Owen Chapman
Assistant Professor
BA, Contemporary Studies/Philosophy, University of King’s College
MA, Philosophy, Queen’s University
PhD, Communications, Concordia Univerisity
Owen Chapman is an audio artist whose work involves sample-based music, video projection, contact microphones and old electronic instruments. He is co-director of the Montreal wing of the Mobile Media Lab, located in the Communication Studies department at Concordia University, where he is also an Assistant Professor in Sound Production and Scholarship (hired in 2007). His written works, incorporating embedded media whenever possible, have appeared in such publications as Organised Sound, M/C Journal, Esse and The Canadian Journal of Communication. His creative work has been commissioned internationally for radio, video, contemporary dance, solo performance and site-specific installation. His research and production projects have been funded by the Canada Council, the Quebec Fonds de recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC), and most recently through the SSHRC Insight Development Program for his team-based research-creation initiative “Audio-Mobile”, focused on the potential of mobile media devices for audio field recording, remixing and networked sound mapping. Chapman’s PhD dissertation was the first research-creation project to be successfully defended in his domain in Canada (2007) and was completed through Concordia, UQAM and UdM’s Joint PhD Program in Communication. Other research topics include methodologies of research-creation, early electronic musical instruments such as “Les Ondes Martenot” and the Hammond “Novachord”, as well as the intersection of audio art with contemporary electronic sound performance practices.
ONGOING RESEARCH PROJECTS:
Audio-Mobile – a SSHRC funded project developing an audio field recording app for the iPhone and related soundmaps of a collection of ecoterritories on the island of Montreal. Website and link to app store coming by the end of the summer, 2012.
Echoscape – an FQRSC funded research-creation that builds on the Audio-Mobile database to construct 3d visualization of the places and sounds recorded through the app.
From Audion Tubes to ‘The Girl Who Never Finished Her Music Lessons’: a genealogical history of the Theremin, Ondes Martenot and Hammond Organ (http://collectingdust.org — under construction)
This research-creation project is focused on the interlinked histories of three early electronic musical instruments: the Theremin, Ondes Martenot and Hammond Organ–invented in 1919, 1928 and 1935, respectively. Contemporary electronic sound production owes much to these historically-significant, but understudied technologies. “Obsolete” by digital standards, they are still used around the world in many different contexts. Little scholarly work has been published about each instrument individually and nothing exists that discusses them together. The initiative employs archival and interview-based research. We are also seeking-out, playing and recording examples of our key instruments. These recordings are subsequently being used as source material for studio-based audio compositions that reflexively engage this research with our own production practices as sound artists. This work is funded by the Concordia Faculty of Arts and Science and the FQRSC’s Programme d’établissement de nouveaux professeurs-chercheurs-créateurs.
The Icebreaker (http://icebreaker.opositive.ca) – website currently down due to a hacking attack! –to be updated by the end of the summer, 2012
“The Icebreaker” is a new musical instrument, sound installation and performance piece derived from frozen water. Its most notable feature is the incorporation of small microphones into pieces of ice–allowing for the broadcast of a broad palette of sounds derived from this unstable medium. These range from clicks and tones created through tapping the instrument’s various surfaces, to subtle drips as the ice begins to melt. Different sizes of ice are used, as well as different objects with which to strike the ice, resulting in a sophisticated percussive instrument. The frozen microphones are also sensitive to static charges delivered through touching the ice with skin or metal. Elements of “The Icebreaker” are modular and easily located in close proximity and/or at a distance from one another, allowing for different possibilities in terms of how the installation inhabits material and sonic architectures. This work is funded by the Canada Council and the Concordia Faculty of Arts and Science.
RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS
Journal Articles
R• Chapman, Owen, and Kim Sawchuk. 2012. “Research-Creation: Intervention, Analysis and ‘Family Resemblances’.” Canadian Journal Of Communication, 37 (1): 5–26 (lead article in special issue entitled “Media Arts Revisited”).
R• Chapman, Owen. 2012. “I Am Walking in a Room: Audio Art and Revealing.” Esse (74 – Reskilling) (January): 62–67. (An audio composition was created as part of this article – available at http://oboro.net/chapman)
R• Chapman, Owen. “The Elusive Allure of ‘Aura’: Sample-based Music and Benjamin’s Practice of Quotation”. Canadian Journal of Communication, Vol. 36, #2 (2011), pp. 243-261. 

R• Chapman, Owen. “The Icebreaker: Soundscape works as everyday sound art.” Organised Sound, Vol. 14, #1 (2009), pp. 83-88.
R• Chapman, Owen. “Radio Activity: Articulating the Theremin, Ondes Martenot and Hammond Organ.” Wi: Journal of Mobile Media, Spring (2009). http://wi.hexagram.ca/?p=44
R• Chapman, Owen. “The Affect of Selection in Digital Sound Art.” M/C Journal, Vol. 8, #3 (2005). http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0507/03-chapman.php
R• Chapman, Owen. “Mixing With Records,” M/C Journal, 4.2 (2001). http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0104/records.php
Published Interviews (as Interviewer)
• Chapman, Owen. “‘On n’est pas conditionné à voir quelqu’un qui frotte ou gratte une boîte de métal, tu sais?’: A Conversation with Magali Babin.” No More Potlucks (21) (May 2012) http://nomorepotlucks.org/site/on-nest-pas-conditionne-a-voir-quelquun-qui-frotte-ou-gratte-une-boite-de-metal-tu-sais-a-conversation-with-magali-babin-owen-chapman – 3000 words.
• Chapman, Owen. “‘Not All Audio Art is Good, Obviously…’: A Conversation with Nimalan Yoganathan.” No More Potlucks (20) (March 2012) http://nomorepotlucks.org/site/not-all-audio-art-is-good-obviously – 3000 words.
• Chapman, Owen. “‘Whether that’s audio art or sound art, honestly I would say I couldn’t care less.’: A conversation with Nancy Tobin.” No More Potlucks (19) (January 2012) http://nomorepotlucks.org/site/conversation-with-nancy-tobin – 3000 words with MP3 excerpt of interview.
Published Interviews (as Interviewee)
• regarding “The Icebreaker” performance presented at the Concordia FOFA gallery as part of the 2010 Congress of the Humanities, video interview available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_-qkor14Cc&feature=player_embedded also available at http://www.concordia.ca/congress2010/videos.php
• “Input: Surveillance, Security and the End of Privacy”, regarding the Concordia President’s Conference Series, Nov 12th 2009, Vol. 5, No. 6, http://cjournal.concordia.ca/archives/20091112/input_surveillance_security_and_the_end_of_privacy.php
• “A Different Kind of Lens”, regarding “Bluetooth Beats” and other Montreal Mobile Media Lab projects, Concordia Journal, Oct 29th 2009, Vol. 5, No. 5, http://cjournal.concordia.ca/archives/20091029/a_different_kind_of_lens_vicon.php?&print=1
Editorials
• “Active Radio” Wi: Journal of Mobile Media, Spring (2009). http://wi.hexagram.ca/?p=44
Editorships
• Guest editor, Special Edition on “Mobile Soundscapes” Wi: Journal of Mobile Media, Spring (2012 – in process)
• Guest editor, Special Edition on “Active Radio” Wi: Journal of Mobile Media, Spring (2009)
Selected Conference Presentations (involving a peer reviewed abstract submission process):
• “Eco-territories, Soundmapping and Cellphones: Audio-Mobile Regina/Montreal”, Sounding the Nation? Diaspora, Indigeneity, and Multiculturalism: IASPM-Canada Annual Conference, June 14 – 17 2012 (accepted for presentation)
• “Audio-Mobile: Eco-territories, cell phones, and locative media”, Local and Mobile conference 2012 (3rd joint conference of the Cosmobilities Network and the Pan-American mobilities network and 3rd CRDM Annual Research Symposium), Raleigh, NC, March 17 2012
• “Audio-Mobile: Understanding Eco-territories through Mobile Technologies”, Canadian Association of Cultural Studies Biennial Conference, Montreal, Nov 5th 2011
• with Rae Staseson, “Videoscapes, Soundtracking and the Synaesthesia of Collaborative Media Performance”, Music and Environment: Place, Context, Conjuncture: IASPM-Canada Annual Conference, Montreal, June 16th 2011
• “Audio-Mobile: Fredericton.” Canadian Communication Association Annual Conference, Fredericton, June 1st 2011
• “‘Bluetooth Beats’ and the Infrastructures of Mobile Music Making.” Spaces of Violence, Sites of Resistance: Music, Media and Performance: IASPM-Canada Annual Conference, Regina, June 4th 2010
• “Methodologies of Research-Creation: Proposals for different criteria, practices and results.” Canadian Communication Association Annual Conference, Montreal, June 2nd 2010
• “Bluetooth Beats: File Sharing and Interactive Mobile Music Making.” Cultures of Movement: Mobile Subjects, Communities, and Technologies in the Americas, Victoria BC, April 10th, 2010
• “Sampling, Remix and Improvisation with Records, or ‘How the Turntable Taught Me to Play the Drums.” Lex Non Scripta, Ars Non Scripta: Law, Justice & Improvisation Conference, Montreal, June 20th, 2009
Selected Invited Scholarly Presentations:
• “Une brève histoire de l’art sonore.” Presented to secondary students in Dominique Pissard’s “Art et multimédia” class at Collège Charles Lemoyne, (Longueuil, Québec) March 26th 2012.
• “Audio-Mobile: Soundmapping Ecoterritories.” Presented to students in
• “Cell Phones, Field Recording and Mobile Sound Production.” Mobile Phone Audio Field Recording Workshop. IMP Labs, University of Regina, hosted by Charity Marsh, March 6th 2012
• “Audio-Mobile: Field Recording and Remixing with Mobile Technologies”. Mobile Sound Recording Workshop. Oboro New Media Centre (Montreal), Feb 18th 2012
• “The Evolution of Mash-up Culture.” Presented to attendees of the TEDx Concordia event (Montreal) Feb 19th 2011. http://tedxconcordia.com/talks/owen-chapman/
• “Sampling-as-quotation: Mash-ups, Sample-based Music and Fair Dealing.” Presented to students and faculty in the Department of Law, McGill University, as part of the Rethinking Intellectual Property Policy club lecture series for 2010-2011. Nov 15th, 2010.
• “The Icebreaker: Synthesis, Sampling and Sound Art–Artist Talk with Live Performance.” Presented to students and faculty in the Faculty of Creative Multimedia, Multimedia University, Cyberjaya, Malaysia, Feb 23rd 2010.
• “Bluetooth Beats” — Commissioned by Concordia Vice Provost Ollivier Dyens for the President’s Conference Series event at Concordia entitled Every Breath You Take: Surveillance, Security and the End of Privacy (Nov 4th, 2009). This is an interactive audio composition enabled through Bluetooth file-sharing and cell phones.
• Keynote presenter with Anna Friz, “Anna and Owen’s Transmission Re-pair,” – a performance based in remixing, sample exchange, live sampling, and improvisation. Presented at the workshop Copyright’s Counterparts hosted by Queen’s University, Aug 7, 2008.
• Work in Progress Presentation: “The Icebreaker: A new audio art performance piece and installation.” Espace Art&D, an associated wing of the Société des arts technologiques (S.A.T.), March 20th, 2008. I was invited by Erin Manning and Brian Massumi, directors of the Montreal-based group “The Senselab” (http://senselab.org).
Creative Works:
Media Works Linked to Written Publications
• I am Walking in a Room – 5m53s, and I am Playing Piano in a Room 14m51s (audio pieces) – http://oboro.net/chapman . These pieces were published online by Oboro in parallel with the Jan 2012 launch of Issue 74 of Esse (http://www.esse.ca). The composition of these pieces was an integral part of the research process for writing the Esse essay.
R • Frozen Puddle – 2m36s (video), The Ice Xylophone (video) – 3m07s and Improvisation with Ice Xylophone, Ondes Martenot, Laptop and Guitar – 7m35s (audio piece – with S. Binet-Audet, K. Audet and D. Madden). These three pieces were included on a DVD accompanying Organised Sound, Vol. 14, #3 (2009). They are linked to the essay I published in Organised Sound, Vol. 14, #1.
Audio-Cds
• Calling the Voice-O-Graph, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License Owen Chapman, 2009. A self-released full-length audio-CD of recent material available for free download through http://callingthevoiceograph.net and http://soundcloud.com/owenchapman/sets .
• “Selected Sounds: A collective investigation into the practice of sample-based music” © Chapman, Friz, Gallant, Houde, Morris, Moscos, Williams, 2007. A collaborative full-length audio CD compiling 7 tracks composed from the same 7 samples, but by different artists. The CD is an integral component of my PhD dissertation. NB—100 copies of this CD were commissioned for a limited edition version of Pivot: An interdisciplinary graduate journal of visual culture, Vol. 1, #1 (2007). Available for free download through http://soundcloud.com/owenchapman/sets .
• [and he flew toward it], Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License Owen Chapman, Squeezebox Records, 2006. A self-released full-length audio-CD of material commissioned for contemporary dance. Available for free download through http://soundcloud.com/owenchapman/sets .
Soundtracks and Audio Works (since 2008)
2011
• “Electricity (Jazzfest Remix)” — Commissioned by Clara Furey for her show at the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal, June 27-28th 2011, in which I also performed live (see “Selected Performances below).
2010
• “Electricity (Quat-Sous Remix)” — Commissioned by Clara Furey for her show at Theatre Quat-Sous (Montreal), Oct 21-25th, 2010 (see “Selected Performances” below)
• “Conversation with a Sunflower (version KL)” — collaboration with video artist Rae Staseson. I performed a live original composition with her video at various locations during 2010, including the Faculty of Creative Multimedia, Multimedia University, Cyber Jaya, Malaysia (Feb 24th 2010) and the Casa Del Popolo (Montreal – March 28th, 2010).
• “Snow Walk to Hill (Icebreaker Remix)” — collaboration with video artist Rae Staseson. I performed a live original composition with her video at various locations during 2010, including the Faculty of Creative Multimedia, Multimedia University, Cyber Jaya, Malaysia (Feb 23rd 2010), the Casa Del Popolo (Montreal – March 28th, 2010) and the Concordia FOFA Gallery (May 31st, 2010).
2009
• “Bluetooth Beats” — Commissioned by Concordia Vice Provost Ollivier Dyens for the President’s Conference Series event at Concordia entitled Every Breath You Take: Surveillance, Security and the End of Privacy (Nov 4th, 2009). This is an interactive audio composition enabled through Bluetooth file sharing and cell phones.
• “Out My Window” and “Everyday Law” (25 mins) — Commissioned by Canada Research Chair in Law and Discourse, Desmond Manderson, McGill University, Faculty of Law. These pieces were composed as soundtracks to two image and text-based videos prepared by Desmond Manderson, Helge Dedek, Tina Piper, and Kirsten Anker and entitled “Through the Looking Glass: Art as the Mirror of Law”. Presented at the Bravo McGill 2009 Showcase, Feb 10th and 11th, 2009.
2008
• “Sublimation,” and “The Ice Field,” © Chapman 2008 (15 mins) – Commissioned by choreographer George Stamos for a contemporary dance performance at in Montreal at L’Agora de la dance, Oct 15-18 2008. The title of this work is “Reservoir/Pneumatic” and features these new pieces, along with a selection of pieces commissioned by Stamos since 2006. I am the main composer for this dance work, in collaboration with Jackie Gallant. I also perform the works live during the 60 minute performance, along with additions from Gallant.
• “Steamboat Mickey © Chapman 2008 (5 mins) — Commissioned by Dr. Matt Soar as an original soundtrack to a 50-person “rotoscoping” project, wherein Walt Disney’s “Steamboat Willie” cartoon was re-sketched frame by frame, with the new soundtrack in place of the old. Part of the “Open Source Cinema Project”. http://blip.tv/basement-tapes-open-source-cinema/steamboat-mickey-864628
Selected Performances (since 2008)
2012
• “Ace Tone vs Thereminvox)”. Audio Art Performance to be given as part of the monthly “24 Gauche” Sound Art Series, at Espace Project, Montreal, scheduled for May 23rd 2012.
2011
• as DJ Opositive, Canadian Association of Cultural Studies Biennial Conference – ‘Cultural Study This!’ Cabaret, Salla Rossa, Montreal, Nov 5th 2011.
• with Clara Furey at the Musée D’Art Contemporain (MAC) as part of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, June 27-28, 2011. This was a rearranged version of our Oct 2010 performance (see below).
• “The Icebreaker”. Audio Art performance using ice, contact microphones, audio signal processing and video projection (25 mins). Shown as part of the “Performance Mix Festival”, April 26th 2011, at Dixon Place, NYC. I am the artistic director and main interpreter of this piece, which includes contributions from Yvan Cazabon, Rae Staseson, George Stamos, Anna Friz, Tara Rodgers, Michel Duvernet and Sam Thulin. Research for the Icebreaker was supported by the Canada Council. The “Performance Mix Festival” performance was supported by a Canada Council travel grant.
2010
• “Carte-Blanche à Clara Furey”, at the Theatre Quat-Sous (Montreal) Oct 21-25th, 2010. A 1.5 hour presentation of original works by Clara Furey, Tomas Furey and myself, arranged collaboratively. 
• “The Icebreaker – performative lecture”, May 31st, 2010 (60 mins). Shown as part of the Concordia University, Faculty of Fine Arts (FOFA) Gallery series “Connected Understanding” during the 2010 Congress of the Humanities.
• solo performance for keyboard, drum machines and voice at the Casa Del Popolo (Montreal), March 28th, 2010.
2009
• solo performance for keyboard, turntable, drums and voice during the CD release party for Calling the Voice-O-Graph, at the Casa Del Popolo (Montreal), Oct 28th, 2009.
• with Clara Furey, “The Icebreaker”, Jan 24th, 2009 (20 mins). Shown as part of Studio 303′s Verni 142 “Ground” event (Montreal).
2008
• with Will Straw, a combined DJ set and lecture on “lost media”–presented at Blizzarts (Montreal) on Dec 1st 2008 as part of the monthly “Mess” event hosted by indyish.com.
• as DJ/Musician/Composer/Performer in “Reservoir/Pneumatic” (sextet, 60 min version), a contemporary dance piece choreographed by George Stamos. Shown at Montreal’s L’Agora de La Dance from Oct 15th-18th 2008 and also at the Toronto “Dancemakers” festival, Sept. 25-27 2008. “Reservoir/Pneumatic” was slated for a reprise at L’Agora due to popular demand from Feb. 19th-21st 2009, but was cancelled on opening night due to a sudden illness on the part of another performer.
Works Used by Other Media Artists
• “Hear the Wind” (from my Calling the Voice-O-Graph CD) was used by Alison Loader as the soundtrack to her piece Squash and Stretch: The Secret Life of Zucchinis (5 mins), involving time-lapse recording and microscopic animation. Can be viewed at http://vimeo.com/11916421 and http://vimeo.com/11913842. Juried Screenings: Planet in Focus International Environmental Film Festival, Oct 13-17 2010, Toronto (Festival Screening) http://planetinfocus.bside.com/2010/films/squashandstretchthesecretlifeofzucchinis_alisonloader_planetinfocus2010; Visualeyez 2010, Sept 15-21 2010, Latitude 53 gallery, Edmonton (part of installation: Culinary Cultures in the Kinder/Garden) http://www.visualeyez.org
• “Everyday Law,” “Jojomash,” “Hipnosis” “Out My Window” and “Big Liquid Tic Tac Chair” (from my Calling the Voice-O-Graph CD) were all used by Choreographer George Stamos for a new piece in development entitled Dysmorphic Delicious. The piece was performed as a work in progress by dancer Johanna Bienaise in the Piscine Theatre space (part of L’Agora de la Dance), Montreal on April 16th 2010 and Cité Danse, Grenoble (France) on July 1st 2010. Shown in the Art Department of the Universidad Fédéral do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in Porto Alegre (Brazil) on March 25th 2011.
• “Trut” and “For Nawaf”, two tracks featured on my 2006 release [and he flew toward it] appear in a documentary video entitled “Water Walkers”, produced by Liz Miller, edited by Laura Cohen, and submitted to the NFB Citizenshift initiative in Feb 2007 (http://citizen.nfb.ca).
Curated Works
• “Out My Window” and “Everyday Law” (11 mins total)–part of the Mobile Media Gallery’s “Discoverable” and “Media Hot and Cold” campaigns, Oct 26 and 27 2009 at various locations at Concordia University (Montreal) and in the Faculty of Creative Multimedia, Multimedia University, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia from Feb 21-23rd 2010. Curator: Kim Sawchuk.
Residencies:
• “Writing Audio Art” residency at Oboro Artist Centre (Montreal), July and Aug 2011. This involved listening to audio art projects in the Oboro archives and interviewing local sound artists in the preparation of a short text on Audio-Art to be published in Issue 74 of ESSE (Jan 2012).
• L’Agora de la Dance (Montreal), July-Aug 2008. For the research/creation of contemporary dance piece “Pneumatic”, choreographed by George Stamos (see “Performances” section above).
• Espace Art&D, an associated wing of the Société des arts technologiques (S.A.T.), (Montreal), March 9-15th, 2008. For the research/creation of a sound installation/series of performance pieces entitled the Icebreaker. I am the artistic director for this Canada Council funded project.
Languages:
Fluently Bilingual: English, French
Last update: May 10, 2012 – 21:39
