“Bringing the invisible to light is a form of advocacy for people who are minorities or get overlooked, an open-ended symbol for standing up and showing what needs to be seen,” Sanaz explains, focusing on Circulation‘s exploration of the intangible nature of sound and music and its effect in the body.

The artwork was a collaboration between Sanaz and her artist/musician brother. Circulation will be a permanent installation in biotechnology company AbCellera’s Mount Pleasant buildings at 110 and 150 West 4th Avenue.

 Enhanced perception as a tool for change

 Circulation brings together the Iranian-born siblings’ artistic practices and interests in a deeply complementary way, similar to how human senses work together to help understand surroundings and experience of the world. Sanaz notes how perception is fundamental to both their practices.

“[If through an artwork or installation,] we can open up perception and tune people into different varieties within perception,” she shares. “One can have a much more larger dialogue with more people and be more inclusive.”

The new work consists of eleven metal sculptures that transform intangible sound waves into three-dimensional undulating and tilting shapes. The sculptures are finished in bright primary colours and are arranged in pairs on the building’s external columns—evoking the structure of DNA. As per the artist statement for Circulation, the sculptures also draw “connections between sound, cellular formations, and their potential for healing.”

The siblings immigrated to Canada with their parents in the late 1980s. Both artists are based in Toronto; and in addition to having rich and extensive bodies of work individually, they have also collaborated in several projects in the past decade. Sanaz’s installation All that Melts: Notes from the Future-Past, was featured at the Vancouver Art Gallery’s public art space, Offsite, in 2020.

“[The sculptures of Circulation] invite us to reflect on phenomena that lie outside the limits of our visual perception—and simply beyond what the eye alone can see,” Sanaz and Mani shared in a written description of the installation.

The combination of their unique areas of artistic interest and training were essential to conceptualizing and creating Circulation. Mani agrees their work often searches to help the viewer “have a greater awareness of what [their] environment is and how [they’re] communicating.”

Music and art for healing

The connection between music and healing is another important aspect of the installation, in particular the effect that sound can have in the body in ways that are invisible to the eye, yet still very real. Mani, an experimental musician and multi-instrumentalist, says his thinking about sound waves goes back to his use of the synthesizer.

“You’re taking raw electricity and generating a very particular sound through the machine,” he adds. “There’s a deep connection between imagining waves of sound and a sculptural element of that.”

Mani explains he was also inspired by the ancient Vedic practices of sound healing, through sound frequencies and mantras, as well as a more recent scientific study from Stanford University which used sound to manipulate the movement of molecules inside the bloodstream.

This installation is also about making art more accessible and less intimidating for a public that may be intimidated by art or may not necessarily engage with it. For Sanaz, public art “breaks all those barriers,” delivering work meant “to be joyful.”

Ten of the eleven sculptures will be installed high above the ground, requiring viewers to look up and engage with the colourful shapes. However, a final sculpture installed on the ground allows the public to interact more closely with the work; they can walk around and underneath it, following the beautiful and organic movement of the sound wave. This piece highlights the element of fun and joy that Sanaz and Mani intended to give to Circulation. 

“I’m so happy,” she shares. “We both have children, so we want to make work that my child can remember and want to be part of.”

For more information on Sanaz Mazinani, see https://www.sanazmazinani.com/home.

For more information on Mani Mazinani, see https://www.manimazinani.net/index.html.