New Adventures in Sound Art (NAISA) & the Mississauga Office of Arts and Culture (MOAC) will serve up an audio feast in celebration of Art’s Birthday on January 17, 2008. While Mississauga sound and media artists perform in the Civic Centre, special guests will be beamed in via the Internet from Japan, Vienna and other parts of the world.

Art’s Birthday 2008 Mississauga will take place at the Great Hall in the Mississauga Civic Centre on January 17, 2008, 2-10 pm :: Admission & Parking are FREE (note: buses are also available from Toronto). CKLN radio will broadcast the day’s activities both on radio from 2 to 5 p.m. and on the Internet from 2 to 10 p.m.

“This marks the third year of celebrations by NAISA that explores Art and media within an international exchange context and the first with the city of Mississauga,” said Darren Copeland, artistic director of New Adventures in Sound Art. “Art’s Birthday encapsulates the Adventure in New Adventures in Sound Art.”

The program, which spans eight hours, will feature roving reporter Darla Kitty (aka Halifax sound artist Eleanor King), who will keep guests up-to-date on happenings throughout the day; an unveiling of a Mississauga sound map created by residents with recordings of environmental sounds around the City; a radio transmitter race between ‘free radio’ philosopher/pioneer media artist, Tetsuo Kogawa from Japan and Halifax sound artist Stephen Kelly; DJ-artists, Youth Troopers for Global Awareness, Mississauga Children’s Choir and the Back2Basics dancers; and of course, there will be cake. Sponsor CKLN radio will broadcast the day’s activities both on radio from 2 to 5 p.m. and on the Internet from 2 to 10 p.m. Information on bus transportation and the program are available at mississauga.ca.

Art’s Birthday is an annual exchange-art event celebrated on January 17 by a collection of artists and artist organizations around the world. The day was originally proposed in 1963 by French artist Robert Filliou to celebrate the presence of art in our lives. He suggested that 1,000,000 years ago, there was no art, but on January 17, Art was born when someone dropped a dry sponge into a bucket of water. An evolving network of participants now celebrates Art’s Birthday with exchange and telecommunications-art.

There’s still time for radio stations to participate in this worldwide celebration of art. Log into www.artsbirthday.net for more information or call or email Nadene Thériault-Copeland at 416-516-7413 / 416.910.7231 or naisa[at]naisa.ca and she’ll direct you to the right person in order to add your event.

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