The Research and Renewal award was started in the fall of 2021 by GAC and funder, Jason Nadon. The award creates opportunities for local creatives to engage with archives, collections, and resources in developing story or research-based art projects.
Meet the Artists and get to know their projects:
Carved from Stone by Silas Chinsen and Lizzy Mikulich
Silas Chinsen is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and vocalist based in Guelph. He holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s of Music in Classical Guitar and Voice Performance. Lizzy Mikulich is an emerging artist who works in digital drawing and animation. She is a recent graduate from the University of Guelph’s Studio Art program
Arboreal Opera by Alia Miroshnichenko
Alia Miroshnichenko is a Siberian-Canadian composer, operatic singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer. Her project aimed to “rediscover the connection between the Guelph community and its plant-based life by creating a series of musical compositions that would involve collaborative musical co-operation between human and non-human subjects like trees, mushrooms, and plants… using an electronic device with censors to read biometric data” and building her music compositions around the biodata.
Arboreal Opera is available to view and
listen online HERE.
Alia Miroshnichenko holds a PhD in Digital Media/Communication and Culture from York University, and an MA and BA from the University of Guelph.
Arboreal Opera is an experimental art project that combines local bio-ethnographic research with music composition. Plant Biodata is sourced from local trees at The Arboretum (University of Guelph), translated into MIDI, and then is used as a starting point for a musical composition. The project aims to
draw attention to local arboreal life and plant stories through making their stories audible and visible through music.
