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Robyn Moody // Harp: Phase 1


  • Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art 421 Cawston Avenue (unit 103) Kelowna, BC, V1Y 6Z1 Canada (map)

From the summer 2006 Brochure

When entering the exhibition space, visitors [were] greeted by a wall of lazar light; 48 parallell beams running horizontally down the gallery centre. These are the strings of the Harp: Phase 1. The audio comes from 48 speakers attached to the wall. The beams or “strings” can be played s a harp by breaking the beams to activate corrosponding audio. In this case, the tones produced encompass all utterances for English, French, German and Dutch (possibly others as well). The viewer, through the use of this technology, can access and compose with these identified human utterances. At first glance, such a technology forsees (lightheartedly) a universal laguage, but the babble produced by the machine undercuts this vision, suggesting the romantic and synchronistic nature of such a proposal.


Robyn Moody (b. 1975, Lethbridge, Canada) lives and works in Calgary, Canada and received his MFA from NSCAD University in 2006. He takes a whimsical and multifaceted approach to artmaking, lately focussed on electronics, mechanics, installation, sound, mechanics and sculpture.

Often humorous, often strikingly beautiful, and often hiding a dark secret, Moody’s work explores (in whole or in part) the complex relationships between technological advances, human belief and interpretations of the world, and humanity’s relationship with science, politics, and nature.

In the past decade, he has shown his work regularly across Canada, Mexico, Scandinavia and Europe. Notable recent examples include Fondation Vasarely (Aix-en-Provence), Transitio festival (Mexico City), Kling and Bang (Reykjavik), Lydgalleriet (Bergen), AND festival (Liverpool), the 2013 Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art (Edmonton), the Confederation Centre for the Arts (Charlottetown), The International Digital Arts Biennial (BIAN) at the Centre PHI and Musée d’art contemporain de Montreal (Montréal), Le Lieu Unique (Nantes, FR), Transmediale (Berlin, DE), Lighting Guerrilla (Ljubljana, Slovenia), Scopitone festival (Nantes), Werkleitz festival (Halle, DE), and the Némo Biennial Internationale des Arts Numériques (Paris, FR).

He has twice been nominated for the Sobey Art Award; in 2010 and 2012.

To learn more about Robyn’s current work, visit his website.

Earlier Event: April 21
Kristi Malakoff // The Glade