2020 Season
2020 was Constellations’ most ambitious season to date, and featured work from over twenty artists, mostly made for our podcast feed. We held an open call for submissions in early 2020, before the pandemic struck, and were shocked at how many applications we received.
We worked with our 2020 programming committee (Aliya Pabani, Matthew Kariatsumari, Miyuki Jokiranta, Michelle Macklem, Jess Shane, and early on in the process, Dennis Funk) to curate a season that relied on the intersections of ideas we observed in the submissions.
Launching with our cassette project Feel the Sky, where artists Myra Al-Rahim and Jaye Kranz both responded to a field recording from the 1990s, this season was all about playing with our pre established format. The predominant new element of this season was gathering multiple works together in single episodes. In episodes like Missed Connections and Inner Geographies, and Extraction, the pieces trip over each other, harmonize, and build upon each other, either or both thematically and structurally. Others, like the Lonely Artifacts series, Voicing, and Accumulation Over Time, were released in multiple parts and designed to be listened to in multichannel or iterative set-ups.
Extraction
Sophia Steinert-Evoy, Sarah Boothroyd
November 13, 2020
Energy usage and sound are two omnipresent components of our daily life. We're constantly trying... Energy usage and sound are two omnipresent components of our daily life. We're constantly trying to weigh our own wants and complications against individual sacrifices and the perceived "difference" our actions can make. And of course, as with much of existence, many things can be true at once.
Semiotic Shift
John Hill, Bartosz Panek
November 3, 2020
Language is inextricably linked to land. In this episode, we explore how the shifts in the... Language is inextricably linked to land. In this episode, we explore how the shifts in the landscape have impacted language across generations and cultures.
Archive
Erica Huang, Jenn Stanley
October 9, 2020
The act of recording has impacted how we perceive and understand time. Recording’s byproduct,... The act of recording has impacted how we perceive and understand time. Recording’s byproduct, whether by sound, video, photo etc, is an archive of the past, a moment of space and time captured and archived.
Voicing
Mara Schwerdtfeger
September 18, 2020
This piece is an interweaving abstract conversation exploring the concept of voice through a... This piece is an interweaving abstract conversation exploring the concept of voice through a series of four sound elements. The deconstructable nature of the piece allows for multiple forms of expression to be heard both as individual voices and together as an active cohesion of sound.
Inner Geographies
Axel Kacoutié, Kamikaze Jones
September 11, 2020
This episode we map ourselves from the outside in. Relax your need to understand everything and... This episode we map ourselves from the outside in. Relax your need to understand everything and listen to yourself, your body, loosen the need to analyze.
Basic Ingredients
Clare Dolan, Nishant Singh, Kim Hiorthøy
August 28, 2020
What do eyes sound like? Does a spider’s abdomen sound furry or crunchy? How much sameness do I... What do eyes sound like? Does a spider’s abdomen sound furry or crunchy? How much sameness do I share with a cardinal? A mouse? Or the mold in the corners of my bathroom?... I should clean my bathroom? In BASIC INGREDIENTS we’re into objects - both seemingly inanimate and living - to reconsider our relationship to the spaces that surround us.
Missed Connections
Natalie Kestecher, Mike Williams, Yardain Amron
August 14, 2020
Do you ever feel like you’re not quite getting it? We live in a time of missed connections... Do you ever feel like you’re not quite getting it? We live in a time of missed connections expressed through misunderstandings, dropped calls and glitches. In this episode of Constellations, sit with us in an attempt to express the inexpressible. Oh, and a quack or two.
Accumulation Over Time
Adriene Lilly
August 7, 2020
"I want to talk about how the accumulation of things — books or bottles or whatever - is... "I want to talk about how the accumulation of things — books or bottles or whatever - is overwhelming on different scales. Overwhelming to the environment, overwhelming to the individual home, or overwhelming to the body."
Lonely Artefacts
Sisters Akousmatica
July 10, 2020
Lonely Artefacts is a podcast series about regional Australian museums by Sisters Akousmatica for... Lonely Artefacts is a podcast series about regional Australian museums by Sisters Akousmatica for Constellations. This project aims to use the RSS feed as a repository for artefacts housed in folk and community museums around Australia, which are no longer subject to visitation due to Covid19.
BROOD
RUTMEAT
June 27, 2020
"I want to talk about the blockades that were in Vancouver this winter in support of Wet'suwet'en... "I want to talk about the blockades that were in Vancouver this winter in support of Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs (law and governance system that is older than what is now known as Canada). I want to talk about ongoing colonial violence, genocide and hope. About Black and Indigenous communities showing up for each other and demanding more than performative allyship from yt and POC settlers. Talk about how resource extraction always brings ripples of violence."
The Tortoise Carries its House on its Back
Arif Mirbaghi
June 12, 2020
"The tortoise, you know, carries his house on his back. No matter how hard he tries, he cannot... "The tortoise, you know, carries his house on his back. No matter how hard he tries, he cannot leave home." - The Anvār-i Suhaylī or Lights of Canopus
Feel the Sky
Bassel Al-Rahim, Jaye Kranz, Ariana Martinez
May 29, 2020
These works extend from the same starting point – a recording from 1992 made by a news reporter... These works extend from the same starting point – a recording from 1992 made by a news reporter unfamiliar with field recording, but entranced by a chance encounter with trumpeter swans on an icy lake.