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Sam Newsome—The Popeye Effect: Unlocking the Artist’s Power to Transcend (talk + solo concert)

Silence 46 Essex Street, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

In this masterclass, we explore the importance of moving beyond our earthly selves to reach our true creative potential when improvising. As artists, our improvisational journeys can take us from the explainable to the unexplainable, from the ordinary to the extraordinary. Using the iconic cartoon character Popeye the Sailor Man as a metaphor, we will discuss what true transcendence looks like in the creative process. We will also delve into how to employ extended techniques and instrument preparations as methods of transcendence, pushing the boundaries of traditional performance. Active participation from fellow musicians is highly encouraged.

$20

Thinking Spaces: Andrew Goldman, “The Cognition of Musical Improvisation: Theories and Experiments”

ImprovLab MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

Improvisation is a challenging topic to study using the theories and methods of cognitive science owing to the difficulty of defining it, and the diversity of improvisatory practices. I share my theoretical frameworks for engaging this challenge as well as the results from some behavioral and neuroscientific studies. Ultimately, I draw upon improvisation as a case study for exploring the difficulties of using science to understand music more generally.

Free

[Cancelled due to Inclement Weather] | hakosalo_tuohino: “How a Sound Follows Another” (Talk @ ImprovLab)

ImprovLab MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

Cancelled due to inclement weather |
In this discussion, we'll shed light on the art-theoretical approaches of the hakosalo_tuhino duo. Our improvised music comes from the archaic kantele playing tradition, where you are in the music instead of making it. Drawing from the deep listening method, our sonic expression is a spatial and temporal experience that cannot be recorded and repeated.

Free

IBPOC ARTISTS NETWORK TOUR: FROM WORDS TO ACTION—Newton Moraes and Meryem Alaoui

ImprovLab MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

Please join Guelph Dance and the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation on February 28, 2025 at 7:30 PM (ET) for an evening of dance with Newton Moraes and Meryem Alaoui at ImprovLab. The program features two solo works by these fantastic artists. This presentation is courtesy of IBPOC ARTISTS NETWORK TOUR: FROM WORDS TO ACTION, initiated by wind in the leaves collective.

$11.98

Thinking Spaces: Fron Reilly, “Acoustic Innovation: Is There Anything Left to Invent?”

ImprovLab MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

This talk will tell the story of four innovative acoustic musical instruments that Fron have created over the past few years. It will focus on the creative process in which he accesses his lifelong fascination with sound and delve into his background in physics to invent new ways of connecting the vibrations of strings to the human ear and brain.”

Free

Immersive Soundscape Music

ImprovLab MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

Andra McCartney’s radio piece Learning to Walk is an experimental radio story made in 2004 about traumatic memory, love, and walking.  Her piece Waiting games and widespread smoke (feat. Narcy) from 2018 is based on a train trip from Toronto to Vancouver reflecting on the widespread smoke and freight delays that structured it during the 2018 fires prevalent in Western Canada at the time.

Darren Copeland’s works on the program combine acousmatic and soundscape approaches to sound creation. His piece …while working and walking is based on exploring his new rural home on foot back in 2015 and while cleaning up and removing old building structures. His piece On Schedule from 2003 transforms a soundscape recording from the World Soundscape Project collection at Simon Fraser University. Synthetic sounds are also generated by plotting the times of station stops on the multi-day route from London Waterloo to Moskva Byelorusski.  

Free

Turntable Trio: Maria Chavez, Mariam Rezaei, Evicshen—Wet Sounds #3

ImprovLab MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

On Sunday March 30th, 2025, Wet Sounds: feminist + queer music practices in the polycrisis, presents a performance and conversation with female pioneers of new turntablism, Turntable Trio—Maria Chavez, Mariam Rezaei, and Evicshen (Victoria Shen).

By Donation

Sounds Like Us 2.0 | Final Showcase

ImprovLab MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

Sounds Like Us—presented by the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI) and the Campus Friends (CF) program—brings professional musicians into collaboration with community members of varying developmental and physical needs through a series of fun and playful improvisation-based workshops. This season facilitators include postdoctoral fellow jashen edwards, PhD student Joe Sorbara, and community musician special guest, Valentina Morelli.

Free

Journée d’étude: Improvisation, Pedagogy, and Cocreative Worldmaking

ImprovLab MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

—"An adept improviser can find ways forward amid impasse, agency amid oppression, and community amid division." – The Improviser's Classroom Join us on April 3, 2025 at ImprovLab for a full-day symposium investigating ways to re-imagine pedagogy through the prisms of activism, reciprocity, and communal care. This free, open-to-everyone event is focused around the launch…

Why Arts Matter Research Speaker Series: Technology

ImprovLab MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

This panel will explore the transformative impact of technology on culture, the arts, and our understanding of the world. Featuring Dr. Peter Kuling, Dr. Susan Brown, Dr. Rozita Dara, and Dr. Donald Bruce, this discussion will examine how digital performance, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence are reshaping cultural engagement and artistic expression. The panelists will delve into the ethical implications of emerging technologies, the role of digital humanities in fostering collaboration, diversity, and inclusivity, and the ways science and technology are portrayed in media.

Free

Listening in the Dark: equilibrium

ImprovLab MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

In this three-hour gathering with Anne Bourne, participation stems from Deep Listening practice and the Sonic text scores of Pauline Oliveros, with standing by artist/osteopath Lesley Greco, as well as sound interventions by composer/percussionist Germaine Liu. The practice of Deep Listening offers embodied listening, extreme slow walk, attunement, and collective creative expression.

Free

Research Partners

International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation IICSI House,
9 University Avenue East,
Guelph, ON,
N1H 1M8
Tel: 519-824-4120 Ext. 53885 | [email protected]

Send mail to:
IICSI House
9 University Avenue East
Guelph, Ontario
N1H 1M8
improv@uoguelph.ca