One-Page Score Project: Janice Wong/Jean Routhier + Stefan Smuolovitz

One-Page Score Project w/Vancouver Electronic Ensemble

“Asobu | Wán | Play”
One-Page Score created by Janice Wong
Music composition and performance by Jean Routhier + Stefan Smulovitz

This special spring edition of Vancouver New Music’s One-Page Score Project invites workshop participants to create their own one-page graphic score, and collaborate with a member of the Vancouver Electronic Ensemble to realize their creation.

Starting on Tuesday, May 19, 2020 we’ll host the live premiere of 2 new scores weekly at noon (PDT) for 4 weeks right here on our YouTube channel. We invite you to join us live, or listen later at your leisure.

https://newmusic.org/ops-may-june-2020/
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Artist Statement – Janice Wong

I really enjoyed the opportunity to create a visual score for Vancouver New Music’s One Page Score 2020 Spring workshop. I had experienced the loss of my Mom just three months earlier, and I was seeking ways to reflect and retune, to settle and reconnect with my work. So, I welcomed the opportunity to be part of something that was both new and curious.
During the workshop, Giorgio Magnanensi showed us some fascinating examples of visual scores, in particular, introducing us to the work of Cornelius Cardew. I was reminded of drawings I made 23 years ago, and thought it would be interesting to see if I could pick up the thread of thought and feeling from that time, to see what would shift and what would remain.

So began a new series of drawings, ones that I hope reflect my present state, hopefully reflecting descriptors such as solace, light, gentle, spacious, precise, spare, distilled.

I’ve always been fascinated by the scope and potential of abstraction, especially its relationship to natural phenomenon and its affinity with music. When I’m working, I often think that the language to describe art-making is so similar to the formal language used to describe music; words like tone, balance, rhythm, counterpoint, harmony, repetition, accent. “Harmony” derives from the Greek language, from “Harmos,” that literally means “join, fitting together,” and from the noun “harmonia,” meaning “agreement, concord of sounds.” I like this idea of “fitting together,” of a set of actions and construction, all moving towards concord and visual problem-solving.

Of the 3-part title, “Asobu | Wán | Play” Asobu and Wán are Japanese and Chinese words for “play/amuse oneself.”

JANICE WONG studied Fine Art at the University of Saskatchewan, and received her BFA with Distinction, Honours Painting, from the Alberta University of the Arts. She is the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships: Canada Council Project and Travel Grants, Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant, and BC Provincial Project and Travel Awards. Her work is exhibited and collected in Canada, Europe, Asia, and the United States.

Janice’s family roots trace back through British Columbia history to the mid-1800’s. Born in Saskatchewan, she has resided in Vancouver since 1986.

www.janicewongstudio.com
Instagram: @janicewongstudio

JEAN ROUTHIER has a sound-based practice that comprises soundwalks, manipulated field recordings, acousmatic works, live performances and installations. Interested in the fleeting, the gaps and the in-betweens, the silences as well as the physical and emotional reactions to listening, Routhier’s productions challenge our common expectations of what can be musical. Selected projects include the creation of an intimate container-based performance piece entitled TheVoyage (with C.Dodge); the sound and photo installations UneSuite de Temps-Mort: Nelson_R.Y. at Open Space Gallery; soundwalks commissioned by Vancouver New Music, the musical performance (with S. Smulovitz) for the opening of the exhibition Thrift Shop Sunshine People, Interurban Gallery; the augmented soudnwalks series ‘anecdotes” for Far Afield’s Under the beating Sun exhibit at Acces gallery and the upcoming exhibition Audiosphere, in Madrid, Spain.

Award-winning technologist, composer, violist, and laptop artist STEFAN SMULOVITZ has performed with leading improvisers around the world and created more than 90 live film scores. He is one of Canada’s most in demand composers for dance and is recognized for his groundbreaking interactive work with Radix Theatre. Kenaxis — Stefan’s game-changing music software — is used by musicians around the world and his Mad Scientist Machine LED light cueing system has opened new possibilities for global collaborations. In 2015 Stefan travelled to Bhutan to collect sounds and create a score for the award-winning documentary “Power of the River”. He is enjoying sharing his knowledge by teaching sound courses at Capilano University and Simon Fraser University.
www.stefansmulovitz.ca & www.kenaxis.com