Do you think I’m neurodivergent (2023)
Ministry of Casual Living, Victoria, BC
April 1, 2023
Performance Piece

Over the past year I have been asked on multiple occasions if I am neurodivergent. I have been sent self-assessments and while I do have mild form of dyslexia, I am reluctant to diagnose. One such reference/symptom I heavily align with, is that I become obsessed with sounds and music samples and, I wish at times, to be enveloped with sound as a pressure over my whole body. In this installation I bring to light / life my ear draining in an infinite loop, the sounds it desires to consume. I leave a bowl of ear worms for patrons to consume. Part of my sound obsessions over the years has come about in the homage to the “10-hour loop” which is a kind of joke on YouTube. I have created 6, 10-minute loops, of recent obsessions that play on a 1 hour loop in the brutalist space over a Leslie speaker. Through me, a vessel, enveloped in sound, reverberating in a kind of infinity.

10-minute loop references:
“Judy” – Jenn Grant
“Fan the flames” – Sheer Mag
Water breath – sample recorded at Ella Beach, BC
Heavily remixed sample from “OH!” – Aqyila
Sound of a car passing
Original bass lick by Lesley Demon, Bonnie Doon (SOCAN) 

LES.LIES – The Leslie Speak Concept Project
Performances at 3PM & 6PM – Livestream on instagram @420sixtynine 

Coming together through my passion for technology and sound, this Leslie speaker project is an homage to a name in my likeness and an experience I am inexplicably drawn to. A Leslie speaker is a rotating horn overtop of a speaker creating a doppler effect or sound transit. With variable speed, it can be described as the slow sound of Chorale or the fast sound as Tremolo. It is often replicated with electronic effects pedals such as chorus, phaser, and tremolo. It was created to fill a room with sound 3 dimensionally by its inventor, Don Leslie, in 1937 in lieu of having a full pipe organ or large theatre organ to accompany a smaller Hammond organ. The classic Leslie speaker is a two-way system, consisting of a woofer and a high-frequency horn, with an 800 Hz crossover and built-in tube amplification. To create the signature swirling three-dimensional effect, both speakers rotate, in opposite directions.

This presentation uses a pair of Leslie speakers. The larger Leslie 760, used with various synthesizers and drum machine, and the smaller Lesley 250, used with bass guitar, vocals and sound samples. 

Cycling in the centre bottom of the cement brutalist stairwell, the sound cycles spinning upwards. The vocalist cycles as well, walking up the stairs with the ascending sounds during the performance. 

Two songs are performed: “Gas Island” and “Swamps and wants and fonts and bombs,” from our darkwave synth inspired music experiments by LES666 and Daniel Taggart-Hodge. This (currently nameless) new project combines these sounds with danceable abstract political philosophy. 

A note on the Brutalist Stairwell:
This installation and performance were created in the 1980s Brutalist Stairwell of the 780 Blanshard building (formerly the BC Power Commission); this form was made as an addition to the original 1940s Art Deco architecture. It is in keeping with brutalist ideals of materials based functionality emphasizing bold and often bleak reflections, rough textures in its expression of structure. This space creates interesting resonance and reverb for this A/V installation and music performance. 

Thank yous:
My collaborator Daniel Taggart-Hodge, Les.lies counterpart, musician, inspiration Documentation support, TJ and Re
Hillbilly Leather, Paul taking on my many leather requests and fellow fringe enthusiast Sabrina, mushroom sculptures, curator
Ashley, awesome curator
Doug, paint and amateur erotic aficionado community member
Jayne, not a clown, salad artist
Valerie, without whom I would have never come to be a casual participant in the Ministry of Casual Living <3
Jess, my studio mate – who has been incredibly cool with the increasing size of bullshit accumulating next to her desk
Myself, because I am the fucking best xxx
LJ, future performer time traveler
Matty, you know who you are
Everyone I have met in this building, whom I have come to love very much The frescos on the exterior, I hope to learn to paint this year
My ancestors, specifically my Nanny who would have been very very confused by this ‘art’