During a week in September - October 2022, David Bobier and Leslie Putnam visited Athens and TWIXTlab. During their stay, among others they met with our scientific, educational and artistic personnel and visited other cultural and research centers.
In two artist talks, 28 and 29 September, they presented their work on vibro-tactility as an expressive medium, on sonic sculpturing, and on artistic educational approaches, with a parallel interpretation in Greek Sign Language, open to the public live and on zoom. And in a masterclass (1 October) open to professionals, in TWIXTlab's project space, they exemplified devices, applications, approaches and thoughts, in a creative encounter with members of the soon-to-be the "Tangible Radio - Class on Air" working group.
David Bobier
David is a self-identified hard of hearing media artist with a mental health diagnosis, parent of two Deaf children. His work has been exhibited internationally and has been the focus of prominent touring exhibitions in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces. Bobier has received grants from Canada Council for the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Grand NCE, Ontario Arts Council and New Brunswick Arts Council.
He has partnered with Inclusive Media and Design Centre at Ryerson University, Toronto and Tactile Audio Displays Inc. in researching and employing vibrotactile technology as a creative medium. As an extension of this research Bobier has established and is Director of VibraFusionLab in London, Ontario, Canada. The Lab emphasizes a holistic approach to considering vibration as a language of creation and exploration and to investigating broader and more inclusive applications of the sensory interpretation and emotionality of sound and vibration in art making practices. Through VibraFusionLab and in his own art practice Bobier aims at creating opportunities of greater accessibility in art making, art appreciation and in viewer experiences of art practices and presentations.
Using performance and interactive installation Bobier explores the bridging of methods of communication and language and ways of interpreting or transforming one modality to another. His work is engaged in a multi-sensory approach and experimentation that allows for the transitioning and re-interpreting of content and experience from one medium to another with particular emphasis on the tactile as a form of creative expression.
https://www.vflvibrafusionlab.com/
You can view David's artist talk here:
Leslie Putnam
Leslie is a London, Ontario based artist and educator. She earned her BFA from Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec with a Major in Studio Art and Bed from Western University in London, Ontario.
Putnam’s early work included exhibitions in France, Portugal and Luxembourg. In Ontario, her work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions including Canadian Clay and Glass Museum, Electric Eclectics, Museum London, Nuit Blanche, JNAAG and Hard Twist Textile Exhibition in Toronto.
As a multi-disciplinary artist, her studio production ranges from explorations using sound within sculptural pieces to large installation works made from natural materials.
In 2010 she and David Bobier formed the o’honey collective as a platform for explorations between the natural world, and the way we have come to experience it through our own constructed realities.
Instagram: lputnaml
You can vie Leslie's artist talk here: