Alisdair MacRae and Patrick Lacasse - Perfect Music: High Voltage

Alisdair MacRae and Patrick Lacasse Perfect Music: High Voltage

alisdair macrae and patrick lacasse Perfect Music: High Voltage Vernon Public Art Gallery July 27 - October 11, 2017

Vernon Public Art Gallery 3228 - 31st Avenue, Vernon BC, V1T 2H3 www.vernonpublicartgallery.com 250.545.3173

Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Vernon Public Art Gallery 3228 - 31st Avenue, Vernon, British Columbia, V1T 2H3, Canada July 27 - October 11, 2017 Production: Vernon Public Art Gallery Editor: Lubos Culen Layout and graphic design: Vernon Public Art Gallery Copy editing: Kelsie Balehowsky Cover image: Wood Blocks, 2014-2017; wood; dimensions variable Photography: Patrick Lacasse Printing: Get Colour Copies, Vernon, British Columbia, Canada ISBN 978-1-927407-39-4 Copyright Š 2017, Vernon Public Art Gallery All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the Vernon Public Art Gallery. Requests for permission to use these images should be addressed in writing to the Vernon Public Art Gallery, 3228 31st Avenue, Vernon BC, V1T 2H3, Canada.

Telephone: 250.545.3173 Facsimile: 250.545.9096 Website: www.vernonpublicartgallery.com The Vernon Public Art Gallery is a registered not-for-profit society. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Greater Vernon Advisory Committee/RDNO, the Province of BC’s Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch, British Columbia Arts Council, the Government of Canada, corporate donors, sponsors, general donations and memberships. Charitable Organization # 108113358RR.

This exhibition is sponsored in part by:

BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTS COUNCIL Supported by the Province of British Columbia

The artists would like to acknowledge funding support from the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario.

table of CONTENTS

5

Executive Director’s Foreword · Dauna Kennedy

7

Introduction · Lubos Culen

9

Perfect Music: High Voltage · Paul Jasen

14

Artist Statement · Alisdair MacRae and Patrick Lacasse

15

Images of Selected Works in the Exhibition

46

List of Works in the Exhibition

48

Artists’ Biographies

3

Executive Director’s Foreword

I am pleased to introduce the following exhibition which will be installed at the Vernon Public Art Gallery from July 27 - October 11, 2017. Perfect Music: High Voltage created by Alisdair MacRae & Patrick Lacasse is the culmination of these two artists collaborating together to create a meaningful interactive exhibition that will engage all audiences. Brought together through their mutual interest in sound, music and electronics, they approached this exhibition from different artistic perspectives, one of fine art and the other music.

Known for his work in sculpture and installation art, MacRae received his BFA from the University of Victoria in 1998 and an MFA from Bard College in 2002. He later completed a graduate thesis in Art History at Carleton University in 2012. His exhibition roster includes group and solo exhibitions in New York City, Halifax, Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver.

Lacasse’s background is in the musical genre with an extensive background in the development of electronic music components, he is also an avid guitarist and musician.

We are pleased to have Paul Jasen, PhD as our guest writer for this catalogue. His extensive background as a writer, educator and electronic musician make him an ideal candidate to reflect on the content of Perfect Music: High Voltage. Jasen currently lives in Ottawa where he teaches courses in Music and Communication Studies at Carleton University. He is the author of Low End Theory: Bass Bodies and the Materiality of Sonic Experience (Bloomsbury, 2017).

I’d like to acknowledge the BC Arts Council, the Regional District of the North Okanagan, and the Province of BC whose continued support enables us to produce quality exhibitions and publications such as this for our audience. Local support from our board of directors, members, donors and community supporters is also instrumental in the overall success of the VPAG and its programming. Thank you to all of our contributors.

Dauna Kennedy Grant Executive Director Vernon Public Art Gallery

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6 Oscillator Drone Box, 2017; wood, electrical components; 14x7.5x4.5 cm

introduction

The exhibition Perfect Music: High Voltage was created by Ottawa based installation artists Alisdair MacRae and Patrick Lacasse who have been collaborating on various projects since 2007 combining their interests in music, sound, and the possibilities of electronics in designing ‘musical instruments’ for the viewers to interact with. The main objective of the exhibition Perfect Music: High Voltage is to engage the gallery visitors in participatory performative actions with the objects on display. As the artists point out in their exhibition description “…the exhibition takes the form of an immersive and interactive audio environment, in which viewers become participants in the work. The objects on display invite people to engage with them and create sound, either as individuals, or as a group.

Through their actions, visitors to the space erase the anticipated relationship between the fine art objects and the gallery visitors and thus becoming performers in a work that celebrates the seemingly ordinary”.1 MacRae and Lacasse reference John Cage and his 1952 composition 4’33” (Four Minutes ThirtyThree Seconds) where the performers are instructed not to play their instruments for the duration of the composition lasting four minutes and thirty-three seconds. The objective of this performance was to draw attention on ambient sounds2 as being a part of the performance and thus conceptually erasing the distinction between the noise and music. Similarly, the viewers who are engaged with ‘instruments’ presented in MacRae and Lacasse’s exhibition will be mostly experimenting with different devices which produce different sounds, but are at first unpredictable and therefore perceived as noise. If we contemplate the premise of John Cage’s (silent) composition, then the sounds that visitors produce, whether musical or noise, result in a sound filled environment where the participants are creating the content – music/noise – and are at once the audience and the participants.

The exhibition Perfect Music: High Voltage is intended for the general public with an intent of creating dialogue about participatory art and involving viewers as creators of meaning. The exhibition brings to attention the binary relationship of the art object and the viewer in creating objects and circumstances which are conducive for viewers’ participation.

Lubos Culen Curator Vernon Public Art Gallery Endnotes 1 Alisdair MacRae and Patrick Lacasse: Exhibition Description, Context and Premise; communication with Lubos Culen, August 2, 2016 2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4%E2%80%B233%E2%80%B3, accessed June 6, 2017

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Atari Junk Console, 2017; wood, electrical components; 38x19x9 cm

Perfect Music: High Voltage Text by Paul Jasen The earliest electronic musical instruments are increasingly finding their way into museums. Once the easels and laboratories of a Future Music, they’re now regarded as artifacts of a future-past.

A frustrating irony of these exhibits is that the sound-making devices are often kept mute and out of reach - behind rails, sometimes encased, often in storage. Circuits sit idle, drained of current.

Preservation trumps hands-on function to such a degree that the object’s status as ‘instrument’ begins to erode, while focus turns to visual aesthetics and technological histories. At the same time, the descendants of these machines are now everywhere, in contemporary musical culture; the market for synthesizers, drum machines and sequencers, as well their computer-based equivalents and myriad hybrids, is now enormous and expanding rapidly. A surging DIY culture is also returning focus to the experimental ethic of early, handmade electronics.

Yet barriers, real and perceived, remain. The enduring popular perception is that these musical tools are fundamentally inaccessible to non-technicians, and that, more than other instruments, they require specialized training, or something more like an induction into their mysteries. And the mystery is real; we never quite know what electrons will get up to when we start turning dials, pressing buttons and interacting with sensors. The mistake that’s too often made, however, is to take that wondrous inscrutability for an impediment to participation, rather than an invitation to explore.

Perfect Music: High Voltage is precisely about extending that invitation - broadening and broadcasting it, piquing curiosity and prodding visitors to playfully feel their way around circuits in sonified space. ‘This is what Perfect Music is all about,’ write Reinhold Banek and Jon Scoville in their 1980 book Sound Designs: A Handbook of Musical Instrument Building. ‘It’s an attitude towards making music that permits anything. One does not have to be labelled a “musician” to enjoy the experience of playing with sound for its own sake’. In their book, Scoville (a composer) and Banek (a builder) provide step-by-step instructions for building several dozen relatively simple, but evocative, acoustic instruments. Twin ideals animate the technical discussion: accessibility of music making and accessibility of instrument construction. The former promotes unencumbered participation. The latter is radically practical, emphasizing ‘the satisfaction which comes from turning raw materials and unlikely objects into instruments capable of a wide range of sonic textures… it is an exploration of the ways in which lumber, metal scraps, discarded baseball bats, toilet-tank floats, automobile parts, oxygen tanks, tired kitchen pots, sewer pipe, and other flotsam of the 20th century can become the means for making music.’

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Atari Punk Console (Bass Mod), 2017; wood, electrical components; 49x19.5x9.5 cm

With this exhibit, Lacasse and MacRae electrify the concept of Perfect Music. Whereas, their previous work has been exclusively acoustic, they now incorporate some of the ‘flotsam’ that is uniquely characteristic of the 21st century: LEDs, printed circuit boards, integrated circuit chips, tiny resistors and capacitors, photosensors, miscellaneous buttons and knobs, along with various items scavenged from old electronics. A soldered bricolage of would-be e-waste and formerly high-tech components that can now be had from Hong Kong, via eBay, for about a dollar a piece, shipping included.

The same scavenger-tinker ethic drove the early development of electronic music, getting a significant boost in the immediate post-war years when surplus shops became gardens of disused military technology. For the musically-minded, any item that could be repurposed to produce, transmit or modify sound was a potential instrument. For example, an audio-frequency signal generator (I.e. an oscillator), meant for electronics testing and measurement, could be used to produce wave forms (sine, square, triangle, etc.) more pure than any tones found in the acoustic world. Combine two or more of these devices and you have the beginnings of a synthesizer, capable of producing complex harmonics and modulations. Pass them through a series of other novel but relatively simple circuits and the sonic possibilities expand further: artificial reverberation could be had by running signal through a spring strung between a pair of transducers; vacuum tube transistors could be used for tremolo and ‘gating’ effects; otherworldly dissonance could be found in ring modulation circuits, lifted or copied from radio equipment.

By the 1970s, the miniaturization of electronic components meant that a fingertip-sized integrated circuit could do much the same job as several of Hewlett Packard’s 11kg oscillator units from the 1940s. Of the pieces presented here, Lacasse says: ‘A lot of these circuits are based on CMOS chips. They’re logic chips, not really made for audio, but people have discovered that you can build up to six oscillators from each chip.’ Most synthesizers have one or two oscillators, but Lacasse’s CMOS ’Drone Box’ uses the full complement to powerful, physical effect, enabling the player to explore densely buzzing unison tones and throbbing dissonance. Another invention resembles a boxy flute, but sounds something like bagpipes as rendered by a Commodore 64 computer. For Lacasse, bespoke circuitry follows in the path of set out by the American composer Harry Partch, inventor of unusual instruments and explorer of idiosyncratic tuning systems. But it also draws on a rich tradition of electronic kit-building and designer-teacher figures like Ray Wilson, whose Music From Outer Space website has been the entry point for countless beginners (via projects like the Weird Sound Generator, on duty here) and played major role in renewing the allure of the soldering iron in the digital era.

For his part, MacRae’s first projects were crystal radio sets like the ones built by radio ‘hams’ (amateur operators) in the early 20th century. Scanning for voices in the magnetosphere, theirs were the first human ears to pick up sounds that would become common features of electronic

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Atari Punk Console (with Ring Modulator), 2017; wood, electrical components; 55.5x20x9.5 cm

music, a half-century later. Fittingly, then, one of MacRae’s contributions to Perfect Music includes a device based on Eric Archer’s ‘Tune in Tokyo’ circuit, which mimics the experience of dialing across the shortwave bands, following eerie modulations and static tides, effectively playing the radio as a musical instrument. Or rather, an amusical instrument, built for exploring material qualities of sound rather than conforming to a given musical system. Here, MacRae draws influence from the stream-of-noise ‘tone poems’ of the early-20th century German artist Kurt Schwitters. A scavenger, himself, Schwitters’ ‘Merz’ project involved patching together discarded fragments of modern manufacturing and media in ways meant to challenge the very definitions of what constitutes ’art’ and who gets to be called an ‘artist’.

Perfect Music echoes these questions. Certainly, these instruments, adorned with electromechanical surplus, housed in cigar boxes and slices of tree trunks, would not seem out-of-place in one of Schwitters’ whole-building Merz installations. But more fundamentally they are designed to transform the role of the visitor from that of transient observer to full-bodied participant, in ways that owe something to the participatory performances of Pauline Oliveros and Maryanne Amacher’s physically immersive ‘sound houses’. This is the reason behind the decision not to equip each instrument with its own little speaker, conducive to personal listening. Instead, each device is patched into a mixer and sent to multiple speakers around the space, making Perfect Music a collective event, an evolving game of exploration, a conversation, and an ongoing improvisation, with no wrong turns. You’ll never hear music like this again.

Paul Jasen is a writer, educator and electronic musician living in Ottawa. He received his PhD in Cultural Mediations from Carleton University, where he teaches courses in Music and Communication Studies. He is the author of Low End Theory: Bass Bodies and the Materiality of Sonic Experience (Bloomsbury, 2017).

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Artist Statements

Lacasse and MacRae first collaborated in 2007 when they built an FM Transmitter for an installation piece, The African-American Spiritual, shown as part of the group exhibition Anthem, curated by Ryan Rice. Although they did not have another opportunity to formally work on projects together until developing the exhibition Perfect Music for the City of Ottawa’s Karsh-Masson Gallery, they came to appreciate their mutual interests in music, sound and electronics. Inspired by Banek and Scoville’s concept of Perfect Music, the exhibition emphasized interconnectedness, rather than attempting to isolate performance and music from the everyday. Perfect Music: High Voltage is a further extension of that exhibition, featuring a greater number of electronic devices.

Lacasse has an extensive background in the development of electronic music components such as electric guitars, guitar pick-ups, amplifiers, and guitar effects pedals. In addition to building and selling custom effects pedals, Lacasse is an avid guitarist. MacRae typically works in sculpture and installation, and has an appreciation of music for its immediacy and variety of forms. He develops projects using plans to examine community and exchange, experienced through a do-it-yourself approach that enables social interactions.

This exhibition is dedicated to Ray Wilson (1955-2016), whose creativity and generosity continues to enrich our lives.

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images of a selection of artworks in the exhibition

15

Wood Blocks, 2014-2017; wood; dimensions variable

Chaos NAND Synthesizer, 2017; wood, electrical components; 48.5x15x9 cm

Chimes, 2014; wood, metal; 46x36x6 cm

Drone Box, 2014; cigar box, electrical components; 18x12.5x6 cm

Drum Machine, 2016; cigar box, electrical components, 21x18x6.5 cm

Echo Rockit, 2017; wood, metal, electrical components; 20.5x20.5x9 cm

Electric Washboard, 2014; wood, glass, electrical components; 59x30x8 cm

Forbidden Planet, 2017; wood, cigar box, electrical components; 61x34x5 cm

Kalimba, 2017; cigar box, metal, electrical components; 22x13.5x9.5 cm

Lite2Sound, 2016; wood, electrical components; 14x7.5x4.5 cm each

Manual Tape Player, 2017; cigar box, wood, electrical components; 34x24x4 cm (dimensions variable)

Marimba 1, 2017; wood, metal, string; 37x14x4 cm

Marimba 2, 2017; wood; 66x30x4.5 cm

Marimbula, 2014; wood; metal; 64.5x33.5x13.5 cm

Melodion, 2017; wood, electrical components; 37x13x9 cm

Nandamonium, 2017; cigar box, electrical components; 27x17x16 cm

Nebulophone, 2017; cigar box, electrical components; 18.5x18x9 cm

Optical Theremin, 2016; wood, electrical components; 56x19x8 cm

Pico Paso, 2017; wood, electrical components; 60x21.5x14 cm

Phantom Radio, 2017; wood, electrical components; 36x16x11 cm

Theremin, 2013; wood, electrical components; 15x15x15 cm

Touch Piano, 2017; wood, electrical components; 45x32x8.5 cm

Tubular Bells, 2017; copper plumbing pipe; 85.5x75x2 cm

Tune In Tokyo, 2017; wood, electrical components; 63x23x10 cm

Voice of Saturn, 2017; wood, metal, electrical components; 19x19x8.5 cm

Weird Sound Generator, 2016; cigar box, electrical components; 26x8x16 cm

Windstorm, 2017; wood, electrical components; 47x12.5x4 cm

Audio Mixer, 2017; wood, electrical components; 36.5x32x5 cm

Bass Sequencer, 2016; cigar box, electrical components; 26.5x15.5x7 cm

List of works in the exhibition: Drum Machine 2016 cigar box, electrical components 21x18x6.5 cm

Weird Sound Generator 2016 cigar box, electrical components 26x8x16 cm

Atari Junk Console 2017 wood, electrical components 38x19x9 cm

Echo Rockit 2017 wood, metal, electrical components 20.5x20.5x9 cm

Bass Sequencer 2016 cigar box, electrical components 26.5x15.5x7 cm

Chaos NAND Synthesizer 2017 wood, electrical components 48.5x15x9 cm

Voice of Saturn 2017 wood, metal, electrical components 19x19x8.5 cm

Nebulophone 2017 cigar box, electrical components 18.5x18x9 cm

Optical Theremin 2016 wood, electrical components 56x19x8 cm)

Theremin 2013 wood, electrical components 15x15x15 cm

Manual Tape Player 2017 cigar box, wood, electrical components 34x24x4 cm (dimensions variable)

Atari Punk Console (Bass Mod) 2017 wood, electrical components 49x19.5x9.5 cm

Kalimba 2017 cigar box, metal, electrical components 22x13.5x9.5 cm

Marimba 2017 wood, metal, string 37x14x4 cm

Pico Paso 2017 wood, electrical components 60x21.5x14 cm

6 Oscillator Drone Box 2017 wood, electrical components 14x7.5x4.5 cm

Nandamonium 2017 cigar box, electrical components 27x17x16 cm

Tune In Tokyo 2017 wood, electrical components 63x23x10 cm

Drone Box 2014 cigar, electrical components 18x12.5x6 cm

Phantom Radio 2017 wood, electrical components 36x16x11 cm

Touch Piano 2017 wood, electrical components 45x32x8.5 cm

Lite2Sound 2016 wood, electrical components 14x7.5x4.5 cm

Melodion 2017 wood, electrical components 37x13x9 cm

Audio Mixer 2017 wood, electrical components 36.5x32x5 cm

Lite2Sound 2016 wood, electrical components 14x7.5x4.5 cm)

Windstorm 2017 wood, electrical components 47x12.5x4 cm

Audio Mixer 2017 wood, electrical components 36.5x32x5 cm

46

Forbidden Planet 2017 wood, cigar box, electrical components 61x34x5 cm

Drawdio 2017 graphite pencil, electronic compomnents

Chimes 2014 wood, metal 46x36x6 cm

Hank Drum 2016 metal 46x31x31 cm

Electric Washboard 2014 wood, glass, electrical components 59x30x8 cm

Hank Drum 2016 metal 46x31x31 cm

Marimba 2017 wood 6x30x4.5 cm

Tambiro 2016 metal 46x31x31 cm

Marimbula 2014 wood; metal 64.5x33.5x13.5 cm

Slit Drums 2016 wood dimensions variable

Wood Blocks 2014-2017 wood dimensions variable

Drum Machine 2017 wood, electronic components dimensions variable

Lite 2 Sound Tone Wheels 2017 wood dimensions variable

Light Organ 2017 electronic components dimensions variable

Tubular Bells 2017 coppr pipe 85.5x75x2

Sequence 8 2017 wood, metal, electrical components 19x19x8.5 cm

Touch Theremin 2017 wood, electrical components; dimensions variable

Daxophone 2017 wood, metal, electronic components dimensions variable

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Atari Punk Console (with Ring Modulator) 2017 wood, electrical components 55.5x20x9.5 cm

ALISDAIR MACRAE alisdairmacrae.com

curriculum vitae

EDUCATION

2010-2012 2000-2002

1997-1998

Master of Arts in Art History, Carleton University Master of Fine Arts in Visual Arts, Milton Avery Graduate School for Fine Arts at Bard College Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Arts, Honours, University of Victoria

SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2015 2014 2011 2008 2006

2004

2001 1999

El Sol, AOE Gallery, Ottawa, ON Perfect Music (Musique parfaite), Galerie Karsh-Masson Gallery, Ottawa, ON Camanchacas, Ross Creek Centre for the Arts, Canning, NS A Thousand Years To Live, Atrium Gallery, Ottawa, ON We Are the Church, Khyber Centre for the Arts, Halifax, NS 100 Snakes: Architecture for the Eye, Access Artist Run Centre, Vancouver, BC LAB 5.6 Improvisation Space, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, BC Cliffside Dwelling, Ministry of Casual Living, Victoria, BC Dans ma famille, Galerie Verticale, Laval, QC For Sale, DYNAMO Gallery, Vancouver, BC Back In the Day, Open Space Vertical Gallery, Victoria, BC

GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2014

2013

2012

2011

Card Yard, Big On Bloor, Toronto, ON The Dark Room 3.0, Gallery 918, Toronto, ON Desdemona & Juliet, Lorraine Fritzi Yale Gallery, Ottawa, ON Shifting States, Project Gallery, Toronto, ON Nocturne V, Cube Gallery, Ottawa, ON The Dark Room 2.0, Gallery 918, Toronto, ON King Street Alternative Film and Video Festival, Toronto, ON Olio, MacDonald Island Community Art Gallery, Fort McMurray, AB Close To Home: Recent Additions to the City of Ottawa's Fine Art Collection, Ottawa, ON Nuit Noire, Cube Gallery, Ottawa, ON I Am Not A Poet, Total Kunst Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland Nuit Noire (in collaboration with Negar Seyfollahy), Cube Gallery, Ottawa, ON

48

GROUP EXHIBITIONS continued 2010 Instructions for Initial Conditions, Drift Station/Parallax Space, Lincoln, NE

Voix Visuelle Digital Miniprint Exhibition, Ottawa, ON

Short-sighted, The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery, St. John's, NL 2010 Faith, Ross Creek Centre for the Arts, Arlington, NS

Eyelevel Reshelving Initiative Four, Eyelevel Gallery, Halifax, NS

Architecture of Community, Gallery 1313, Toronto, ON 2009 Anthem, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener, ON 2008 Anthem, Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery, Halifax, NS

Anthem, Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff, AB 2007 Anthem, Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa, ON

Blind Corner, Langley Centennial Museum & National Exhibition Centre, Fort Langley, BC

Wood, English Kills Art Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 2005 d.u.m.b.o. art under the bridge festival, Brooklyn, NY

Cyclops Dreams, Access Artist Run Centre, Vancouver, BC

The Infinity Project, Helen Pitt Gallery, Vancouver, BC

Bound_less, Stenersenmuseet, Oslo, Norway 2004 Clothing Project, It Can Change at Lucky Tackle, Oakland, CA

PiĂąata Party, It Can Change, New York, NY

Eye Level Re-shelving Initiative, Eye Level Gallery, Halifax, NS

Altaring the Neighbourhood: Local Paradise in New York City, The Interfaith Center of

New York, New York, NY 2003 d.u.m.b.o. art under the bridge festival, Brooklyn, NY

The Peephole, Mercer Union, Toronto, ON

Float, Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, NY

Kingston Sculpture Biennial, Kingston, NY 2002 536 Favourites, Vancouver Public Library, Vancouver, BC

Vantage Points, Open Space, Victoria, BC 2001 536 Stuffs All the Cracks, 536, Vancouver, BC

The Best Looking Artists in Victoria, Victoria Community Arts Council, Victoria, BC

Cavities, Selkirk Artist Run Centre, Victoria, BC

Beyond the Center, Redhook, NY 2000 536, 536, Vancouver, BC

Performative, Open Space, Victoria, BC 1999 Barely, Rarely, Hardly, Seldom, University of Victoria Visual Arts Building

Moss Street Paint In, Moss Street/Victoria Art Gallery, Victoria, BC

To Remain At A Distance, Open Space, Victoria, BC

The Occasional Furniture Show, Open Space, Victoria, BC 1999 Stinky Cherries, Rogue Art, Victoria, BC 1998 To Remain At a Distance, Open Space, Victoria, BC

49

PUBLIC ART COMMISSIONS 2015 Billboard for the Homeless, Ottawa, ON 2013 Trim Road Realignment, Finalist, Orleans, ON

A Flat and A Box, Richcraft Recreation Complex, Kanata, ON

the scroll, Jasper Place Public Library, Edmonton, AB 2011 The Language of City, Glebe Community Centre, Ottawa, ON

Imprint: Intersection of City & Sky, Hazeldean Road Lightpole Banner Project, Stittsville, ON 1999 Plexiglas Piece, University of Victoria Student Union Building, Victoria, BC PUBLICATIONS

2012 2006 2003

1999

Chrysalis 002, Movement, Ottawa, ON Shifter 8, Rules and Representations, New York, NY Au Pair, Body Parts Issue, Matrix 66, Montréal, QC Artwurl, Issue 2, PS 122 Gallery, New York, NY Front, Volume IX, Number Eight, Western Front Magazine, Vancouver, BC

WORK IN PUBLIC COLLECTIONS University of Victoria, City of Ottawa, City of Edmonton RESIDENCIES 2014

2013

2012

2011

Gallery 44, Collisions and Borders, Toronto, ON Artscape Gibraltar Point, Toronto, ON Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, NM Artscape Gibraltar Point, Toronto, ON Wood Buffalo Artist In Residency Program, Fort Chipewyan, AB Fundación ACE, Buenos Aires, Argentina Ross Creek Centre for the Arts, Canning, NS

AWARDS 2016 Media Artists (Emerging), Ontario Arts Council, Toronto, Ontario 2015 Art Place d’art, Arts Ottawa East Arts Council, Ottawa, ON 2014 Creation and Production Fund for Professional Artists, City of Ottawa 2011-2012 Ontario Graduate Scholarship 2000-2002 Milton Avery Graduate School for the Arts Fellowship

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CATALOGUES/MONOGRAPHS 2014 Perfect Music, Galerie Karsh-Masson Gallery, 110 Laurier Avenue West, Ottawa, ON,

K1N 5J8, Camille April Le Quéré, 21 March – 27 April, 2014 2008 ANTHEM: Perspectives on Home and Native Land / HYMNE: Points de vue sur la terre

de nos aïeux, Carleton University Art Gallery, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON,

K1S 5B6, Ryan Rice, 14 May – 4 September, 2007 2006 Architecture for the Eye, Vancouver Access Artist Run Centre, 206 Carrall Street,

Vancouver, BC, V6B 2J1, James Whitman and Jason Fitzpatrick, 18 February – 25

March, 2006 2002 Vantage Points: Sighting Along a Line, Open Space Arts Society, 510 Fort Street, Victoria, BC,

V8W 1E6, Caitlin Lewis, 11 January – 2 February, 2002

CURATORIAL PROJECTS 2010 26 Letters and Then There Were None – Karina Bergmans and Julie Rae Tucker, for The

Corridor Gallery at Ottawa's Crichton Cultural Community Centre. The theme of the show

reflected the building’s previous use as a school.

2008 Selected MainWorks – MainWorks Studio artists based at of the Crichton Cultural Community

Centre exhibition at The Corridor Gallery.

To Build A Vibrant Centre – Four local artists in a two-month, inaugural exhibition for The

Corridor Gallery at Ottawa's Crichton Cultural Community Centre. Artists were asked to

respond to the theme of community in the context of the centre.

2007-2008 Programmed three, three-month exhibitions of artists from the National Capital

Region for display at the Ottawa branch of Canadian Heritage.

JURIES/COMMITTEES 2012-2015 Chair, City of Ottawa Public Art Renewal Committee, Public Art Program, City of

Ottawa, Ottawa, ON 2014 Arts Ottawa East Art Place, Arts Ottawa East Arts Council, Ottawa, ON 2011 Somerset Street West Reconstruction Project, Public Art Program, City of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON CONFERENCES 2015

2014

Interface 2015: Materiality and Movement, Institute for Comparative Studies in Literature, Art & Culture, Carleton University, May 1-3, 2015, Ottawa, ON (paper presented) L’art public: nouveaux territories, nouveaux enjeux, 19 September 2014, Montréal, QC

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CONFERENCES continued 2014 2012

2011

2009

Open Engagement, 16-18 May, 2014, Queens, NY Town Hall on Pluralism in the Arts: Aboriginal and Ethno-Racial Communities in Ottawa and Implications for Arts and Culture, 20 September, 2012, Ottawa, ON Native American Art Studies Association Eight Biennial Conference, 26-29 October, 2011, Ottawa, ON (paper presented) Aboriginal Curatorial Collective, Curators Camp Kabeshinàn, 22-24 October, 2009, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON

WORKSHOPS/TALKS 2015 McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, ARTIST TALK

Delivered talk on artistic practice and socially engaged art.

School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, WORKSHOP FACILITATOR

Developed, publicized and led three three-hour workshops using box cameras.

• Built and demonstrated box cameras to students so that they may gain

proficiency in their use

• Presented discussion materials on street photography, documentary

photography and photo tinting/toning

PDA Projects, Ottawa, ON, WORKSHOP FACILITATOR

Developed, publicized and led a three-hour workshop on cyanotypes.

• Developed and provided cyanotype material for use by participants

• Facilitated process of making cyanotypes for a range of age groups

Arts Ottawa East Arts Council, Ottawa, ON, WORKSHOP FACILITATOR

Delivered three-hour grant application workshop for Art Place program.

• Reviewed all aspects of grant application with workshop attendees, providing

examples of publicly engaged artists and projects

• Moderated panel discussion with participants from the 2014 Art Place program

Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa, ON, WORKSHOP FACILITATOR

Delivered one-hour workshop for Toddler Mornings program.

• Provided all materials and instructions for musical instrument workshop to

children under the age of five 2014 OCAD University, Toronto, ON, ARTIST TALK

Delivered talk to two class groups on artistic practice and demonstration of Afghan Box

Camera.

Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, ARTIST TALK

Delivered talk to Instructional Design class on artistic practice and career development.

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WORKSHOPS/TALKS continued

Galerie Karsh-Masson Gallery, Ottawa, ON, ARTIST TALK/WORKSHOP FACILITATOR

Delivered artist talk and workshop for exhibition tour group.

• Provided all materials and instructions for musical instrument workshop

following exhibition tour 2012 Municipality of Wood Buffalo Residency, Fort McMurray, AB, ARTIST TALK

Delivered talk on artistic practice and use of cyanotypes.

2007 Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa, ON, ARTIST TALK

Delivered talk on artistic practice and installation.

2006 Access Artist-Run Centre, Vancouver, BC, ARTIST TALK

Delivered talk on artistic practice and installation.

Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, BC, ARTIST TALK

Delivered talk on artistic practice and installation.

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Patrick Lacasse patrick.lacasse@yahoo.com

curriculum vitae

Education 1991 - 1996

Bachelor of Arts in Art History and Architecture, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON

Employment 1994-present

Collections/Exhibition Assistant, Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa, ON Responsible for the University art collection, numbering approximately 29 000 artworks. Duties include ensuring proper storage and handling of artwork, cataloguing and photography of new acquisitions, and updating and maintaining the collection database.

Installation of all the exhibitions, including packing and unpacking, matting and framing, setting up and maintaining audio/visual and computer equipment and exhibition lighting.

Exhibitions 2014

Perfect Music (Musique Parfaite), Galerie Karsh-Masson Gallery, Ottawa, ON

Exhibitions Curated 1997 - 1998

1999 - 2000

Starstruck Rock Stars and Film Celebrities Photographs by Barrie Wentzell Serigraphs by Harold Town Art Ex Machina: Computer Art from the 1970s to 1999

Catalogue Photography 2013 2008 2003 1998

Making the News in 18th Century France Black Against White: John J.A. Murphy, Master of the Modern Wood Engraving Urban Skins: The Prints of George Hawken Adrift with the Alphabet: The ABCs of Alex Wyse

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Catalogue Photography continued

My photographs have appeared in Canadian Art, Inuit Art Quarterly, RACAR and other publications.

Work In Public Collections

City of Ottawa

ongoing Artistic Studio Practice 2002-present Fabricating various guitar effect pedals, including fuzzes, distortions,

compressors, delays, octave and modulation effects for personal use and for

commercial purposes.

Building of guitar amplifiers and stereo amplifiers using vacuum tube and solid state electronics, electric guitars, simple synthesizer and oscillator circuits, theremins, radios and other electronic sound devices.

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vernon public art gallery vernon, british columbia canada www.vernonpublicartgallery.com