Owen Chapman
Assistant Professor
BA, Contemporary Studies/Philosophy, University of King's College
MA, Philosophy, Queen's University
PhD, Communications, Concordia Univerisity
Assistant professor and Lecturer in Communication Studies since 2005, Dr. Owen Chapman is also a DJ and sample-based composer under the moniker "Opositive”. His sound art ranges from intermedia performance (incorporating original music, video projection and live scratch DJing), to studio-based composition. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in sound production and the history of media technology. He has written on audio sampling for a variety of academic publications including Organised Sound, M/C: Journal and The Canadian Journal of Communication. His work has been commissioned internationally for radio, video and contemporary dance. His research and production projects have been funded by the FQRSC, Hexagram and the Canada Council. Dr. Chapman's PhD dissertation was the first research-creation project to be successfully defended in his domain in Canada (2007) and was completed through Concordia, UQAM and UdM's Joint PhD Program in Communication.
ONGOING RESEARCH PROJECTS:
Mobile Media Gallery - a new and highly active initiative within the Comm. Studies Department. http://mobilemediagallery.org
From Audion Tubes to 'The Girl Who Never Finished Her Music Lessons': a genealogical history of the Theremin, Ondes Martenot and Hammond Organ (http://collectingdust.org -- under construction)
This research-creation project is focused on the interlinked histories of three early electronic musical instruments: the Theremin, Ondes Martenot and Hammond Organ--invented in 1919, 1928 and 1935, respectively. Contemporary electronic sound production owes much to these historically-significant, but understudied technologies. "Obsolete" by digital standards, they are still used around the world in many different contexts. Little scholarly work has been published about each instrument individually and nothing exists that discusses them together. The initiative employs archival and interview-based research. We are also seeking-out, playing and recording examples of our key instruments. These recordings are subsequently being used as source material for studio-based audio compositions that reflexively engage this research with our own production practices as sound artists. This work is funded by the Concordia Faculty of Arts and Science and the FQRSC's Programme d'Établissement de nouveaux professeurs-chercheurs-créateurs.
The Icebreaker (http://icebreaker.opositive.ca)
"The Icebreaker" is a new musical instrument, sound installation and performance piece derived from frozen water. Its most notable feature is the incorporation of small microphones into pieces of ice--allowing for the broadcast of a broad palette of sounds derived from this unstable medium. These range from clicks and tones created through tapping the instrument’s various surfaces, to subtle drips as the ice begins to melt. Different sizes of ice are used, as well as different objects with which to strike the ice, resulting in a sophisticated percussive instrument. The frozen microphones are also sensitive to static charges delivered through touching the ice with skin or metal. Elements of "The Icebreaker" are modular and easily located in close proximity and/or at a distance from one another, allowing for different possibilities in terms of how the installation inhabits material and sonic architectures. This work is funded by the Canada Council and the Concordia Faculty of Arts and Science.
RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS
--Published refereed articles / reviews--
• "The Icebreaker: Soundscape works as everyday sound art." Organised Sound, Vol. 14, #1 (2009), pp.
83-88.
• "Radio Activity: Articulating the Theremin, Ondes Martenot and Hammond Organ." Wi: Journal of
Mobile Media, Spring (2009). http://wi.hexagram.ca/?p=44
• "The Affect of Selection in Digital Sound Art." M/C Journal, 8.3 (2005). Jul. 2005 http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0507/03-chapman.php
• "Book review of 'Rhythm Science' by Paul D. Miller (a.k.a. DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid), The Canadian Journal of Communication, Vol. 30 #4 (2005)
• "Mixing With Records," M/C Journal, 4.2 (2001) http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0104/records.php
--PUBLISHED PROCEEDINGS, BOOK CHAPTERS AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO A COLLECTIVE WORK--
• “CD cover text for Selected Sounds: A collective investigation into the practice of sample-based music”, Pivot: An interdisciplinary graduate journal of visual culture, Vol. 1, #1 (2007)
• with Anna Friz, "To Big for Their Beats?: Questions for the microsound revolution," Graduate Researcher: Journal for the arts, sciences and technology, Vol. 1, #2 (2003)
--REFEREED CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS (selected)--
• “Sampling, Remixing and Improvising with Records, or ‘How the Turntable Taught Me to Play the Drums.” Lex Non Scripta, Ars Non Scripta: Law, Justice & Improvisation Conference, Montreal, June 20th, 2009
• "Radio Activités: à la recherche des ondes musicales." Canadian Communication Association Annual Conference, Vancouver, June 4th 2008
• "The Ice-xylophone." Housing the Body / Dressing the Environment, Montreal, August 24th, 2007
• "With Love, From Me, For You": The affect of commissions on sound art," In and Out of the Sound Studio, Montreal, July 28th, 2005
• "Sonic Sedition through Aural Audition: Who’s got the conch in sample-based music?" On the Right Track: IASPM-Canada Annual Conference, Ottawa, May 16th, 2004
--INVITED PRESENTATIONS
• Moderator/Discussant, “What is Research?: Art as Research” Roundtable and discussion hosted by the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Society and Culture, Concordia University, Nov 6th 2009
• Invited Judge in the Humanities Category, Concordia Undergraduate Research Day, April 3rd, 2009.
• Keynote presenter with Anna Friz, "Anna and Owen's Transmission Re-pair," - a performance based in remixing, sample exchange, live sampling, and improvisation. Presented at Copyright's Counterparts hosted by Queen's University, Aug 7, 2008.
• Invited panelist at a workshop on "Copyright and Community Radio" during Redefining Media: Media Democracy and Community Radio hosted by CKUT FM (Montreal), Oct 21st, 2007.
• Invited panelist at "Cramping my Sampling" workshop during the Pop and Policy: Music Fast Forward, McGill School of Music, Montreal, Oct 5th, 2007. (part of POP Montreal)
• Keynote presenter with Andra McCartney, "Ephemerality and the Population of Sound Studies", Making Waves: A graduate symposium on sound scholarship, Concordia University, March 30th, 2007
--CREATIVE PUBLICATIONS--
• Calling the Voice-O-Graph, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License Owen Chapman, 2009. A self-released full-length audio-CD of recent material available for free download through http://callingthevoiceograph.net. Official launch date: Oct 28th, 2009
• Frozen Puddle - 2m36s (video), The Ice Xylophone (video) - 3m07s and Improvisation with Ice Xylophone, Ondes Martenot, Laptop and Guitar - 7m35s (audio piece - with S. Binet-Audet, K. Audet and D. Madden). These three pieces were included on a DVD accompanying Organised Sound, Vol. 14, #3 (2009). They are linked to the essay I published in Organised Sound, Vol. 14, #1.
• Selected Sounds: A collective investigation into the practice of sample-based music © Chapman, Friz, Gallant, Houde, Morris, Moscos, Williams - Squeezebox Records, 2007. A collaborative full-length audio CD compiling 7 tracks composed from the same 7 samples, but by different artists. The CD is an integral component of my PhD dissertation. NB—100 copies of this CD were commissioned for a limited edition version of Pivot: An interdisciplinary graduate journal of visual culture, Vol. 1, #1 (2007)
• [and he flew toward it], Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License Owen Chapman, Squeezebox Records, 2006. A self-released full-length audio-CD of recent material commissioned for contemporary dance.
•with Anna Friz, "Too Big For Their Beats? Audio CD", Graduate Researcher: Journal for the arts, sciences and technology, Vol. 1, #2, 2003. An analog-glitch sound-lecture.
--CURATED WORKS--
• "Out My Window" and "Everyday Law" (11 mins total) -- part of the Mobile Media Gallery’s “Discoverable” campaign, exhibited so far on Oct 26 and 27 at various locations on the Concordia University Campus (Montreal) and online at http://mobilemediagallery.org. Curator: Kim Sawchuk.
--COMMISSIONED WORKS (selected)--
2009-->• “Bluetooth Beats” -- Commissioned by Concordia Vice Provost Ollivier Dyens for the President’s Conference Series event at Concordia entitled Every Breath You Take: Surveillance, Security and the End of Privacy (Nov 4th, 2009). This is an interactive audio composition enabled through Bluetooth file sharing and cell phones.
• "Out My Window" and "Legal Soundscapes" (25 mins) -- Commissioned by Canada Research
Chair in Law and Discourse, Desmond Manderson, McGill University, Faculty of Law. These pieces
were composed as soundtracks to two image and text-based videos prepared by Desmond Manderson,
Helge Dedek, Tina Piper, and Kirsten Anker and entitled "Through the Looking Glass: Art as the Mirror
of Law". Presented at the Bravo McGill 2009 Showcase, Feb 10th and 11th, 2009.
2008-->• "Sublimation," and "The Ice Field," © Chapman 2008 (15 mins) Commissioned by
choreographer George Stamos for a contemporary dance performance in Montreal at L'Agora de la
dance, Oct 15-18 2008. The title of this work is "Reservoir/Pneumatic" and features these new pieces,
along with a selection of pieces commissioned from me by Stamos since 2006. I am the main composer
for this dance work, in collaboration with Jackie Gallant, and perform live during its full 60 minutes.
• "Steamboat Mickey" © Chapman 2008 (5 mins) -- Commissioned by Dr. Matt Soar as an original
soundtrack to a 50-person "rotoscoping" project, wherein Walt Disney's "Steamboat Willie" cartoon was
re-sketched frame by frame. http://www.opensourcecinema.org/node/2313
2007-->• "Waiting to Inhale" © Chapman 2007 (20 mins). Commissioned by choreographer George
Stamos (used in "Reservoir/Pneumatic," described above).
• "Shadowlands", "Shadowbeat" and "My Eps Dream", © Chapman 2007. Commissioned by
contemporary dancer Karen Bernard for her work "Dancing the Shadows", shown at the "Performance
Mix Festival" in association with Joyce SoHo (New York, NY), March 29th, 2008.
• "Trut" and "For Nawaf", two tracks featured on my 2006 release [and he flew toward it], appear in a
documentary video entitled "Water Walkers", produced by Liz Miller, edited by Laura Cohen, and
submitted to the NFB Citizenshift initiative in Feb 2007 (http://citizen.nfb.ca).
2006-->• "The Reservoir", © Chapman 2006 (30 mins). Commissioned by choreographer George
Stamos for Febuary 2006 performance at "Mini Projo", in assoc. with the M.A.I. and Studio 303
(Montreal, QC).
• "Coupeloop Cut" © Chapman 2006, broadcast as part of "Hairwaves" event in Glasgow Scotland – Fall
2006. This FM radio project was broadcast live from Glasgow for one day only--transmitting to hair
workers and their customers. Parts of this track were also used on a remix CD produced during the event.
• "Disphoria," "Euphoria," and "Newphoria," © Chapman 2006 (15 mins). Commissioned by dancer
Sarah Williams and choreographer George Stamos for performances in Calgary and Montreal.
--PERFORMANCES (selected)--
• with Clara Furey, "The Icebreaker", Jan 24th, 2009. Shown as part of Studio 303's Verni 142 "Ground"
event (Montreal). I am the artistic director and main interpreter of this piece. I also designed all musical
arrangements as well as the system used.
• with Will Straw, a combined DJ set and lecture on "lost media"--presented at Blizzarts (Montreal) on
Dec 1st 2009 as part of the monthly "Mess" event hosted by indyish.com.
• as DJ/Musician/Composer/Performer in "Reservoir/Pneumatic" (sextet, 60 min version), a
contemporary dance piece choreographed by George Stamos. Shown at Montreal's L'Agora de La Dance
from Oct 15th-18th 2008 (see http://www.agoradanse.com/spectacle.php?id=67&saison=12) and also at
the Toronto "Dancemakers" festival, Sept. 25-27 2008 (http://www.dancemakers.org/). "Reservoir/
Pneumatic" was slated for a reprise at L'Agora due to popular demand from Feb. 19th-21st, but was
cancelled on opening night due to sudden illness.
• as DJ/Musician/Composer/performer in "Reservoir" (quartet, 30 min version), a contemporary dance
piece choreographed by George Stamos for a 2006 Canadian tour. Public presentations through:Brian
Webb Dance Company at Timms Center, Edmonton, October 6-7 2006; Live Art Productions at The Sir
James Dunn, Halifax, October 12-14 2006; Sprigboard Dance, Fluid Festival at The Big Secret Theatre
Calgary, October 20-21 2006; Dancing on the Edge Festival, The Firehall Arts Center in Vancouver July
12,13 2006; The Canada Dance Festival, The N.A.C. Studio in Ottawa, June 4 2006; Studio 303 "Mini-
Projo" show, Le M.A.I., Montreal, Feb 12 2006.
• as soloist in "the_river", a multimedia presentation (self-produced digital video composition with
original sound score set against live music/performance art). Shown at the "Performance Mix Festival"
in association with Joyce SoHo (New York, NY), March 10th, 2005
--CONTRIBUTIONS TO TRAINING--
Completed Masters theses for which I was supervisor or co-supervisor-->2009: Andrea-Jane Cornell, Title (Second Reader), Tracing the Sharawadji; Rami Nuseir (Supervisor), "My Grandfather's Lemon Tree"; Sam Thulin, (Second Reader), “There to Hear: Placing Mobile Music”; 2008: Grant Collins (3rd Reader), "Epiphanies of the Daily Committed: Comics, Art, and the Everyday"; David Madden (Supervisor), "Gender Bombing: A Feminine/Masculine approach to electronic music composition and reception"; Bernadette Houde (3rd Reader), "Reconstituting Lesbian Concentrate"; M. Harris, (3rd reader), "My Body is a Mix Tape: Music and Desire in the Sound Sex Project";
Ongoing Masters theses for which I am supervisor or co-supervisor--Annam Le (Supervisor); Crystal Lee (2nd Reader); Cyrus Lewis - (Supervisor); Alison Loader (2nd Reader); Jeremy Parkin (Supervisor); Darsha Hewitt (Committee member - Concordia Special Individualized Program)
Student involvement in my research activities: C. Lewis, A. Loader, D. Madden, D. Paquette, R. Nuseir and S. Thulin either have or are continuing to work with me as M.A. or Ph.D research assistants.
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