Ancestral Resonance: Haida Gwaii
“Sound, like space, is a place in which we are embedded, in which the sensory experience of reality and artistic form can finally converge.”
Ancestral Resonance is a long awaited collaboration between Haida artist and carver Gwaai Edenshaw, composer, sound artist Kinnie Starr and Vancouver sound and media artist Giorgio Magnanensi, artistic director of Vancouver New Music.
Interactive audio activities will occur in indoor and outdoor locations in Haida Gwaii from July 24th to August 9th, 2025.
It is a site-specific work to create and explore the elements of a unique immersive spatial sound system. The physical components will include the creation of a set of audio resonators made from local cedar, as well as Haida masks, chests and paddles transformed into new electronic interactive instruments.
Giorgio Magnanensi has been experimenting with resonators and octophonic sound systems for some years. His work with audio diffusion and spatialization, explores sound in spatial configurations, and considers how expanding audio sources can influence thinking of sound in more engaging and visceral ways. Using custom multi-channel diffusion software Ancestral Resonance opens up these creative possibilities in many new directions.
“I kind of re-learned to listen to the trees; not any ‘music of the trees’, just hearing resonances of the most amazing biological lungs: chambers of resonance, embodied creative energy. If I were a poet I would dare to say ‘metaphors of a coming community’. As I am not, I would just say: If you can’t see it, you can hear it; then listen.”
Informed by their understanding of how the land shapes island activities, Haida Gwaii community members Alida Kinnie Starr and Kiddmann Gwaai Edenshaw provide meaningful access to this extraordinary part of the world. Starr is known for her sonic experimentation over thirty years, and will be creating improvisational soundscapes that blend electronic music, live voice and local field recordings.
The artists seek to foster creative responses, enabling participants to reconnect with the land and their own listening. They seek opportunities for diverse encounters, dialogues, and improvision-based experiments in public and outdoor spaces, forests and beaches to celebrate respect for the local biosphere.
Ancestral Resonance provides an experimental opportunity to experience how sound can transform and enhance both the space and its occupants. The project allows for installations inclusive of youth and local communities, to explore sound and engage in a series of creative activities with interactive instruments within this evolving immersive soundscape.
We are excited and honoured to be invited to Haida Gwaii to produce this project and will be posting regular updates on our news page and on Instagram.
Octophonic Audio Diffusion, Touch Boards & Sound:
Giorgio Magnanensi
Artistic Collaborator:
Gwaai Edenshaw
Sound & Field Recordings:
Kinnie Starr
Producer and Video:
Paul Armstrong
Ancestral Resonance will be based at:
Masset: July 24-26 - at Masset Playhouse Saturday July 26 from 1-5p
Daajing Geets / Skidegate: July 29 - Aug 6
Edge of the World Festival: August 7-9