Name: Olivia Valenza - Egress by UNIT/PITT in Sound of the Sun, Volume II
Duration: 7 min 2 s
Description: Sound of the Sun, Volume II is here to accompany you through the darkest day of the year. Created with the winter solstice in mind, this compilation features an eclectic mix of tracks responding to the darkest point of the year—a time of slowness, sleep, but also the promise of increasing light and a slow progression towards summer.

Sound of the Sun, Volume II is here to accompany you through the darkest day of the year. Created for the Winter Solstice of 2024, this compilation features an eclectic mix of tracks responding to this notable time of the year in the Northern Hemisphere—a time of slowness and sleep which simultaneously harbours the promise of an increase in light and the renewed progression towards brighter days. Building on our first iteration of this project which launched with the Summer Solstice of June of 2023, a new slate of artists have responded to these planetary movements on the shortest day of the year through song, storytelling, and experimental audio recordings in this second instalment of the Sound of the Sun project.

Curated by Catherine de Montreuil and Marisa Kriangwiwat Holmes.

Album artwork and design by Marisa Kriangwiwat Holmes. All tracks were recorded by the individual artists except for the following, which were recorded with additional help from CHOMS in Vancouver, BC:

Tracks 1 + 5 are partially recorded by Nick Short
Tracks 3 + 8 have additional mixing by Nick Short

Read more about the artists and tracks at: https://www.unitpitt.ca/portfolio/sound-of-the-sun-volume-ii/

Sound of the Sun, Volume II

On this episode of Below the Radar, Am Johal is joined by Roxanne Panchasi from SFU’s History Department and Brit Bachmann from UNIT/PITT. Together they discuss their latest collaboration, La Commune 2021, a free online school commemorating the 150 anniversary of the Paris Commune. 

Roxanne and Brit share how the idea of La Commune 2021 came about. They talk about the historical importance of the Paris Commune, how it has resonated in other historical periods, and its relevance in particular in this moment of history. 

Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/111-roxanne-panchasi-brit-bachmann.html

Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/111-roxanne-panchasi-brit-bachmann.html

Resources:
— La Commune 2021: https://www.unitpitt.ca/la-commune/ 
— UNIT/PITT: https://www.unitpitt.ca/ 
— New Books in French Studies podcast by Roxanne Panchasi: https://roxannepanchasi.com/portfolio/new-books-in-french-studies/
— The Anarchist Library: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/search?query=paris+commune
— Documents of the Paris Commune: https://www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/documents/index.htm
— Club Atomique upcoming book from Roxanne Panchasi: https://roxannepanchasi.com/home-2/club-atomique/

Bio:
Roxanne is an Associate Professor of History at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada who specializes in the twentieth and twenty-first century France, and the French empire, and its legacies. Her first book, Future Tense: The Culture of Anticipation in France Between the Wars was published by Cornell University Press in 2009. She has written on a range of subjects including: nineteenth-century graphology, prosthetics, the Paris Commune, experimental film, and the teaching of History. Her current book project focuses on the cultural politics of French nuclear weapons and testing in the Algerian Sahara. In it, she examines military, scientific, diplomatic, literary, audio-visual, testimonial, and memorial sources as a broad archive of the”French” bomb in empire. Her most recent article, ‘“No Hiroshima in Africa”: The Algerian War and the Question of French Nuclear Tests in the Sahara’ appeared in the Spring 2019 issue of History Present. In 2013, Dr. Panchasi launched New Books in French Studies, a podcast channel featuring discussions with scholars of France and the Francophone world about their latest books that she hosts on the New Books Network. 

Brit Bachmann is a multidisciplinary artist who writes, draws, and throws clay in Vancouver, Canada, on unceded land belonging to the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. She is the Executive Director of UNIT/PITT Society for Art & Critical Awareness, and co-founder of ReIssue with Casey Wei. Brit has previously worked in administration and outreach at VIVO Media Arts Centre, Capture Photography Festival, The Cinematheque; and notably, as Editor-In-Chief of Discorder Magazine (2015-18). She has served on the programming committee of CFRO Vancouver Co-op Radio (2015-18), and the Polaris Music Prize jury (2016-19). Brit is a member of the Board of Directors of VIVO Media Arts Centre, and the Pacific Association of Artist Run Centres (PAARC). She has a Bachelor of Fine Art from the University of British Columbia–Okanagan.

Cite this episode:
Chicago Style

Johal, Am. “La Commune 2021 — with Roxanne Panchasi and Brit Bachmann.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, March 22, 2021. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/111-roxanne-panchasi-brit-bachmann.html.

La Commune 2021 — with Roxanne Panchasi and Brit Bachmann

Sound of the Sun, Volume I is the weird, entrancing, celebratory, sometimes gloomy, and somewhat euphoric summer mixtape of planetary travel, solar interventions, story telling, and frog choruses you didn’t know you needed for summer 2023.

As UNIT/PITT's first iteration of a multi-part project of sonic-celestial explorations, the Sound of the Sun project asks participants to consider their relationship to cycles of solar movement as the days lengthen on this half of the planet—to observe, respond, record, and retell through music, poetry, field recordings, storytelling, and any other audio-based methods in order to speak to this important time of the solar year.

Featuring sound works by 10 artists, Sound of the Sun, Volume I beckons the promise of sun-worship, long beach days, A/C, forest fires, and excess levels of Vitamin D.

Curated by Catherine de Montreuil and Marisa Kriangwiwat Holmes Recording, mastering, and project support from Nick Short
Artwork by Martin Steuck, Catherine de Montreuil, and Marisa Kriangwiwat Holmes

Lida Pawliuk - Feat. B. WEST - Cruel Summer

Sound of the Sun, Volume II is here to accompany you through the darkest day of the year. Created with the winter solstice in mind, this compilation features an eclectic mix of tracks responding to the darkest point of the year—a time of slowness, sleep, but also the promise of increasing light and a slow progression towards summer.

Olivia Valenza - Egress

Tiffany Muñoz - The Sun Frowns/Ang Adlaw Gakusmod

J Ward The - Light Goes Out

Spiral Remix - Goodbye to Everything

goddaughter - listen to me (inhale/exhale)

In The Are - Cosmic Goblets

Following the brutal repression of the Paris Commune in May 1871, what was the aftermath? The Conservative and Catholic backlash against the Paris Commune, paved the way for the building of the Sacré Coeur Basillica on the hill of Montmartre “to expiate the crimes of the Commune”, but attitudes changed towards the Communards and their eradication by the 3rd Republic. As sympathy grew for the ideals of the Paris Commune, RFI’s David Coffey asked Professor John Horne whether this sense of empathy towards “martyrs to their cause” led to the 1905 Separation of Church & State in France?

How Repercussions From The Paris Commune Led To The Separation Of Church & State - Prof John Horne

Artist-run center on unceded territories of Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Peoples

Olivia Valenza - Egress

UNIT/PITT

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