Remai Modern to host installation, performance by Ellen Moffat
For immediate release — November 2, 2018
Saskatoon, Canada — On November 2, Remai Modern will debut a new work by sound installation artist Ellen Moffat. A Little Piece of String is the newest configuration in her series Small Sonorities.
In the work, Moffat uses fluctuating frequencies of shifting amplitude to vibrate objects and interfaces, creating sounds ranging from near silence to noise. The performative sound installation creates an ever-changing composition that explores the spatial and conceptual potentials of sound.
“Ellen’s sustained exploration of technology and sound has long been significant to the Saskatchewan art community and beyond,” said Troy Gronsdahl, Associate Curator (Live Programs) at Remai Modern. “She is driven by curiosity, crossing disciplines to create works that are open and poetic.”
Moffat’s work with sound is rooted in vocabulary of sculpture, its materiality, its use of space and how it affects the body. Her practice includes solo, collaborative and interdisciplinary projects, multi-channel sound installations, electroacoustic instruments and performance. Moffat — who lived in Saskatchewan for 25 years — has presented her work in national and international exhibitions and at live events.
Moffat uses sound and performance to disrupt “a stable and predictable social space” and to reconfigure meaning through composition in a spontaneous and playful manner.
In addition to her exhibition at Remai Modern, Moffat will also perform with frequent collaborator Jeff Morton as part of the museum’s monthly Turn Out series. Morton is a composer, musician and media artist whose projects are playful, experimental explorations of sound, sound-making, communication, and compositional processes.
The sound installation will take on new possibilities when the two artists perform it. Using modified objects and instruments, Moffat and Morton will respond to the installation in a live performance that can only be experienced once. The event, which takes place on Friday, November 2 at 8 PM, is free with general admission or museum membership.
Small Sonorites: A Little Piece of String — curated by Gronsdahl — runs from November 2, 2018 to January 6, 2019 in the Connect Gallery on Level 1. Programming in the Connect Gallery is free to the public thanks to the generous support of TD Bank Group.
About Ellen Moffat
Ellen Moffat (b. Toronto, 1954) is a sound installation artist currently pursuing a PhD in Visual Arts (Studio) at Western University in London, ON. She has lived and worked across Canada, including several locations throughout Saskatchewan. Moffat holds degrees from the University of Toronto, Concordia University and the University of Regina and is recipient of a Joseph Bombardier SSHRC Award.
Moffat’s work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions in galleries, off-site venues and as public art. Exhibitions include: in attendance, Forest City Gallery (2018); Transformables V, Latitude 53 (2018); VibraFusionLab tour, southwestern Ontario (2017-2019); Discs, Galerie Schleimuhlgasse, Vienna (2017); rhubarb, rhubarb, peas and carrots, Regina (2015); Playing with Gertrude, Toronto (2015); pingtingtootle, CAFKA (2013); Place Markers: Mapping Locations and Placing Boundaries, Halifax (2012); Marking Space, Brooklyn (2011); Seasonal Waves, Calgary (2011-2012); Night Trains, Tel Aviv (2008); COMP OSE, Toronto, Chatham, and Saskatoon (2008-09).
About Remai Modern
Remai Modern is a new museum of modern and contemporary art in Saskatoon. It aims to be a vibrant, imaginative and prescient museum committed to affirming the powerful role that art and artists play in questioning, interpreting and defining the modern era. Remai Modern is home to the world’s foremost collection of Picasso linocut prints, and aspires to be a leading centre for contemporary Indigenous art programming.
For additional information contact:
Stephanie McKay, Communications Manager
306.975.2242
“