Blurring the Boundaries Arts were recently involved in an access review for the Gamelan Room website created by UK organisation Good Vibrations.
During this project, we worked with consultant Jason Dasent to review screen reader access for the web app, as well as a general introduction for screen reader users. This gave us an opportunity to continue research we have been conducting for CAMIN on hosting online sessions, including meetups and hackathons.
This is the first video created by Jason:
This year we have been collaborating with Joanne Cox as part of a team of artists, producers, and access specialists, to produce a set of interactive video pages, including a small selection of virtual instruments. Please watch the video below to learn more, and try the instrument out for yourself.
Play the instrument here: blurringtheboundaries.org/dyj-october/
Fill out the feedback form here: DYJ feedback form (please let us know if this form is not accessible to you)
Blurring the Boundaries have teamed up with the National accessArts Center in Calgary to develop a series of workshops.
Watch and listen to a collaborative piece developed in week 2:
Play along with the video using an embedded instrument:
These instruments have been developed based on ideas and code in Joanne Cox’s Define Your Journey project.
Montreal-based disability activists Gift Tshuma and Aimee Louw are establishing a new platform to discuss various angles around access. #CripTalkCorner is presented by Accessibilize Montreal in collaboration with Cinema Politica Concordia.
The video of their first online event is available here:
If you haven’t encountered Aimee’s work before, we highly recommend her 2019 article: Where is the Disability Beat in Canada? You can find out more on her website https://aimeelouw.com/.
We were interested to hear Propeller Dance’s Liz Winkelaar discussing some related issues in this article and video clip.
Gift has also co-founded a new podcast called the Unashamed Truth with Terry Chase and Dwight Chase. In this first episode, they talk informally about Black identity in the wake of the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, various manifestations of systemic oppression, and joyful music:
We have been taking some time out to rethink the project while our surroundings change rapidly. While this is a difficult time for us all, we are clearly entering a new age of remote collaboration – a topic very close to our hearts. Please watch this space for further updates.
For the time being, you can join Gift Tshuma for a live discussion of the film When We Walk alongside Aimee Louw and the director of the film Jason DaSilva. This event was originally scheduled as a Cinema Politica event last month, and is now being hosted online.
Watch the film here until the 6th of April: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/whenwewalk/
And find details for the livestream Q&A on the evening of the 6th April here: https://www.facebook.com/events/679143069500659/
When he’s not hanging out with us jamming with light sensors and debating accessibility of music technology, Gift organises a Montreal-based group called the United Tribulation Choir. The group has been going since 2007, and brings together gospel with a broad range of styles.
To celebrate Black History Month this year, UTC will be performing alongside Rivers Edge Community Choir on the 22nd February, 8pm at 5567 Chemin de la Côte-Saint-Antoine.
You can check out some rehearsal footage here:
Here are some images taken at our recent workshops in the UK and Canada in October/November 2019, starting with our launch with Drake Music at Graeae Theatre. We are grateful to acknowledge support from the Canada Council for the Arts for travel to the UK, in addition to our #NewConversations funding..
Watch this space for videos and descriptions coming soon!
With special thanks to Drake Music DMLab and Hampstead Music and Voice Studios in London, and MilieuxMake/Education Makers in Montreal.
What? Music + Access workshop
When? Tuesday the 26th of November from 5:30 – 8:30pm (doors open at 5:00).
Where? Participatory Media Cluster (1515 Ste.-Catherine West, EV 11.655)
What you will do? Create a prototype of an accessible musical instrument to be played by two people.
Who will facilitate? Charles Matthews (maker in residence at #MilieuxMake), Gift Tshuma (guest musician), Houda Jawhar and other Education Makers.
If you are curious about how engaging with accessibility can change how we think about musical instruments, this workshop is for you.
If you wonder what a musical instrument played by two people in equal partnership could look like, we can imagine it.
Seats are limited. Please send an email to makercultures@gmail.com with your name, and mention anything we could do to make this workshop accessible to you. The venue is wheelchair accessible (including gender neutral accessible washroom).
You want to know more? Check these related links: http://www.educationmakers.ca/project/music-access/
Can you imagine a musical instrument designed to be played by two people at the same time? How could it remove any barriers to making music that you experience? What kind of interesting restrictions could it create?
Leave your suggestions for a collaborative instrument in the comments below, or send us a tweet at @blurtheBoundary with the hashtag #HackAndBlur. We would love to see and hear anything from one sentence descriptions to drawings or a videos explaining what you would like to see us make!
Your ideas will help us to shape our first workshop with Education Makers in Montreal next week..and we’d love to find ways to collaborate in the future!
So far, the suggestions we have received include:
A belt worn by two people, covered in bells that jingle as they move— Robyn Steward, London
A musical game of snakes and ladders: something that injects elements of chance into playing the music — Adrian Lee, London
We are setting out to work with a limited set resources on the day, with a focus on digital instruments that sit in the physical world. It will be interesting to see what we can do to represent these ideas, and how they change as we make them concrete.
In the digital age, the definition of a typical instrument has expanded for many people to incorporate different kinds of movements and sensory feedback. As musicians engaging with accessibility, we are particularly interested in the creative use of these tools to disrupt conventions, while breaking down barriers to participation. We believe that engaging with access can radically change the aesthetics and message of art, music, and the instruments themselves.
So, what would a collaborative instrument look, sound, and feel like to you? How could the challenges of coordinating with another player start conversations about equality and accessibility both for players and an audience?
This idea has developed from our recent trip to London as part of the #NewConversations programme. More about this soon, but for now, here are some brief clips of our R&D activities based at Hampstead Music and Voice Studios:
