Lyla Rye commissioned me to do the music for her video installation ‘Overshadow‘ for the 2016 In/Future Festival (run by Art Spin with Small World Music) which opened the long abandoned Ontario Place.
Here’s a note I wrote for ‘Overshadow’:
“It features the remixing the of Dolores Claman’s theme music for Ontario Place (Dolores is renowned for having written the Cdn iconic masterpiece, ‘Hockey Night in Canada’), + the plundering of contemporary pop artists (derived from Lyla’s daughter Leena’s playlist) Metric, Janelle Monae, Gorillaz, AWOL Nation and Lykke Li.
The structure of the piece passes from the grand optimistic – even utopian – fanfares of the Ontario Place Theme (written sometime in the 1970s) which are gradually eclipsed by millennial pop artifacts, until there is a full eclipse. Following the eclipse pop artifacts dominate. At the end, through a series of more or less disruptive insertions there is a gradual collapse, and the Ontario Place theme re-emerges in a somewhat dystopian crescendo…”
I worked many nights on the piece, with the entirety of the then completely abandoned and overgrown Ontario Place all to myself, ensconced in the silo Lyla had been given to project the video. The acoustics were incredible, but also incredibly challenging, with sound bouncing everywhere and coming back all out of synch and creating ‘standing waves’ of chaos which you could very audibly walk in and out of…
It was an absolute blast really. I had so much fun teasing apart Dolores Clamans’ theme music, and having the great pleasure of getting Leena’s playlist which had a lot of just great music!
Here’s the music, which looped in synch with Lyla’s video which was projected onto the ceiling of the silo, with visitors just laying out on the ground in Lyla’s bean bag sofa/chairs so they could stare up at the ceiling of the dome.
Featured Track: Overshadow
