Suspended Animation | Elyse Longair

Elyse Longair is a writer, artist and cultural theorist, currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Screen Cultures and Curatorial Studies at Queen’s University. In 2021, Longair received her MFA in the Interdisciplinary Art Media and Design program at OCAD University. From 2020-2021, she was an RBC Emerging Artist at The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery. Longair’s practice re-imagines the role of images and sound away from the overt-complexity that dominates our world, opening up new possibilities for imagined futures.

Suspended Animation was recently played for the tropical plants at the Phytotron Sonic Garden Party, Spring 2022. This curatorial encounter was offered by Sunny Kerr, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Agnes Etherington Centre as a way to experience Pauline Oliveros ‘deep listening’ and also care for the plants through music. This track is part of a collection of works that I composed which aim to explore how alternate futures from the past, or distant future might sound. I attempt to draw the viewer into a different world, one defined through questions of imagination. In these imaginary worlds, the audience is invited to listen closely, to imagine multiple possibilities and meanings and by doing so to actively experience alternate futures that may forward our consideration for the future. As Stuart Candy states in The Futures of Everyday Life, “[w]hat is central… to the present future studies is not an effort to ‘predict’ the future…but the effort to sketch ‘alternative futures’” (26). World-building music encourages us to rethink and reflect on the important role of imagination, opening up new possibilities for imagined futures – at the Phytotron, this was the future of the tropical plants.

Suspended Animation was composed by Elyse Longair with thanks for the technical and musical expertise of Professor/musician/digital instrument designer Dr. Adam Tindale and composer/producer/musician Liam Clarke (Love Thy Brother).

Biography

Elyse Longair is a writer, artist and cultural theorist, currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Screen Cultures and Curatorial Studies at Queen’s University. In 2021, Longair received her MFA in the Interdisciplinary Art Media and Design program at OCAD University. From 2020-2021, she was an RBC Emerging Artist at The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery. Longair’s practice re-imagines the role of images and sound away from the overt-complexity that dominates our world, opening up new possibilities for imagined futures.

Artist Statement

Suspended Animation was recently played for the tropical plants at the Phytotron Sonic Garden Party, Spring 2022. This curatorial encounter was offered by Sunny Kerr, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Agnes Etherington Centre as a way to experience Pauline Oliveros ‘deep listening’ and also care for the plants through music. This track is part of a collection of works that I composed which aim to explore how alternate futures from the past, or distant future might sound. I attempt to draw the viewer into a different world, one defined through questions of imagination. In these imaginary worlds, the audience is invited to listen closely, to imagine multiple possibilities and meanings and by doing so to actively experience alternate futures that may forward our consideration for the future. As Stuart Candy states in The Futures of Everyday Life, “[w]hat is central… to the present future studies is not an effort to ‘predict’ the future…but the effort to sketch ‘alternative futures’” (26). World-building music encourages us to rethink and reflect on the important role of imagination, opening up new possibilities for imagined futures – at the Phytotron, this was the future of the tropical plants.

Suspended Animation was composed by Elyse Longair with thanks for the technical and musical expertise of Professor/musician/digital instrument designer Dr. Adam Tindale and composer/producer/musician Liam Clarke (Love Thy Brother).