Angus Tarnawsky ︎ b. 1988 in lutruwita (Tasmania, Australia)
︎ angus.tarnawsky@concordia.ca
︎ @incontextmusic
Angus Tarnawsky is a sound artist and researcher currently living and working in London, UK. As a musical improviser and curator, he has worked extensively with lathe cut records via releases on his label In Context Music, as well as through direct-to-disc recording performances as part of the Very Low Frequency Dub Collective. As a PhD candidate in Communication Studies at Concordia University (Tiohtià:ke/Montréal), he investigates the social and political dimensions of hearing and listening in urban spaces. Several phases of this work are documented in the recent book chapter, What do I Hear, and How do I listen? Thinking With Sound on the Lachine Canal as part of Palgrave Macmillan's edited volume Sound Research for Troubling Times.
CV
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Education
PhD, Communication
Concordia University, 2020–present
MFA, Interdisciplinary Art, Media and Design
OCAD University, 2018–20
BMus, Performance (Honours)
University of Melbourne, 2006–09
Expertise and Interests
Research-Creation:Practice-based and practice-led approaches to research; Sound art projects and musical performances in mixed-used and shared urban spaces; Participant engagement and practices of co-creation.
Sound Studies: Everyday listening practices; Colonialism and settler colonialism; Urban sonic environments; Location recording; Sound mapping and counter mapping techniques; Soundwalking.
Media Production: Audio recording, editing, arranging and mixing (Ableton Live, Logic Pro X, Pro Tools, Adobe Audition, Audacity, et al.); Creative use (and strategic misuse!) of analog and digital audio technologies (Max MSP, Pure Data, radio broadcasting, tape machines, turntables, et al.); Lathe cut records/dubplates and experimental record making.
Research Experience
Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance (CSLP), Concordia, 2021–present: Involvement with multiple projects incorporating direct-to-disc recording using three disc cutting lathes located in the Lathe Room; a co-creation space I developed alongside Dr. Owen Chapman in 2023.
SpokenWeb, Concordia, 2021–24: Development of virtual and in-person soundwalking workshops with participatory online components, and expanded archival documentation. Restoration of 1940s transcription disc recording lathe. Advisor for collaborative lathe cut record projects, and co-curator of audio art exhibition.
Landscape of Hope, Concordia, 2020–24: Restoration of multiple 1940s transcription disc recording lathes, organization of talk by Dylan Robinson (Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Arts), and project management plus content contributions for podcast series.
Podcasting for Art and Design Public Engagement, OCADU, 2019–20: Technical support for podcast series “The Deaths of the Artists.”
Embodying Algorithms Through Performance, OCADU, 2018–19: Investigation of new interfaces for musical expression using Max MSP software.
Teaching Experience
Instructor: Communication Analysis of Environment (COMS 324), Concordia, 2023
Instructor: Communication Media: Sound I (COMS 276), Concordia, 2022
Teaching Assistant: Communication Media: Sound III (COMS 477), Concordia, 2022
Teaching Assistant: Communication Media: Sound I (COMS276), Concordia, 2020–2023
Teaching Assistant: Global Visual and Material Culture II (VISC-1002), OCADU, 2019–20
Teaching Assistant: Global Visual and Material Culture I (VISC-1001), OCADU, 2018–20
Publications
Book Chapters
What Do I Hear, and How Do I Listen? Thinking With Sound on the Lachine Canal in “Sound Research for Troubling Times,” edited by jessie l. beier and Owen Chapman, Palgrave McMillan, 2024
Pocket in “Metaphors in Music and Sound,” edited by Nina Eidsheim, Dylan Robinson, J. Martin Daughtry and Daniel Walden, Duke University Press, 2025
Journal Articles
Habits of Listening: Encounters with Sound Art in Urban Spaces, Performance Research 28, no. 6 (2023)
Nothing to Hear, So to Speak: Spaces of Sounding and Listening at 100 McCaul St, The Journal of Media Art Study and Theory 2, no. 2 (2021)
Variable Frequencies: A Sound Installation Investigating Process and Interaction, Panic at the Discourse: An Interdisciplinary Journal 1, no. 2 (2020)
Presentations
Unheard Frequencies, Global Reggae Studies Conference, Kingston, Jamaica, 2024
Amplified Listening, philoSOPHIA, University of Calgary, Online, 2024
Walking and Listening on the Lachine Canal, SpokenWeb Symposium, Edmonton, AB, 2023
Sonic Encounters and Settler Colonial Perception in Urban Spaces, 4S, Cholula, Mexico, 2022
Sound, Sound(s), Sound(ings): Listening to the Lachine Canal, Neil Postman Conference, New York, NY, 2022
Acoustic Graffiti and the Uncertain Potential of Re-Sounding Spaces, Convergence, Leicester, UK, 2022
Research-Creation Methods in Communications, CCA Congress, Online, 2021
Unsettling Spaces, SFU Communication Graduate Conference, Online, 2021
Sonic Matter(s), Université de Montreal Arts and Medias Annual Symposium, Online, 2020
The Hum, Royal Musical Association (UK) 56th Annual Conference, Online, 2020
Improvisation for Computer Musicians (w/ Adam Tindale), ICMC, New York, NY, 2019
Sound, Affect, and Installation Art, UnDisciplined Conference, Kingston, ON, 2019
Embracing Imperfection, Music in New Technologies Forum, Halifax, NS, 2018
Spaces and Rituals (w/ Adam Tindale), Music in New Technologies Forum, Halifax, NS, 2018
Invited Talks
Lathe Cut Records, Concordia, 2023
Sonic Encounters (artist talk), Concordia, 2021
Lathe Cut Records, Concordia, 2021
Critical Sonic Practices, Concordia, 2021
Uncommon Sounds, Concordia, 2020
Synthesis Techniques, Concordia, 2020
Sonic Interventions, OCADU, 2020
Soundwalking in Cities, OCADU, 2019
Synthesis 101, Brooklyn College, 2017
Audio Recording, The New School, 2014
Workshops (Led)
How to Make Lathe Cut Records, SpokenWeb Amplab, 2023
Making Lathe Cut Records, CSLP, 2023
Lathe Cut Conversations (w/ Owen Chapman), No Outsides Institute, CSLP, 2023
Unheard Frequencies (w/ Owen Chapman), LOH x BAM, CSLP, 2022
Walking and Listening (Together and Apart), GLASS, University of Regina, 2022
Walking and Listening on the Lachine Canal, SpokenWeb Institute, 2022
Drone (Music) Making, CJLO Radio, 2022
Soundwalk Remix, Soundwalk Symposium, 2022
Critical Listening Positionality, Lesson Play, 2022
Listening Together While Apart, Listening Practice, 2022
Noticing, Noting and Notating Sound, SpokenWeb Symposium, 2021
Soundwalk Mapping Techniques, Listening Practice, 2021
Sonic Arts For All, Brooklyn College, 2017
Street Studio, Skill Mill NYC, Make Music Festival, 2017
Working Groups / Collectives
Feminist Media Studio (FMS), Concordia, 2021–present
Concordia Sound Studies Cluster (CSS), Concordia, 2021–present
Soundwalk Symposium (organizing committee), Concordia, 2021
CATDAWG, McGill University, 2020–2025
Installations (Selected)
As the Gull Flies, Biosphère, Montreal, QC, June, 2023–April, 2024
Listening, Sound, Agency, Webster Library, Montreal, QC, May–Sep 2022
Nothing to Hear, So to Speak, 100 McCaul Street, Toronto, ON, 2020
Refrain, Roundtable Closing Exhibition, Toronto, ON, 2019
For Pauline, 205 Richmond Street West, Toronto, ON, 2019
Variable Frequencies, Harvestworks Gallery, New York, NY, 2019
H/A, Open Space Gallery, Toronto, ON, 2019
Relative Distance, Het Nieuwe Instituut, New York, NY, 2018
Held Together, 205 Richmond St West, Toronto, ON, 2018
Timestreams, Wave Farm, Acra, NY, 2018
Sound + Signal, Smartgeometry, Daniels Building, Toronto, ON, 2018
Performances (Selected)
Unheard Freqs, Phi Foundation, Montreal, QC, 2024
Radiophonic Dreamscape No. 1, Failure (Conference), Montreal, QC, 2022
No Way Around It, Crutch Contemporary Art Centre, Toronto, ON, 2019
Ra-dio-in, The Sunview Luncheonette, Brooklyn, NY, 2019
Chase / Tarnawsky (with Brian Chase), Various Locations, 2014–18
Round Robin, The Great Hall, Toronto, ON, 2018
Times Square, Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, NY, 2017
Untitled (Solo), Fridman Gallery, New York, NY, 2017
Untitled (Solo), Various Locations, 2012–18.
Artifacts (with Nathan Liow), West Space Gallery, Melbourne, AU, 2014
Residencies
The Listening Academy, Berlin, DE, 2024
PolyVocalCity, London, UK, 2024
Roundtable Residency, Toronto, ON, 2019
Wave Farm Transmission Arts Residency, Acra, NY, 2018
Pioneer Works Music Residency, Brooklyn, NY, 2017
RBMA Residency, Montréal, QC, 2016
Curatorial
In Context Music (ICM), Record Label, 2013–present
No Outsides Polymorphous FM, Pirate Radio Station, 2023
Listening, Sound, Agency: Soundworks and Transcriptions, Exhibition, 2022
Recordings
Listening Sound Agency (7”), SpokenWeb Sounds, 2022
Colony of Desire (soundtrack), Charlotte Ballet, 2020
Subconscious Self Sabotage (7” with 1000 Petal Lotus), ICM, 2019
Live at Secret Project Robot (7” with Brian Chase), ICM, 2018
Hero Complexities (soundtrack), Theatre of Movement, 2017
Surface to Air (7”), ICM, 2016
Artifacts (7” with Nathan Liow), ICM, 2014
Pitched (12”), Inner Surface Music, 2014
Awards and Fellowships
Doctoral Fellowship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), 2023–2025
Graduate Studies Conference Travel Award, Concordia University, 2022, 2023, 2024
Graduate Fellowship, Concordia University, 2020–2024
Communication Studies Bursary, Concordia University, 2020–2021
Dean’s Scholarship, OCAD University, 2018–2020
Charles Patcher Award, OCAD University, 2020
Graduate Travel Award, OCAD University, 2019
Gradlink Research Award, OCAD University, 2018
Development Grant, Australia Council for the Arts, 2017
Artsbridge Grant, Arts Tasmania, 2010
Dr. Phillip Law Scholarship, University of Melbourne, 2009
Foote Trust Award, University of Melbourne, 2009
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