Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain is proud to present Narvaez Bay: Tidal Predictions for 2012 in its project space pfoac221 . The score for Narvaez Bay: Tidal Predictions for 2012 forms a calendar in which the daily tide levels predicted to occur over the course of a year are transcribed onto a musical scale. Lunar cycles and the advent of solar equinoxes and solstices are also transfigured in this way. Invoking the renaissance tradition of Augenmusik (Eye Music), traditional musical notation is replaced with iconographical elements representing moon, tide and sun. The ensuing three-part score offers a representation of the tension at the heart of tidal dynamics. In performance, the rhythmic rise and fall of ocean levels as influenced by the sun and the moon are embodied in the inhaling and exhaling breath of human voices, creating a seamlessly flowing interface with natural cycles, which conjures a universe in constant flux.
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Mark Timmings is a multidisciplinary artist who explores perceptions of place by appropriating data and enfolding them into the domain of art. He creates works that intimate an infinite and vital web of interconnecting natural cycles and human patterns by transforming field observations and aspects of science into aesthetic considerations and contemplative experiences. His bodies of work operate as conceptual machines that are driven by algorithmic systems. They are ultimately transferable and open-ended. Ongoing projects include: Meteorologic (2010-), print works that conjoin grids and colour fields to track temperature patterns and personal memory; The Tide Songbook (2012-), musical compositions that transform tidal predictions, moon phases and the solar calendar into illuminated scores and multilayered sonorous performance art; and The Wetland Project (2015-), a multi-part examination of an environmental soundscape through musical composition and performance, radio art and a sound/colour installation. Mark Timmings is also a graphic designer who specializes in visual arts and cultural projects. His design career spans over three decades and includes collaborations with artists, writers, curators, and cultural institutions from across Canada. In 1991 Timmings served as a board member and director of communications for the Congress of the International Council of Graphic Design Associations in Montreal. From 1994 to 1997 he taught design and graphic standards at the Université du Québec. Timmings has received numerous international awards for his publication designs. Recent artist-book collaborations include Connexion with Hank Bull and The Surgeon and the Photographer with Geoffrey Farmer. Mark Timmings lives and works on Saturna Island, British Columbia, where he is a member of the local community choir.