David Bobier & Anna Karpinski
The Vibrational Mapping Project
Start-Up Zone, Charlottetown
Friday, September 22, 2017 - 12:30pm - 1:30pm
Struts Pop-Up Gallery
Saturday, September 23, 2017 - 12:30pm-1:30pm
ABOUT THE PROJECT
The Vibrational Mapping Project mixes performance and documentation with audience interaction and integration. Using wearable vests, body pillows, orbs, etc., Karpinski and Bobier will engage with participants, whether Deaf, disabled or non-disabled, who will then be invited to express what they are hearing and/or feeling by hand gestures, body movements, vocal recreation. It is hoped that at some later date this documented ‘gathering’ of sounds and responses can be exhibited together in both conventional and unconventional spaces.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
David Bobier is a hard of hearing media artist and the parent of 2 deaf children. He is currently partnering with Inclusive Media and Design Centre at Ryerson University and Tactile Audio Displays Inc. in researching and employing vibrotactile technology as a creative medium. This vibrotactile technology, originally developed for the deaf, is essential in Bobier’s artistic practice and preoccupation for creating more accessible ways of creating and experiencing art in its many forms. His research into employing vibrotactile technology as a creative medium led to his establishment of VibraFusionLab (VFL) in London, Ontario. He is also Founder and Chair of London Ontario Media Arts Association, Secretary of the Board of Media Arts Network Ontario (MANO_RAMO), Board member of Artist-Run Centres and Collectives of Ontario (ARCCO) and Founder and Co-chair of Tangled London, a recently evolved collective based on the social model of disability and is dedicated to developing opportunities for Deaf artists, artists with disabilities and artists experiencing isolation to engage in artistic practice and cultural enrichment. Bobier’s work has received funding from Canada Council of the Arts, Ontario Art Council, New Brunswick Arts Council, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Ontario Centre of Excellence and Grand NCE. Bobier has served in advisory roles in developing Deaf and Disability Arts Equity programs for both Canada Council of the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council and was an invited participant in the recent Canada Council of the Arts – The Arts in a Digital World Summit. Bobier is also involved in ongoing research of the Deaf and Disability Arts movement in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Born in Poland, Anna Karpinski immigrated to Canada with her family at the age of eight. She obtained an Honours BA in Political Theory and Russian Literature from York University and then began to travel the world writing and taking documentary photographs. In 1995 she returned to live in Poland for a year. Since then Anna has lived in Toronto, New York City, Austin, Texas and presently resides in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island with her husband and daughter. Her photographs have been exhibited in Canada and the U.S. and published in newspapers and international magazines. A book of documentary images on the fleeting months of a PEI Summer, titled A Good Summer was published by Acorn Press. Anna has taught courses on documentary photography at the Confederation Centre of the Arts and Holland College in Charlottetown.