Angus Tarnawsky


angus.tarnawsky@concordia.ca
angustarnawsky.com

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 approaches to research
︎︎︎    Sound art projects in urban spaces
︎︎︎    Thinking through making

Sound Studies


︎︎︎    Everyday listening practices
︎︎︎    Colonialism and settler colonialism vis-a-vis sound
︎︎︎    Urban sonic environments, location recording, and soundwalking

Media Production


︎︎︎    Audio recording, editing, arranging and mixing
︎︎︎    Creative use (and strategic misuse!) of analog and digital technologies
︎︎︎    Lathe cut records and experimental record making culture

Research Experience


SpokenWeb, Concordia University, 2021–present 
Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance, Concordia University, 2021–present
Landscape of Hope, Concordia University, 2020–present
Podcasting for Art and Design Public Engagement, OCAD University, 2019–20
Embodying Algorithms Through Performance, OCAD University, 2018–19

Teaching Experience


Instructor: Analysis of Environment, Concordia University, 2023
Instructor: Communication Media: Sound I, Concordia University, 2022
Teaching Assistant: Communication Media: Sound III, Concordia University, 2022
Teaching Assistant: Communication Media: Sound I, Concordia University, 2020–2023
Teaching Assistant: Global Visual and Material Culture to Present, OCAD University, 2019–20
Teaching Assistant: Global Visual and Material Culture to 1800, OCAD University, 2018–20

Publications


Book Chapters

What Do I Hear, and How Do I Listen? Thinking with Sound on the Lachine Canal
Sound Research for Troubling Times
Edited by Jessie L. Beier, and Owen Chapman
Palgrave McMillan, 2025

In the Pocket
Metaphors in Music and Sound
Edited by Nina Eidsheim, Dylan Robinson, J. Martin Daughtry, and Daniel Walden
TBC, 2025 (Accepted)

Journal Articles

Habits of Listening, Performance Research 28, no. 8 (2023)
Nothing to Hear, So to Speak, The Journal of Media Art Study and Theory 2, no. 2 (2021)
Variable Frequencies, Panic at the Discourse: An Interdisciplinary Journal 1, no. 2 (2020)

Presentations

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 (with 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 (with Adam Tindale), Music in New Technologies Forum, Halifax, NS, 2018

Invited Talks


Lathe Cut Records, Concordia University, 2023
Sonic Encounters (artist talk), Concordia University, 2021
Lathe Cut Records, Concordia University, 2021
Critical Spatial Sonic Practices (artist talk), Concordia University, 2021
Uncommon Sounds in Common Spaces (artist talk), Concordia University, 2020
Synthesis Techniques, Concordia University, 2020
Sonic Interventions in Public Spaces, OCAD University, 2020
Soundwalking in Cities, OCAD University, 2019
Subtractive Synthesis 101, Brooklyn College, 2017
Audio Recording and Editing, The New School, 2014

Workshops (Led)


Making Lathe Cut Records, SpokenWeb Amplab, 2023
Making Lathe Cut Records, Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance (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 Conference, University of Regina, 2022
Walking and Listening on the Lachine Canal, SpokenWeb Institute, 2022
Drone Music for Ambient April, CJLO, 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 University, 2021–present
Concordia Sound Studies Cluster (CSS) , Concordia University, 2021–present
Soundwalk Symposium (organizing committee), Concordia University, 2021
Culture and Technology Discussion and Working Group (CATDAWG), McGill University, 2020–present

Installations (Selected)


As the Gull Flies (A film by Liz Miller), 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 (part of Rirkrit Tiravanija’s “PLAY”), 2024
Radiophonic Dreamscape No. 1, Failure: Systems at their Limit, Montreal, 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
Times Square, Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, NY, 2017
Untitled (Solo), Fridman Gallery, New York, NY, 2017
Round Robin, The Great Hall, Toronto, ON, 2018
Untitled (Solo), Various Locations, 2012–18.
Artifacts (with Nathan Liow), West Space Gallery, Melbourne, AU, 2014

Residencies


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
Listening, Sound, Agency: Soundworks and Transcriptions (2021-22), 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


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