A talk with multidisciplinary artist AO Roberts.
AO Roberts will discuss insights from recent projects, including Plants Properties Equipment, a virtual world developed with Vancouver independent game designers Séance Collective, featuring an original soundtrack featuring d/Deaf and disabled artists Johanna Hedva, Molly Joyce, Chisato Minamimura, Medical Museum and Andy Slater.
AO Roberts is a multidisciplinary artist and researcher whose crip sonic practice creates infrastructures resonating with the unruly poetics of disabled life. Exploring the generative frictions of error, access, collaboration and legibility, AO has presented work at Plug In ICA, SOMArts, SOUND/IMAGE, Send + Receive Festival of Sound Art and Pioneer Works Center for Art and Innovation.
AO records experimental electronics under the moniker VOR (Ruminant, Makade Star, 2022), holds an MFA from California College of the Arts and is a MacDowell Fellow (2022), a Sobey Award longlist artist (2021), and a PhD researcher in disability sound arts at York/Toronto Metropolitan University in Tkaronto.
As a February 2026 artist-in-residence at What Lab, AO Roberts is collaborating with Vancouver artists Sainerine and RITUAL PURIFICATION for a one-night-only performance activation of Zero Input Enclosure Movement v.2 at the first event of Vancouver New Music’s On Curation series on February 14 at the ANNEX, curated by Anju Singh.
Desire, Friction, and Crip Sonic Worldmaking will take place in the Integrated Motion Studio, located on Level 1 at the very east end of the ECU campus. Enter through the main doors, then head along the Michael O’Brian Exhibition Commons towards the other end of the campus. Stairs and elevators down to Level 1 are along the way.
Registration is highly recommended. Find out more about the event here.
ASL interpretation will be available for this event. If you would like this service please indicate when registering, or email casandra@newmusic.org.
Presented by New Media and Sound Arts at Emily Carr University of Art + Design in partnership with Vancouver New Music.