Live and improvised performance from our ArtsIceland Residency at Gallerí Úthverfa in Ísafjörður for our Information Systems Pop-Up Exhibition.

INFORMATION SYSTEMS
This small pop up exhibition explores ideas of directional guidance both environmentally and interpersonally and uses visual symbols and metaphors to describe ways in which a person can navigate a variety of planes. As part of the exploration, Flexible Hours has created a live, improvised performance and installation, titled Beacon. In this collaboration, Patsula uses self-made instruments and found objects as tools for performance and sound creation. These selected objects hold symbolic importance and help to describe a relationship she has to places and individuals. At the intersection of this work, Fraser uses audio from field recordings captured in Iceland along with synthesizers, samplers and a drum machine to co-create a musical composition with Patsula. True to wayfinding, they use a variety of approaches to make decisions on the direction, mood and tone of the piece. Much like navigating the multiple facets of daily life, these choices lead to discoveries and familiarity that can only unfold on the journey.

Flexible Hours Live @ Gallerí Úthverfa Ísafjörður, Iceland 04.12.21

Capturing the essence of a bath bomb (baking soda + mica powder) utilizing an Aquarian H2a hydrophone.

Bath Bomb Hydrophone

Eric Fraser + Stephanie Patsula lather up with their Aquarian Audio hydrophones to create and capture sound textures using wash-up materials amplified by  the cavernous acoustics of shower stalls + bathtubs.

These samples, when layered with the  melodic sequencing of the UDO Super 6 +  a classic Moog bass-line, merge to envelop the listener in a dewy + echoic  composition.

Mastered by Nik Kozub

Submerged

Flexible Hours Live @ The Grand Calgary, Canada 28.04.22

This past September 24th & 25th, Stephanie Patsula was invited to create a film and soundscape that centered on 𝘐𝘕 𝘗𝘓𝘈𝘊𝘌: 𝘋𝘙𝘈𝘞𝘐𝘕𝘎 𝘠𝘖𝘜 𝘖𝘜𝘛𝘚𝘐𝘋𝘌, 𝘑𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘬’𝘴 𝘞𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘐𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 -- A Performance by 𝘐𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘦 𝘏𝘴𝘪𝘢𝘰 @irenechsiao in collaboration with dancers 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘯 𝘓𝘦𝘦, 𝘈𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘢 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘵, 𝘞𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘱𝘢 𝘗-𝘌𝘶𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴, & 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 “𝘚𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳” 𝘚𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦 and musicians 𝘔𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘩𝘶𝘢 𝘎𝘶𝘢𝘯 (guzheng), 𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘭𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘦 (cello) & 𝘚𝘤𝘰𝘵𝘵 𝘙𝘶𝘣𝘪𝘯 (viola).

From hours of digitally recorded audio and visual performance ephemera, Stephanie interpreted and distilled her experience into two compositions. Which debuted on October 16, 2022 for 𝘐𝘕 𝘗𝘓𝘈𝘊𝘌: 𝘙𝘌𝘍𝘓𝘌𝘊𝘛𝘐𝘖𝘕/𝘗𝘙𝘖𝘑𝘌𝘊𝘛𝘐𝘖𝘕
@highconceptlabs at @manacontemporary - Chicago, IL

SHORT FILM
𝘐𝘯 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦: 𝘚𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴
SOUNDSCAPE
𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘩𝘰𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘹; by Flexible Hours

Soundscape for Short Film - In Place: Sensorial Traces

Contact: flexiblehours.ca@gmail.com

Flexible Hours is a performance-driven collaboration residing in Canada. Its participants are live composer and experimental sound artist, Eric Fraser and interdisciplinary artist Stephanie Patsula. 

Through an exploration of new media, live performance and sound creation the pair work to assess and manipulate their surroundings. Patsula uses her own body as a conduit and site to explore, while Fraser relies on sound creation and collection. Together they use chosen and created materials to develop live performances and scores.

The catalyst of these works is found in both artist's desire to subvert a linear or binary perspective of the world around us, and aim to create atmospheric interventions that allow  both artist and viewer to take agency in the co-creation of the moment.

Stephanie Patsula is an early career artist who lives and works on treaty 6 territory ᐊᒥᐢᑿᒌᐚᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ - amiskwacîwâskahikan, edmonton, alberta.
This past November (2020) she graduated with an MFA in Intermedia from the University of Alberta. The projects Patsula creates are focused across a variety of processes, meeting at an intersection of lens, installation and performance work and are mediated by both physical and digital locations. She is interested in the metaphor vehicle of vessels and how the body gives material form to personal and abstract experience. Patsula’s work prioritizes embodied research, exploration of site(s), reciprocity through sound and symbology, while attempting to approach concepts of relational ethics, cultural ritual and spirituality.

In addition to her art practice she aims to foster connections within the arts community, working with project spaces and arts incubators to activate sites with programming, interventions and events.

Eric Fraser is a  composer and sound artist who lives and works on treaty 6 territory ᐊᒥᐢᑿᒌᐚᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ - amiskwacîwâskahikan, Edmonton, Alberta.
 He is a live performer and electronic musician who draws inspiration from the overall physical and political climate. The local industrial influences of the Places in which he works form the foundation of his conceptual and experimental process. By sampling and manipulating field recorded and synthesized soundscapes in his musical compositions, he attempts to create a mood of dissonance. 

Fraser approaches his work with a hybrid of analog, digital and acoustic tools. Fraser experiments with non-linear patterns, pacing and spatial sound design as a tool to create tension for the listeners and viewers. He has been involved as a composer, sound artist and participant in various electronic music and audio-visual projects in Canada for over a decade.

FLX HRS

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