ReSound Series: Art and music in dialogue

The ReSound Series returned this January with interdisciplinary performances that brought together students and faculty from the School of Art and the Desautels Faculty of Music in live, collaborative work. Rather than centring on finished outcomes, the series emphasized process—creating space for students to experiment, respond to one another, and learn through making in real time.

One of the most visually striking projects was Order/Disorder, a large-scale performance combining live percussion with real-time painting and drawing. School of Art students worked collaboratively on a single large painting alongside music students performing on a wide range of percussion instruments, with sound, movement, and mark-making continually reshaping the shared space.

With no fixed score or script, Order/Disorder evolved through listening and responsiveness. Students reacted in the moment—to one another, the materials, the music, and the audience—allowing visual and sonic elements to emerge collectively. The open-ended structure required a different way of working, grounded in presence, adaptability, and trust in the group.

The performance also included two solo movement works by School of Art MFA students Aria Evans and Mike Lau, woven into the larger ensemble and extending the dialogue between sound, movement, and mark-making. It concluded with a collective group performance involving faculty, undergraduate students, and graduate students from both faculties.

Order/Disorder stood out within the ReSound Series as a distinctly student-driven collaboration. Students shaped the work from the ground up, with School of Art faculty members Derek Brueckner, Mark Neufeld, and M.E. Sparks participating as peer performers and collaborators while also supporting planning and execution. Musical direction was led by UM Percussion Ensemble director Victoria Sparks, with students performing within an improvised, responsive structure that emphasized facilitated play, collective decision-making, and real-time exchange across disciplines.

The large-scale painting created during the performance is currently on display in the third-floor hallway of the ARTlab building until February 9, alongside video documentation from the event.