The Idea of North

The Idea of North was a three-part exhibition of contemporary audio art from Canada, Iceland, Norway and Sweden addressing the concept of the locality of sound. The result of a collaboration between Canadian, Icelandic and Norwegian curators, the exhibition was held in three different configurations in galleries in Moss, Norway (May-August 2005), Reykjavik, Iceland (June-July 2005), and Halifax, Nova Scotia (January-February 2006). The grant from the Canada Council for the Arts  was obtained to assist with the Halifax presentation, which was the largest and most complex of the three.

 The multi-venue exhibition in Halifax was curated by Rhonda Corvese and organized by a consortium of three public galleries — Dalhousie Art  Gallery (DAG), Eyelevel Gallery (ELG) and Saint Mary's University Art Gallery (SMU) — with the co-operation of Anna Leonowens Gallery (for Christof Migone's performance), the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (for Eleanor King and Stephen Kelly's Soundroam guided tour), CKDU radio  (which assisted with Dana Samuel's radio work) and the Centre for Art Tapes (which sponsored Maia Urstad's international residency). The exhibition included the following artists:

 At DAG: Marla Hlady, Kristín Björk Kristjánsdóttir, Dana Samuel, Jana  Winderen

At SMU: Jean-Pierre Gauthier, Ásdís Sif Gunnarsdóttir & Ragnar Kjartansson, Sirra Sigrun Sigurdardóttir & Erling T.V. Klingenberg, Maia Urstad

At ELG: Steven Cuzner, Eleanor King & Stephen Kelly, Christof Migone, Tasman Richardson, Liv Strand

In accordance with the exhibition thesis, a wide range of site-specificand itinerant sound works were presented, including a recording of the initial reference — Glen Gould's multi-voice, multi-layered radio program "The Idea of North," which was available (with permission) on headphones at DAG.  Intriguing and often playful, the audio works ranged from large complex computer-conrolled installations to simple sound emitting objects; also included were radio broadcasts, live  performances, video projections and "tour guide" MP3 players with headsets.

 The exhibition involved venues throughout the downtown core, encouraging audiences to explore the soundscape of the winter-bound city as they travelled from one site to the next. The three participating galleries held opening receptions on successive evenings that included introductory remarks by the curator, Migone's performance and the launch of King & Kelly's Soundroam. The 16 exhibiting artists  and three curators were billeted in homes downtown and they attended the openings and other events during the first week of the exhibition, including participating in a lively panel discussion (called Making

Sounds and held at SMU) that reviewed the current state of international sound art. In the weeks that followed there were other associated events, such as Maia Urstad's artist's talk (at SMU), and King & Kelly's artists' presentation and the film series Northern Lights (both at DAG), as well as public guided tours and school tours. The exhibitions were attended by a high volume of visitors and received exceptionally extensive coverage by the regional, national and international media.