The SOUNDplay festival is presented by New Adventures in Sound Art (NAISA) in South River, Ontario. It opens on September 20 with a performance, and runs until January 5, 2026 with a series of interactive exhibits, a workshop, and more.
The festival is all about encouraging new ways of exploring the connections between sound and new media, and the theme of the 24th edition of SOUNDplay is “There is Art in Our Nature”.
Highlights include the opening night performance by Indonesian artist Rani Jambak, and a talk by Rimouski, Québec climate change photographer Joan Sullivan and composer Robin Servant at the launch of an interactive exhibit titled Ice Voices.
“This year’s edition of SOUNDplay expands on the theme ‘There is Art in Our Nature’ by responding to the impact of climate change on water. The artists in SOUNDplay creatively probe and respond to this issue in very different ways by drawing attention to hidden layers of their local reality, allowing audiences to experience it through visual and sonic expression,” comments Darren Copeland, Artistic Director, New Adventures in Sound Art in a statement.
Here’s a look at what’s in store.
SOUNDplay 2025
Performance: Rani Jambak (September 20)
Rani Jambak will perform on her instrument called the Kincia Aia. It’s her own design, and was inspired by the traditional water wheels of Minangkabau, West Sumatra, Indonesia. The water wheels are rare nowadays, in part because the rivers and streams are drying up due to climate change. Jambak’s performance in South River is part of a tour that will include shows at Venus Fest in Toronto, Guelph Jazz Festival and Debaser at Pop Montréal.
- Find more details and tickets here.
Installation: Experience Ice Voices (September 26 to January 5)
Ice Voices is an interactive photo-sound installation from Rimouski, Québec by climate change photographer Joan Sullivan and composer Robin Servant. The installation invites visitors to listen to the sound of disappearing ice on the St. Lawrence, and what it is trying to tell us, by engaging the senses of touch and vision as well as sound. The visiting artists will be in attendance on September 26 at 7 p.m. for a talk on the subject of Probing the Sounds of Climate Change.
- Find more details here.
Workshop: 48-Hour Sound Art Challenge (October 17 to 19)
This weekend long workshop allows participants to explore the festival theme There is Art in Our Nature in detail. The workshop takes place at Warbler’s Roost, a 14-acre rural waterfront property on Deer Lake (Lount Township), and is for both newcomers to sound art and those with some experience. Participants will create a sound art miniature composition over the weekend.
- Find more details, and a registration link, here.
Radio: Earth — 12 Hour NAISA Radio Broadcast (December 12, 12 noon until 12 midnight)
EARTH (Okâwîmâw Askiy – ᐅᑳᐧᒫᐊᐧᐢᑭᕀ) is a 12-hour event, the sixth in an annual series that takes place on December 12 from noon until midnight. Since its inception, each year, the event moves through each word of the phrase “You And I Are Water Earth Fire Air Of Life And Death”, and the goal is to work with the word each year in a variety of ways. The in-person event is hosted and broadcast on NAISA Radio from USask Galleries, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon.
Details
New Adventures in Sound Art is a non-profit sound art organization in South River Ontario. The SOUNDplay Festival is based at the NAISA North Media Arts Centre (313 Highway 124, South River, Ontario) and Warbler’s Roost, South River.
Cost: Pay-What-You-Can Donation for Exhibition and Artist Talk / $15 for Performance/ $339 / $215 registration fee for 48-Hour Sound Art Challenge
- Find more Festival details [HERE].
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