IMP Labs
Encyclopedia
The Interactive Media and Performance (IMP) Labs are directed by Dr. Charity Marsh, Canada Research Chair in Interactive Media and Performance in the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Regina in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.
and among wider communities of interest, particularly in Western and Northern Canada. The labs house the following:
The labs are the focal point for the ongoing projects of the CRC.
Another component of the CRC research programme is in the areas of new media, Social Network Sites (SNS) such as Facebook
and MySpace
, video games, and on-line interactive communities, including fan sites.
1200, Rane Mixers, Speakers
, Technics headphones, and Microphones, as well as a designated facilitator DJ station.
. Additionally the studio is equipped with MPC1000s and MPC2500s, and other sound production devices. The studio doubles as a smart classroom with 5.1 HD surround sound
.
, and the role of the DJ with events being held over three evenings in the fall of 2005. Last year (2008) the Flatland Scratch Series II focused primarily on hip hop culture
and the production and practices associated with the music of this genre. During the final segment of the Flatland Scratch Series II the new Interactive Media and Performance (IMP) Labs were launched at the University of Regina. As part of the celebrations Marsh introduced themes of her new research program on popular music in western and northern Canada, facilitated a roundtable discussion on hip-hop in Saskatchewan with 10 local hip-hop artists, and led tours of the new labs. The launch of the IMP Labs and the Flatland Scratch Series II concluded with performances by Saskatchewan’s hip-hop artists Eekwol and Mils with special guest Def3.
The Flatland Scratch Series III – workshops, seminars, and performances by local, national and international musicians, artists, and scholars related to the various elements of hip-hop culture (graffiti, break, rap, DJ and beat-making), current manifestations of global electronic dance music cultures (psy-trance, silent raves), technologies associated with music production and performance, and the significance of music as a contemporary storytelling practice.
and Saskatchewan In Motion. Two mornings a week, students work towards earning an Arts Education 20 credit at the Interactive Media and Performance studios at the University of Regina. Dr. Charity Marsh facilitates sessions with local Hip Hop DJs
, graffiti artists
, MCs
, and B-Boys and B-Girls. In one of the studios outfitted with turntables, students learn the art of scratch. In the other studio, students learn how to use the MPC beat machine and computer software (Audible Live) to make music.. When not in the classroom, students are doing activities around the six strands of English Language Arts that relate to Hip Hop. They are reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing and representing Hip Hop culture. The students kept [a blog http://scott-hhp.blogspot.com/] about their time in the project.
Dr. Charity Marsh holds the Canada Research Chair in Interactive Media and Performance in the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Regina
. Dr. Marsh earned a Bachelor of Music in Musicology
, Theory, and Performance as well as a Bachelor of Arts with a concentration in Women's Studies and a minor in German from the University of Ottawa
. From York University
she earned her MA in Women Studies problematizing the dynamic and contested relationship between nature and technology in the Icelandic artist, Björk
's 1997 album Homogenic
. In April 2005 Dr. Marsh defended her thesis entitled, "Raving Cyborgs, Queering Practices, and Discourses of Freedom: The Search for Meaning in Toronto's Rave Culture", completing her Ph.D. requirements for the doctoral programme in Popular Music Studies and Ethnomusicology at York University.
Dr. Marsh's current research focuses on interactive media and performance and how cultures and practices associated with this broad category contribute to dialogues concerning regionalism, cultural identity, and community specifically within western and northern Canada, and more generally on a global scale. In 2007 Dr. Marsh was awarded a Canadian Foundation for Innovation Grant and a Saskatchewan Fund for Innovation and Science grant to develop the Interactive Media and Performance Labs as a way to support her ongoing research. With the development of her new Interactive Media and Performance Labs (IMP) at the University of Regina, the emphasis of her research and arts practices include the following areas:
In her artistic practices, Dr. Marsh incorporates interdisciplinary approaches and multiple medias, including turntablism
, video
, radio broadcasting, text
, and soundscape composition.
The labs are a primary site for interdisciplinary research and collaborative projects across the University of Regina and among wider communities of interest, particularly in Western and Northern Canada.
The content of the course includes critical analysis of mass media
, performance
and audio art, DJ cultures, film
, music video
, sound
, video games, anime
, computer interfaces, websites, web video, radio
, television
, and online social networking. This course situates and explores interactive media and performance in historical, socio-cultural, and political contexts.
Drawing on the work of Tony Mitchell and his suggestion that we must resist “the prevailing colonialist view that global hip-hop is an exotic and derivative outgrowth of an African-American owned idiom subject to assessment in terms of American norms and standards” and Emma LaRoque’s claim that it is wrong to hold young people hostage to their past, this research argues for the disruptive possibilities of the Indigenous Hip Hop scene across the Canadian prairies.
Regarding the DJ: Music Technology
, and Resistance, focuses on the DJ and the place of the DJ figure on the prairies and in Western and Northern Canada.
IMP Labs
The labs are a primary site for interdisciplinary research and collaborative projects across the University of ReginaUniversity of Regina
The University of Regina is a public research university located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Founded in 1911 as a private denominational high school of the Methodist Church of Canada, it began an association with the University of Saskatchewan as a junior college in 1925, and was disaffiliated...
and among wider communities of interest, particularly in Western and Northern Canada. The labs house the following:
- A multi-media DJ interactive studio and performance/workshop space
- An EthnomusicologyEthnomusicologyEthnomusicology is defined as "the study of social and cultural aspects of music and dance in local and global contexts."Coined by the musician Jaap Kunst from the Greek words ἔθνος ethnos and μουσική mousike , it is often considered the anthropology or ethnography of music...
Fieldwork Lab - A Beat-making-Electronic Music Studio
- Archival materials
- Research offices for post-doctoral fellows and graduate students
The labs are the focal point for the ongoing projects of the CRC.
Another component of the CRC research programme is in the areas of new media, Social Network Sites (SNS) such as Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
and MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
, video games, and on-line interactive communities, including fan sites.
DJ Multi-Media Workshop and Performance Studio
The DJ studio houses 7 fully equipped DJ stations, including TechnicsTechnics
Technics may refer to:* Technics turntables, no longer in production.* Technics , a brand name of the Panasonic Corporation* An anglicization of the Ancient Greek term techne, used primarily in media theory...
1200, Rane Mixers, Speakers
Loudspeaker
A loudspeaker is an electroacoustic transducer that produces sound in response to an electrical audio signal input. Non-electrical loudspeakers were developed as accessories to telephone systems, but electronic amplification by vacuum tube made loudspeakers more generally useful...
, Technics headphones, and Microphones, as well as a designated facilitator DJ station.
Beat Making and Electronic Music Production Studio
The Beat Making and Production Studio houses 9 stations equipped with Pro Tools HD, Reason, Ableton Live, Max MSP, Super Collider, and Final Cut ProFinal Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro is a non-linear video editing software developed by Macromedia Inc. and then Apple Inc. The most recent version, Final Cut Pro X, runs on Mac personal computers powered by Mac OS X version 10.6.7 or later and using Intel processors...
. Additionally the studio is equipped with MPC1000s and MPC2500s, and other sound production devices. The studio doubles as a smart classroom with 5.1 HD surround sound
Surround sound
Surround sound encompasses a range of techniques such as for enriching the sound reproduction quality of an audio source with audio channels reproduced via additional, discrete speakers. Surround sound is characterized by a listener location or sweet spot where the audio effects work best, and...
.
Flatland Scratch Seminar/Workshop Series
In the initial Flatland Scratch Series the emphasis was placed on rave culture, electronic dance musicElectronic dance music
Electronic dance music is electronic music produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centered upon dance-based entertainment...
, and the role of the DJ with events being held over three evenings in the fall of 2005. Last year (2008) the Flatland Scratch Series II focused primarily on hip hop culture
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
and the production and practices associated with the music of this genre. During the final segment of the Flatland Scratch Series II the new Interactive Media and Performance (IMP) Labs were launched at the University of Regina. As part of the celebrations Marsh introduced themes of her new research program on popular music in western and northern Canada, facilitated a roundtable discussion on hip-hop in Saskatchewan with 10 local hip-hop artists, and led tours of the new labs. The launch of the IMP Labs and the Flatland Scratch Series II concluded with performances by Saskatchewan’s hip-hop artists Eekwol and Mils with special guest Def3.
The Flatland Scratch Series III – workshops, seminars, and performances by local, national and international musicians, artists, and scholars related to the various elements of hip-hop culture (graffiti, break, rap, DJ and beat-making), current manifestations of global electronic dance music cultures (psy-trance, silent raves), technologies associated with music production and performance, and the significance of music as a contemporary storytelling practice.
Scott Collegiate and IMP Labs Hip Hop Project
The Hip Hop Project version 2 (HHPv2) consists of twelve students in grade 10 spending their morning earning English and Arts Ed credits while learning about Hip Hop culture. The Hip Hop Project is offered through a partnership with the University of ReginaUniversity of Regina
The University of Regina is a public research university located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Founded in 1911 as a private denominational high school of the Methodist Church of Canada, it began an association with the University of Saskatchewan as a junior college in 1925, and was disaffiliated...
and Saskatchewan In Motion. Two mornings a week, students work towards earning an Arts Education 20 credit at the Interactive Media and Performance studios at the University of Regina. Dr. Charity Marsh facilitates sessions with local Hip Hop DJs
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
, graffiti artists
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
, MCs
Master of Ceremonies
A Master of Ceremonies , or compere, is the host of a staged event or similar performance.An MC usually presents performers, speaks to the audience, and generally keeps the event moving....
, and B-Boys and B-Girls. In one of the studios outfitted with turntables, students learn the art of scratch. In the other studio, students learn how to use the MPC beat machine and computer software (Audible Live) to make music.. When not in the classroom, students are doing activities around the six strands of English Language Arts that relate to Hip Hop. They are reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing and representing Hip Hop culture. The students kept [a blog http://scott-hhp.blogspot.com/] about their time in the project.
CBC Student Newsday Project
Student News Day in Saskatchewan is an opportunity for young people to tell a story about an issue important to them, and for you to learn more about the stories that matter most to our province’s youth.Dr. Charity Marsh
Dr. Charity Marsh holds the Canada Research Chair in Interactive Media and Performance in the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Regina
University of Regina
The University of Regina is a public research university located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Founded in 1911 as a private denominational high school of the Methodist Church of Canada, it began an association with the University of Saskatchewan as a junior college in 1925, and was disaffiliated...
. Dr. Marsh earned a Bachelor of Music in Musicology
Musicology
Musicology is the scholarly study of music. The word is used in narrow, broad and intermediate senses. In the narrow sense, musicology is confined to the music history of Western culture...
, Theory, and Performance as well as a Bachelor of Arts with a concentration in Women's Studies and a minor in German from the University of Ottawa
University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa is a bilingual, research-intensive, non-denominational, international university in Ottawa, Ontario. It is one of the oldest universities in Canada. It was originally established as the College of Bytown in 1848 by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate...
. From York University
York University
York University is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, Ontario's second-largest graduate school, and Canada's leading interdisciplinary university....
she earned her MA in Women Studies problematizing the dynamic and contested relationship between nature and technology in the Icelandic artist, Björk
Björk
Björk Guðmundsdóttir , known as Björk , is an Icelandic singer-songwriter. Her eclectic musical style has achieved popular acknowledgement and popularity within many musical genres, such as rock, jazz, electronic dance music, classical and folk...
's 1997 album Homogenic
Homogenic
Homogenic is the fourth studio album by Icelandic musician Björk, released in September 1997. Produced by Björk, Mark Bell, Guy Sigsworth, Howie B and Markus Dravs, it was released on One Little Indian Records...
. In April 2005 Dr. Marsh defended her thesis entitled, "Raving Cyborgs, Queering Practices, and Discourses of Freedom: The Search for Meaning in Toronto's Rave Culture", completing her Ph.D. requirements for the doctoral programme in Popular Music Studies and Ethnomusicology at York University.
Dr. Marsh's current research focuses on interactive media and performance and how cultures and practices associated with this broad category contribute to dialogues concerning regionalism, cultural identity, and community specifically within western and northern Canada, and more generally on a global scale. In 2007 Dr. Marsh was awarded a Canadian Foundation for Innovation Grant and a Saskatchewan Fund for Innovation and Science grant to develop the Interactive Media and Performance Labs as a way to support her ongoing research. With the development of her new Interactive Media and Performance Labs (IMP) at the University of Regina, the emphasis of her research and arts practices include the following areas:
- Canadian (Indigenous) Hip Hop Cultures
- DJ Cultures including EDM, Club-Culture, Rave Culture, Techno, Psy-Trance, on-line, community, and pirate radio
- Isolation, Identity, and Space: Production and Performance of Popular Music in Western and Northern Canada.
In her artistic practices, Dr. Marsh incorporates interdisciplinary approaches and multiple medias, including turntablism
Turntablism
Turntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating music using phonograph turntables and a DJ mixer.The word 'turntablist' was coined in 1995 by DJ Babu to describe the difference between a DJ who just plays records, and one who performs by touching and moving the records, stylus and mixer...
, video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
, radio broadcasting, text
Written language
A written language is the representation of a language by means of a writing system. Written language is an invention in that it must be taught to children, who will instinctively learn or create spoken or gestural languages....
, and soundscape composition.
Research Objectives
- To spearhead a range of projects focused on how interactive media-based performance cultures initiate new dialogues concerning issues of identity, community, social relations, politics, anxiety, space and citizenship.
- To understand the significance of regionalism, cultural identity, access to new technologies, and a consciousness of resistance in relation to these music cultures within the context of Canada.
The labs are a primary site for interdisciplinary research and collaborative projects across the University of Regina and among wider communities of interest, particularly in Western and Northern Canada.
University Course Offering
Professor: Dr. Charity Marsh Canada Research Chair in Interactive Media and Performance.The content of the course includes critical analysis of mass media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
, performance
Performance
A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which a performer or group of performers behave in a particular way for another group of people, the audience. Choral music and ballet are examples. Usually the performers participate in rehearsals beforehand. Afterwards audience...
and audio art, DJ cultures, film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
, sound
Sound
Sound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.-Propagation of...
, video games, anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
, computer interfaces, websites, web video, radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, and online social networking. This course situates and explores interactive media and performance in historical, socio-cultural, and political contexts.
Canada Research Chair (CRC) Research
- Four Major Areas of Research Include
-
- Canadian (Indigenous) Hip Hop Culture
- DJ Cultures (EDM, Club Culture, Rave, TechnoTechnoTechno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
, Psy-Trance, Online and Community RadioCommunity radioCommunity radio is a type of radio service, that offers a third model of radio broadcasting beyond commercial broadcasting and public broadcasting. Community stations can serve geographic communities and communities of interest...
, Hip Hop) - Isolation, Identity and Space: The Production of Music in Western and Northern Canada
- Interactive Media and Technology (SNS, New MediaNew mediaNew media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community...
, Virtual Space, Online communities)
-
Canadian (indigenous) hip hop culture
For some people, Canada’s new burgeoning Indigenous Hip-Hop scene represents the globalization (read Americanization) of Canada’s Indigenous youth. For others, it represents a culture of sublimation because it gives Canadian Indigenous youth a means to share their current lived experiences and to convey that which is often left unsaid within public discourse.Drawing on the work of Tony Mitchell and his suggestion that we must resist “the prevailing colonialist view that global hip-hop is an exotic and derivative outgrowth of an African-American owned idiom subject to assessment in terms of American norms and standards” and Emma LaRoque’s claim that it is wrong to hold young people hostage to their past, this research argues for the disruptive possibilities of the Indigenous Hip Hop scene across the Canadian prairies.
- Isolation, Identity and Space: The Production of Music in Western and Northern Canada
- Interactive Media and Technology (SNS, New Media, Virtual Space, Online communities)
Isolation, Creativity, and Space: The Production of Music in Western and Northern Canada
The music created and produced across the prairies and in the urban centers of Western and Northern Canada represent an eclectic range of musical genres, a combination of traditional, Indigenous, folk, and immigrant sounds with popular contemporary music practices. Much of what happens musically across the prairies and in Canada’s northern cities, towns, and communities, is affected by experiences that transpire when one lives in an expansive geographical setting that is sparsely populated. For some musicians isolation from large urban centers and a bustling scene is detrimental, but for others it is this very isolation and expansive space that acts as a catalyst for their creativity and contextualizes their music production.Objectives
To produce case studies of artists whose creativity, performance, and music production practices have been substantively affected by isolation and space while living in western or northern Canada.Artists
- Saskatchewan's blues artists Little Miss Higgins and Foy Taylor
- Saskatchewan Indigenous hip-hop MC Eekwol
- Yellowknife's Dene singer-songwriter Leela GildayLeela GildayLeela Gilday is a Dene/Canadian singer and songwriter born and raised in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. From a very young age, Leela was immersed in music, and by the age of 8 had already begun her singing career. Today she is one of the North's better known performing artists.-Career:Ms....
- Western hip-hop artist and self-proclaimed half-breed Kinnie StarrKinnie StarrAlida Kinnie Starr Pierre is a Canadian singer-songwriter from Calgary, Alberta. Her music, which blends hip hop and alternative rock, has been described as "hip hop aggro groove". Her songs have been included on the soundtracks for the TV series The L Word and the movie Thirteen...
- Inuit throat-singer Tanya Tagaq
- Nunavut's Lucie IdloutLucie IdloutLucie Idlout is a Canadian rock singer.An Inuk from Iqaluit, Nunavut, she is the daughter of Leah Idlout d'Argencourt and granddaughter of Joseph Idlout, an Inuk hunter who was the subject of a National Film Board documentary, Between Two Worlds, in 1990 and was one of the Inuit hunters depicted...
- Saskatchewan Hip-Hop Artists including Def3, DJ Quartz, MilsMilsMils can refer to:*Mil, singular of Mils*Mils , a French electronic band*Mils, Austria, a town in the district Innsbruck Land, Tyrol, Austria*Mils bei Imst, a municipality in the district of Imst, Tyrol, Austria...
, InfoRed, StinsonStinsonStinson may refer to:*Stinson, Ontario*Stinson Aircraft Company*Stinson Lake, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, in the town of Rumney*Stinson Municipal Airport, San Antonio, Texas*Stinson Theatres, a Canadian movie theatre chain...
, Merky Waters, AriesAriesThe Arieș is a tributary of Mureș River in Transylvania, Romania.Most probably "Arieș" means "Gold River" in Dalmatian which is thought to be very similar to the Dacian language. It is concluded that the Romanian name most probably derives from the Dacian name of the river...
, TruthTruthTruth has a variety of meanings, such as the state of being in accord with fact or reality. It can also mean having fidelity to an original or to a standard or ideal. In a common usage, it also means constancy or sincerity in action or character... - Saskatchewan-born folk singer Gary FjellgaardGary FjellgaardGary Fjellgaard is a Canadian country music singer-songwriter. Fjellgaard has released fifteen albums and charted thirty-five songs on the RPM Country Tracks chart between 1977 and 1996, including the Top 10 singles "Walk in the Rain Tonight" , "The Moon Is Out to Get Me" , "Cowboy in Your...
- Alberta's trans-identified country musician Rae Spoons
- British Columbia's Mother MotherMother MotherMother Mother is a five-piece Canadian indie rock band originally from Quadra Island, now based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Mother Mother consists of Ryan Guldemond on guitar and vocals, Molly Guldemond on vocals and keyboard, Jasmin Parkin on keyboard and vocals, Ali Siadat on drums, and...
DJ Cultures (EDM, Club Culture, Rave, Techno, Psy-Trance, Online and Community Radio, Hip Hop)
From the rise of radio DJ-personalities around mid 20th century, to club DJs in the 1970s, to hip-hop and battle DJs in the 1980s, and electronic music festival and rave DJs in the 1990s, the DJ has become a prominent figure in the music industry and on a global scale. The rise of the DJ has contributed to the creation of innovative technologies, hybid music genres, alternative performance practices, diverse audience responses, new marketing strategies, and major changes in music recording and production.Regarding the DJ: Music Technology
Music technology
Music technology is a term that refers to all forms of technology involved with the musical arts, particularly the use of electronic devices and computer software to facilitate playback, recording, composition, storage and performance. This subject is taught at many different educational levels,...
, and Resistance, focuses on the DJ and the place of the DJ figure on the prairies and in Western and Northern Canada.