Listening at the Edge: Sound, Quantum Physics, and the Act of Attention
Friday, August 28, 2026
1:30 pm_2:15 pm
Atrium et Studio-Théâtre des Grands Ballets
85$
Day Pass price, excl. fees & taxesPauline Oliveros’ Deep Listening practice asked us to expand our awareness to include all sounds, inner and outer. Quantum physics, in a strange parallel, describes a universe where observation itself changes what is observed. This session brings those two ideas into dialogue, gathering quantum physicists, composers, sonic healers, and curators to ask: what is listening? and does the physics of uncertainty change the answer?
The conversation moves between registers. Alexandre Blais, professor at Universite de Sherbrooke and co-creator of circuit quantum electrodynamics, brings the science that underlies these institutions, while sound artist and composer France Jobin finds ways to make that science felt rather than simply understood, most recently with Lueurs quantiques and The Fluctuation of Emptiness. Composer and performer Kara-Lis Coverdale approaches the same territory from a different angle, working across electronic music and pipe organ to build sonic environments that dissolve the boundaries between musical systems and languages. And Rena Anakwe, interdisciplinary artist and NEW INC cohort member, grounds the conversation in the body, weaving sound, scent, and traditional healing to ask how reconnecting to nature, and to one another might itself be a form of listening.
Moderated by Eva Fischer of CIVA Festival and presented by NEW INC
Please note: this activity will be in English, with live transcription available.
Presented by
France JobinCA/QC
Listening at the Edge: Sound, Quantum Physics, and the Act of Attention
28 Aug
Performs at 1:30 pm_2:15 pm Montréal time
Alexandre BlaisCA/QC
Institut quantique de l'Université de Sherbrooke
Listening at the Edge: Sound, Quantum Physics, and the Act of Attention
28 Aug
Performs at 1:30 pm_2:15 pm Montréal time
Kara-Lis CoverdaleCA
Listening at the Edge: Sound, Quantum Physics, and the Act of Attention
28 Aug
Performs at 1:30 pm_2:15 pm Montréal time
Rena AnakweCA/US
NEW INC
Listening at the Edge: Sound, Quantum Physics, and the Act of Attention
28 Aug
Performs at 1:30 pm_2:15 pm Montréal time
Eva FischerAT
CIVA Festival
Listening at the Edge: Sound, Quantum Physics, and the Act of Attention
28 Aug
Performs at 1:30 pm_2:15 pm Montréal time
Friday, August 28, 2026
2:15 pm_3:00 pm
