Transgressive Sounds and Atmospheres

As a unique research-creation, curatorial research project, Transgressive Sounds and Atmospheres seeks to explore ambiance, atmospheres and the transgressive nature of soundscapes in conversation with local musicians, sound artists and composers.

Located at 4TH SPACE on Concordia University Campus, this inaugural event will consist of a short electro-acoustic musical/sonic performance and public conversation with musicians and composers, Chantale Laplante and Hubert Gendron-Blais. We will talk about the role of atmospheres in their work, their process in constructing atmospheres and the politico-aesthetic repercussions of thinking about music and soundscapes through conceptions of atmospheres.

This event is sponsored by The Sensing Atmospheres Working group and supported by Concordia Aid to Research Related Events, CISSC, Matralab, and Humanites Juridique.

Musician biographies

Hubert Gendron-Blais is an author, musician, activist and researcher working at the confluence of philosophy, music and politics, straining to hear to social and aesthetic movements with a particular attention to the concepts of affect and community: the vibrant materiality of sound; a sonic topology of politics, the affective resonance of collective assemblages. Amongst many other projects, he is leader of the group, Devenir-ensemble, which performs movements of Résonances manifestes, a comprovised piece based on a sound score composed of field recordings from various demonstrations that shook the streets of Montreal in the past years.

Chantale Laplante's artistic practice resembles a long exploration of different genres involving instrumental, mixed, electroacoustic music and improvisation with a computer. It is in the context of her studies in Études et pratiques des arts at UQAM (PhD 2021) that she began a new reflection on listening conditions. Placing the body of the listener at the center of her devices, she seeks to offer a sensitive experience where the work continues its march, in a sound space anchored in the atmosphere of the place.