Killing Me Softly with Birdsong

source: vimeo

Mike Hansen bio

I hold an MFA based in installation and sculpture from Toronto’s York University. I presently teach at The University of Ontario Institute of Technology. I have exhibited extensively in Canada and abroad for the past 25 years.
My art practice is focused on eliminating the interstice between viewer and the artwork. I use noise as a catalyst to bring both participant and artwork together. My current research explores the sub or unconscious sounds produced by the beholder thus bringing them to the forefront thus creating an experience in which the spectator is asking where the noise is coming from. In other words the creation of acousmatic sounds culminating in creating wonder through the sounds being heard. I transcribe the sounds into forms of aural architecture or resonant environments. Improvisation through electric means plays a large role in both my visual art and music practices.
I’m a longtime member of Toronto’s improvising community. My music works could be categorized as electro-acoustic improvisation. The primary focus of my music practice has been the interpretation of modernist and contemporary graphic scores. I believe the graphic score is a hub of improvisation while allowing for a shared experience between composer, performer and beholder.
For twenty-two years, I programmed as well as hosted a community radio program, ‘Why Not Jazz’, focused on improvised jazz and experimental music. At present I’m an interviewer, researcher and host a cable television program, ‘Art Sync’ that examines Toronto’s contemporary visual art scene.
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source: vimeo

Killing Me Softly with Bird Song – The Noise Project #9 The Free for All

noise, experimental, art, soundart

By my home is a large tree where deep in its foliage large habitats of birds reside. Every morning just before the sun rises these songbirds begin to sing. It starts slow and singular. The sounds start to increase as the conversations progress. Is it just conversation and how much of the community is involved? As the sun starts to crest the horizon, the song moves to cacophony. I drift in and out of consciousness as light starts to pierce my blinds the open window challenges my sleep. The songs change from a choir to chaos. A good chaos, nature’s calamity. Then the alarm goes off the birds seem to stop and my day begins.