Publik Secrets member George Rahi has developed a collection of kinetic sound installations at the Hadden Park fieldhouse studio, blending acoustic instruments, mechanical systems, and electronics into sculptural forms that interact with their environment. frequencies (2018) frequencies is a sound installation comprising 15 robotic bells. The array of bells perform a new composition for each… Continue reading Musical Automata
Author: publik secrets
Hadden Park Fieldhouse Residency
We are pleased to announce that Publik Secrets will begin a multi-year residency at Hadden Park’s field house in August 2015. Located at 1015 Maple St, the field house will be a site for creative engagements with the park, neighbours, and the city at large. For our field house event calendar, visit http://publiksecrets.com/field-house/ For documentation of… Continue reading Hadden Park Fieldhouse Residency
Gamelan Bike Bike
Gamelan Bike Bike draws its musical inspiration from Bali, Indonesia and its raw materials from the scrap metal bins of Vancouver. Founded in 2012 as a community-based ensemble, the group’s instruments were created from various scrap metals, including over 100 discarded bicycle frames, that were transformed into tuned metallophones and gongs. The 10-member ensemble is… Continue reading Gamelan Bike Bike
Musical Playground
The Musical Playground is an interactive installation of large-scale experimental instruments in sculptural and kinetic forms. Drawing inspiration from instrument inventors such as the Baschet Brothers and Harry Partch, the installation creates a space of hands-on play and improvisation that invites people to explore the sonic dimensions of everyday objects and the possibilities for music… Continue reading Musical Playground
Tools for Conviviality
“The beauty of public spaces is that they can be transformed within moments, to anything we need them to be, for us.” – Juliet Kahn, Project for Public Spaces Publik Secrets explores the transformational qualities of public space in the ongoing project ‘Mobile Tools for Conviviality’. Referencing Ivan Illich theories on the possibilities for convivial … Continue reading Tools for Conviviality
Mobile Saunas
West-coast Sauna culture has been creatively evolving in British Columbia. For over 14 years, the BC Mobile Sauna Society has been converting trucks, buses, and trailers into Finnish-style Saunas, taking their social sauna culture into unexpected places; cultural venues, backyards, protest camps, and glacier-fed lakes to name a few. A world apart from the experience offered at… Continue reading Mobile Saunas
Bicycle Arpeggio
Bicycle Arpeggio is a kinetic musical sculpture created from recycled bicycles. The instrument’s design mimics a cylindrical roll common in early musical automatons such as barrel organs and music boxes. Steel bicycle frame tubing, tuned by length, are placed around the rotating cylinder and act as both the programmable score and the source of sound.… Continue reading Bicycle Arpeggio
St. George Street Library
This little library, located at east 10th Avenue and St. George, is a small-scale attempt to create new community spaces in unexpected places. While the built environment of our city overwhelmingly promotes an identity rooted in consumer behavior, public gathering places such as libraries and community centres instead promote civic values of accessibility, inclusion, and… Continue reading St. George Street Library
Cycle Cinema
Vancouver’s once extensive street car system provided a vastly different way to move through the city. How would experiencing the city through this different form of collective movement shape one’s sense of space, time, and possibility? Cycle Cinema was a group bike ride that attempted to conjure elements of this street-car era through illusion; moving… Continue reading Cycle Cinema
Public Space Research
Publik Secrets activities are informed by an ongoing research project into the multi-faceted nature of public space in Vancouver. As a respite from the hustle and bustle of the automobile-dominated streetscape, a space for moments of reflection, or a place to connect with others, public spaces are the primary vestiges of an urban commons. With… Continue reading Public Space Research