University and an MFA at the University of Victoria.