Whitney Brennan
Artist in Residence | October 2021
Whitney Brennan is a sound artist and curator living on the unceded traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations.
She holds a Master of Arts in Art History: Critical & Curatorial Studies from the University of British Columbia. In Vancouver, she has curated exhibitions at The FALL, Access Gallery, Gam Gallery, Capture Photography Festival, in partnership with Decoy Magazine, and Arts Assembly. Her writing has been published in Luna Luna Magazine, C Magazine, and SAD Magazine. Her sound art has been exhibited at Dynamo Arts Association and YACTAC in Vancouver, Two Rivers Gallery in Prince George and broadcasted through CiTRadio (Vancouver) and framework radio (UK).
Whitney is the Co-Director of Arts Assembly, a not-for-profit, community-centric arts organization that emphasizes artistic collaboration.
Misophonic Contingency
Brennan’s work with sound and field recordings came out of her experiences with an aurally sensitive anxiety disorder and experiencing misophonia. Fascinated by sound’s influence on mental health, Brennan’s work explores and evokes the duality of sound; triggering at times, sound can be soothing and offer redirection from sources of anxiety.
During her time at Lobe, Brennan focused on exploring how sound interacts with the body’s nervous system and physiology - composing detailed, immersive landscapes to situate an audience within. Using the studio itself to produce narrative and tactile recordings, Brennan brings her audience into the world as she experiences it - spanning from surreal to hyper-realism - an informative and emotive audio journey.