ARE YOU EXPECTING A BABY BEFORE SEPTEMBER 30, 2015?
This letter is an invitation to expectant parents, who are due to have their babies between now and September 30, 2015, to participate in this beautiful project and add to the joyous noise celebrating birth and life in the city.
Acclaimed Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar is presenting a remarkable project for Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2015. There is an opportunity for parents who are expecting a baby before September 30, 2015 to be a part of the project.
The project is called (Music) Everything I know I learnt the day my son was born and is an immersive sound installation that will play the first sounds of babies born in the city of Toronto in the months leading up to Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2015.
The audio installation will take place at Scotiabank Nuit Blanche, on October 3rd, 2015, in the beautiful Allan Gardens (pictured), located on the south side of Carlton Street between Jarvis and Sherbourne Streets.
The sound installation takes place in actual time. If a child is born at 8:45 pm, at 8:45 pm on the night of Scotiabank Nuit Blanche, the audience will hear the sound of their first vocalizations. The project is designed to celebrate and remind – in a beautiful and moving way, of the joy and texture of life at its beginning.
The way it works:
Participation is extremely easy and straightforward and gives parents and their newborns an opportunity to be a permanent part of (Music). The project involves recording a few seconds of audio of your child first sounds. The recording is done very simply, directly from an iphone or small sound recorder. Once the recording is made, all the sounds – of the delivery space, midwife, parents etc. will be removed and only the first sounds of your baby will be played at the exact time of their birth in the sound installation.
We are working in proud collaboration with the Toronto Birth Centre and the Ryerson Midwifery Education Program. The project organizers have recruited midwifery students who are familiar with and sensitive to birthing spaces will act as the recorders for participating families.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN (MUSIC) EVERYTHING I KNOW I LEARNT THE DAY MY SON WAS BORN
If you are interested in being a part of this project, you can do one of the following:
1. Speak with your midwife or practice group staff, fill out the Release Form and leave it with your midwifery practice.
OR
2. E-mail the project’s coordinator, Marjan at marjan.verstappen@gmail.com. She will send you a release form, which you sign, and then email back to her.
Either way, Marjan, the coordinator of the project will connect you with the midwifery student recorders and coordinate your participation.
A note regarding Privacy: It is essential to emphasize that the identity of the babies and the parents will be kept strictly confidential. The names of babies and parents will not be identified during the exhibition.
We thank you in advance for letting us be a part of this most intimate and wondrous event. We hope you will share our excitement about this wonderful project celebrating the joyous noise of birth and new life.
About Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2015
2015 is a special year – it marks the 10th edition of Scotiabank Nuit Blanche. The event has grown from a one-off all night event attracting 375,000 people, to an eagerly-awaited yearly event that transforms the City and attracts 1.5 million overnight audience members. By most accounts, Scotiabank Nuit Blanche (taking place Oct 3, 2015) is the largest contemporary art event in North America.
More about (Music)
Alfredo Jaar is a renowned contemporary artist with a deep interest in social justice and community engagement. He has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and a MacArthur ‘Genius’ Prize and has exhibited projects in major institutions around the world, including the Venice Biennale. He previously mounted this project at the Nasher Museum in Texas. You can read about it here: http://www.nashersculpturecenter.org/art/exhibitions/exhibition?id=37
If you have questions about this project, please contact the coordinator of the project, Marjan Verstappen: marjan.verstappen@gmail.com 647-229-7820
