Jocelyn Robert

Jocelyn Robert has always identified first and foremost as a sound artist devoted to post-modern experimentation. Beginning in the mid-'80s he issued a succession of audacious albums that most listeners would characterize as containing no music whatsoever. Silence, the trivial, miscommunication, and the recycling of pop culture formed the core of his concerns. Alongside Pierre-André Arcand and Christof Migone he established the collective Avatar in Quebec City in the early '90s, an organization that quickly became the province's leading voice in sound art. Throughout his career he has produced radio pieces and mounted installations across North America and Europe.

Born in Quebec City, Robert first trained in pharmacology and later earned a degree in architecture before turning fully to music. His entry into the medium originated in the plastic arts; he consistently treated sound as raw material to be sculpted and embedded within intermedia pieces rather than assembled into sequences of notes and rhythms. His initial installation appeared in 1987, the same year a brief composition of his was included on Ré Quarterly, Vol. 2 No. 2, a compilation assembled by British drummer and ex-Henry Cow member Chris Cutler. The following year Cutler's label Recommended issued Stat Live Moniteur, and in 1991 Recommended brought out Folie/Culture; both early efforts attracted only modest attention despite their interest.

After completing studies at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada, Robert returned to Quebec City in 1991 and joined forces with like-minded creators. Together with Louis Ouellet, Gilles Arteau, Georges Azzaria, and Fabrice Montal he launched Bruit TTV, a Dadaist noise-composition group that produced two CDs in the early '90s. In 1993 he helped initiate Avatar, described as an "association for sound creation and diffusion," which incorporated the earlier Bruit TTV members along with Arcand and Migone. Based inside the Meduse arts building and co-operative, Avatar absorbed most of his energies for the ensuing eight years; he led the organization, shaped its character, and oversaw a steady stream of installations, collective recordings, and live events while serving as producer and designer for the majority of releases on its affiliated label Ohm Editions. During this span he also issued solo albums such as Le Piano Flou (1995) and Canned Gods (1999). In 1999 he assembled the Avatar all-star electronic-improv ensemble GOD'AR, which appeared at the 2000 Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville.

Artist residencies took him to Banff, Vancouver, Amsterdam (STEIM), and Sheffield. In 2002 the installation "L'Invention des Animaux" earned him first prize at Transmediale in Berlin. Although most of his radio works were realized for Canadian state radio, Austrian broadcaster ORF Kunstradio commissioned "San Francisco in 3 Acts" in 2002. In 2001, after a decade based in Quebec City, Robert relocated to California to pursue further study at Stanford University and to steer his practice toward fresh possibilities.