SSXXII Installations: Living Room
Advertisement
Living Room
by Luke Blackmore
July 19th and 20th, 5:30pm
MUN School of Music Instrumental Room
*Performances by Nikki Huang at 6:30 PM
Living Room is a large-scale interdisciplinary electroacoustic percussion work that explores the familiar titular space as a site of artistic exploration. The work merges contemporary classical music with theatre and dance to explore themes of isolation, identity, and control within the cultural and social context of the living room. In this piece, transducers are attached to furniture, allowing the space itself to come alive with sound and join the performer in examining our connections to our living spaces. Is the living room a space of isolation or connection? How do we express ourselves in these spaces, and how they affect how our identity is shaped outside of them? Do we have agency over our living rooms, or do they control us? Living Room is dedicated to Nikki Huang, who commissioned the piece, and was instrumental in the composition and realisation of the work. Nikki’s enthusiasm for collaboration and willingness to explore has made Living Room real.
Luke Blackmore is a Canadian composer, sound artist, and saxophonist based in Toronto.
His current artistic practice centers around works that explore acoustic and electronic spaces, and he is interested in exploring the connections and divisions between these two sonic environments. Luke’s work seeks to investigate how these boundaries can be exploited, assured, and otherwise manipulated in order to subvert the collective expectations of audiences. His music explores the tenacious relationship between technological innovation and human performance practice.
Luke holds degrees from the University of Toronto and Memorial University, and has studied under Gary Kulesha, Kotoka Suzuki, Eliot Britton, and Andrew Staniland, among others. He is currently pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Toronto.
Luke is the recipient of numerous awards and commissions, most notably the SSHRC CGS-M grant for his ongoing creative research into computer-controlled instrument systems and two SOCAN Foundation Young Composer Awards. His music has been performed and recorded by multiple performers and ensembles such as the JACK Quartet, the Alkali Collective, Josh Rubin, Ryan Scott, Mark Fewer, and others. Luke’s compositions have been performed from coast-to-coast in Canada and abroad, in venues ranging from dive bars to concert halls.
Nikki Huang is a Taiwanese percussionist based in Toronto, whose work moves fluidly between contemporary performance, storytelling, and interdisciplinary collaboration. She is drawn to music that explores character and narrative, often working across original compositions, jazz vibraphone, children’s musical theatre, and workshop-based practices. Her artistic approach is shaped by a deep interest in collaboration and performance as a shared, imaginative space.
As an active performer, Huang has collaborated with ensembles and artists including Esprit Orchestra, New Music Concerts, Tapestry Opera, Women From Space, The Happenstancers, Coexisdance, and Ensemble Intercontemporain through the ULYSSES Platform for Young Musicians. She was selected as an artist of HappLab 2025, and has held artist residencies at the Banff Centre and the Westben Centre. Huang holds a master’s degree in Percussion Performance from the University of Toronto, where she also worked as a research assistant in the Technology and Performance Integration Lab.
by Luke Blackmore
July 19th and 20th, 5:30pm
MUN School of Music Instrumental Room
*Performances by Nikki Huang at 6:30 PM
Living Room is a large-scale interdisciplinary electroacoustic percussion work that explores the familiar titular space as a site of artistic exploration. The work merges contemporary classical music with theatre and dance to explore themes of isolation, identity, and control within the cultural and social context of the living room. In this piece, transducers are attached to furniture, allowing the space itself to come alive with sound and join the performer in examining our connections to our living spaces. Is the living room a space of isolation or connection? How do we express ourselves in these spaces, and how they affect how our identity is shaped outside of them? Do we have agency over our living rooms, or do they control us? Living Room is dedicated to Nikki Huang, who commissioned the piece, and was instrumental in the composition and realisation of the work. Nikki’s enthusiasm for collaboration and willingness to explore has made Living Room real.
Luke Blackmore is a Canadian composer, sound artist, and saxophonist based in Toronto.
His current artistic practice centers around works that explore acoustic and electronic spaces, and he is interested in exploring the connections and divisions between these two sonic environments. Luke’s work seeks to investigate how these boundaries can be exploited, assured, and otherwise manipulated in order to subvert the collective expectations of audiences. His music explores the tenacious relationship between technological innovation and human performance practice.
Luke holds degrees from the University of Toronto and Memorial University, and has studied under Gary Kulesha, Kotoka Suzuki, Eliot Britton, and Andrew Staniland, among others. He is currently pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Toronto.
Luke is the recipient of numerous awards and commissions, most notably the SSHRC CGS-M grant for his ongoing creative research into computer-controlled instrument systems and two SOCAN Foundation Young Composer Awards. His music has been performed and recorded by multiple performers and ensembles such as the JACK Quartet, the Alkali Collective, Josh Rubin, Ryan Scott, Mark Fewer, and others. Luke’s compositions have been performed from coast-to-coast in Canada and abroad, in venues ranging from dive bars to concert halls.
Nikki Huang is a Taiwanese percussionist based in Toronto, whose work moves fluidly between contemporary performance, storytelling, and interdisciplinary collaboration. She is drawn to music that explores character and narrative, often working across original compositions, jazz vibraphone, children’s musical theatre, and workshop-based practices. Her artistic approach is shaped by a deep interest in collaboration and performance as a shared, imaginative space.
As an active performer, Huang has collaborated with ensembles and artists including Esprit Orchestra, New Music Concerts, Tapestry Opera, Women From Space, The Happenstancers, Coexisdance, and Ensemble Intercontemporain through the ULYSSES Platform for Young Musicians. She was selected as an artist of HappLab 2025, and has held artist residencies at the Banff Centre and the Westben Centre. Huang holds a master’s degree in Percussion Performance from the University of Toronto, where she also worked as a research assistant in the Technology and Performance Integration Lab.
Advertisement
Where is it happening?
Burton's Pond Rd, St John's, NL A1B, Canada, 196 Burton's Pond Rd, St John's, NL A1B, Canada, St. John's
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
Host or PublisherSound Symposium
