Vinyl Release Party Oct 28: Toronto
Rights of Passage (Vinyl) by Lou Sheppard with Pamela Hart
Art Gallery of York University launches the Rights of Passage Vinyl LP by Lou Sheppard with Pamela Hart
co-produced with Art Metropole:
Vinyl Launch and Listening Party
with special performance by Pamela Hart
Saturday, October 28, 7:30 to 9:30 pm
Off-site at Rooms Coffee @ 915 Dupont Street, Toronto
Last year at this time, we invited you to experience Lou Sheppard’s immersive audio installation, Rights of Passage. Delineating the intricacies of riparian/river-system rights as they apply to non-human subjects in Toronto’s ecology, this opera/installation/oratorio introduced our audiences to the antics and anxieties of Giant Hogweed, Algae, and Turkeytail Fungus as they queered the courses of the Don, Blackcreek, and Lavender Creek waterways in Toronto in an epic eco-drag-inspired audio-visual feast.
Such an audio-driven exhibition called for a sound-based catalogue. Thus, we decided to go old-school with an LP instead of a codex. Reworking the soundtrack of the exhibition, Lou Sheppard (with the help of producer Cecile Believe) crafted three perfect pop songs, with music and performance by Pamela Hart, that together bring the story of our hapless plant-based heroes as they consider their past (if they can remember it) and future (if there is one). The B side features an abridged version of the full audio piece as performed by the original Riparian Chorus. These 2 sides are the core of this 12 inch LP, which, with an introduction by Jenifer Papararo, AGYU director/curator, and curatorial essay by Michael Maranda, assistant curator, publications, functions as the exhibition catalogue.
Join us at the hi-fi listening bar at Rooms Coffee @ 915 Dupont as we spin the vinyl on their custom-built soundsystem and listen in as Pamela Hart gives a live rendition of some of the songs. Lou Sheppard will be in attendance so this is your chance to get a signed copy! (The launch follows the opening of Lou Sheppard and John Monteith's exhibition, Signal to Noise, at Hunt Gallery.)
The Rights of Passage vinyl LP has been co-published with Art Metropole, Toronto in an edition of 350.