EIM 2019 / STEVE HEIMBECKER / PSI - AUGMENTED SOUND PATHS / SCAMP

Opening reception : Saturday, July 27, 2019

SCAMP (2019) – Interactive sound trail

Scamp was my dog.
She loved to run.
When I ran, she ran.
When I walked, she walked.
When I stopped, she stopped.
She was a good dog.

She loved to play.
She loved to be outside.
She loved to walk by the lake.
She would listen to the sounds of nature.

Would you like to walk with Scamp around the Lake of Nations?
She would be happy to accompany you!

SCAMP, as the artist calls it – like the lyrics of a song whose music you have to imagine – is a sound work that is also an invitation to walk. Like a canine companion that directs and follows us at the same time, the sound path created by Steve Heimbecker modulates itself on our rhythm and speed of walking, running or cycling. Depending on the velocity of our passage around the Lac des Nations, the sound piece adapts and follows our pace like the playback needle on a vinyl record – in fact, we are the playback head itself. This relativity allows us to experience the work in multiple ways: each route generates a different piece, if only because of the specific walking speed of each. Accelerating, slowing down or reversing according to our speed and direction around the park, the sound creation unfolds in accordance with our movement. Thus, we become in a way co-creators of the work, of which we are also the sole listener, as long as Scamp accompanies us.

PSI – Augmented Sound Paths

For the 5th edition of EIM 2019, two artists have been invited to create interactive sound trails. These are audio experiences anchored in the real world. Tools from video games – Unity and Wwise – have been used to create a virtual world parallel to ours in which the artists have composed, arranged and installed sound sources that react to the actions and movement of the walker. The walker installs a mobile application on his “smart” phone (Android or iPhone) that mainly uses geolocation, as well as some sensors native to this type of device, to explore and interact with the different rooms.
In resonance with our ultra-connected realities, this series of sound journeys proposes three experiences that each reflect a different perspective on the notions of presence, space-time and connectivity. Wherever we are physically, aren’t we also always somewhere else – be it by thought alone or through our multiple digital presences? What imprints – real and virtual – does our presence in the world leave? By what subterranean mechanics do our slightest gestures and movements inscribe the wakes of reality?
It is by relying on the notion of “monitoring” exercised by our devices, which capture at all times our locations, our speed, the recurrence of our journeys, the places we visit and even our unique wandering identities, and the issues raised by these problems, that the artists have been invited to create these sound journeys.

Google Play version / EIM Sound routes:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Sporobole.IMMediaParcoursSonore
App Store / EIM version Sound Tours :

https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/eim-parcours-sonores/id1470674979

The mobile application, as well as headphones, are required to experience the sound trails.
The application must be downloaded via WIFI before arriving at the sites — please note that open WIFI access is available at Sporobole.

Myriam Bleau (QC-CA) – Silent Fictions (2019) – Sporobole; parking on Wellington; Strathcona Park; up the hill towards Rue du Palais; behind St. Michael’s Cathedral

Steve Heimbecker (QC-CA) – SCAMP (2019) – Lac des Nations; parking is at the Marché de la Gare de Sherbrooke on Place de la Gare. To listen with SCAMP you can follow the Lac des Nations trail by walking, running or biking!