Peter Morin led this research creation project focused on developing methods for post-colonial sound compositions and strategies centering land as an active, and original, contributor to a shared sonic landscape. Turning away from instruments, and respective disciplines, as the body is our primary tool for creation and source of resonance.
The primary objective is to unsettle colonial music making practices, and the invisible histories of sonic colonialism in our shared western popular culture. Unsettling implies a shaking of a part of pieces embedded within systems of and power. Sonic dreaming as a methodology drives towards, not an ‘imagined-future-dreaming space’, but moves forward with knowledges and is already in practice by Future Ancestors as a conceptual and theoretical proposition acknowledges and centres Indigenous cosmologies.
The term Futures Ancestors sees its formation in Afro-Futurism, Indigenous Futurism, and Speculative Science Fiction. The term acknowledges the continuum of Indigenous knowledge, decentres Western European Imperialism, and is a guiding research principle that focuses on accountability for the research team. This research project is guided by the following research questions:
Sonic Dreaming: We prioritize dream space, as collaborative creation of new sonic territories that collaborate across Ancestors and across time. We shift our shared song histories to become more reciprocal and less extractive.
Peter Morin is a Tahltan Nation artist, curator, and writer. In his artistic practice and curatorial work, Morin’s practice-based research investigates the impact zones that occur when indigenous cultural-based practices and western settler colonialism collide. This work is shaped by Tahltan Nation epistemological production and often takes on the form of performance interventions. In addition to his object making and performance-based practice, Morin has curated exhibitions at the Museum of Anthropology, Western Front, Bill Reid Gallery, and Burnaby Art Gallery. In 2014, Peter was long-listed for the Sobey Art Prize. Morin holds a tenured appointment at OCAD University.