MAP Presentation Series: September 25, 2020

Fri., Sep. 25, 2020 3:30 p.m. - Fri., Sep. 25, 2020 4:30 p.m.

Location: Zoom register https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/120435745557

A Sonic Ethnography of Gong Master-Teachers

Dr. Stacey Bliss, Postdoctoral Fellow, Faculty of Media, Art, and Performance

Bio

Dr. Stacey Bliss earned a PhD in Education (Language, Culture, and Teaching) from York University, Toronto, and is a sound artist, Gong teacher/student/performer, yoga/meditation teacher, and English & literacies educator. She is currently a SSHRC postdoctoral fellow in the Faculty of Media, Art, and Performance (MAP) at the University of Regina (2019-2021), a research associate with IICSI (International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation - http://improvisationinstitute.ca/about-iicsi/team/), and a student of “deep listening” (Oliveros, 2005) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York.

In her work, Stacey queries the social and ethical implications of contemplative and improvisational practices in what she conceptualizes as post-spatial literacy (‘reading’ beyond text-based and multiliteracies). Her current post-doctoral work is a sonic ethnography with Gong master-teachers and explores possibilities for what she calls resonant literacy (‘reading’ of sound and vibration). Since 2014, Stacey has played Paiste and Meinl Gongs (percussion instruments), and improvises with sound and movement artists on collaborative projects. She organizes events and concerts under her collaborative banner of Gong Sound Space. Events have included a Concert for Peace & Humanity in Toronto with an international Gong master-teacher, Gong players, singing bowl players, tabla artist Gurpreet Chana, oboist Derrick Tu, and performance artist lo bil. She also organized an International Sound Collective of Gong players to meet and play in India. In 2019, she began collaborations with composer Dr. James Harley (University of Guelph) & tar and daf player, Reza Yazdanpanah – together they are The Earth & Ether Trio.

Stacey’s scholarly interests include sound studies, curriculum studies, multiliteracies, and contemporary forms of ethnography (including autoethnography and “imaginative ethnography” - https://imaginative-ethnography.com/), as well as community-based and arts-based research.

Find out more at: https://blissresearch.org/

Admission is free. Register at https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/120435745557

For more information, contact Dr. Christine Ramsay at christine.ramsay@uregina.ca.