Employment Experience:
September 2022 – present
Cinema and Media Arts Course Director: Media Practice
York University, Toronto
Curriculum development, implementation and assessment of film and media classes for second-year undergraduate students addressing contemporary concepts, modes and technologies of production for film, video, VR/AR/XR and interactive media.
September 2021- present
Cinema and Media Arts Course Director: Sonic Cinema
York University, Toronto
Curriculum creation, implementation and assessments of classes for a third-year undergraduate course addressing the history, concepts and technologies of sound in film, audio-visual art, VR/AR, immersive and interactive media. Via seminars, field work, debate and studio creation, students seek to reappraise and re-situate the role of the sonic within cinematic arts.
September 2017 – present:
Graduate Sound Design Theory Professor, Sound Art Professor & Thesis Advisor
George Brown College, Toronto
Curriculum development, implementation and assessment of classes for a graduate-level
curriculum addressing advanced concepts and technologies of audio production for film, video, VR/AR and interactive media, including audio recording and soundtrack production, location sound, foley, effects, spatialization, synthesis, mixing, mastering and composition, as well as contemporary discourses and techniques in contemporary sound art practice.
Winter 2016 – present:
Think Tank Professor
Faculty of Environmental Design, OCAD University, Toronto
Develop, implement, and conduct an interdisciplinary course examining the social condition of where and how we live in the context of the Faculty of Design’s primary mandate of ‘Design and Humanity’. Issues of intelligent and sustainable design and strategies for change are channeled into potential project solutions in this course via research, discussion and debate of current societal issues.
January 2023 – Present
Sessional Lecturer: Sound Film
Toronto Metropolitan University
Curriculum creation, implementation and assessments of classes for a first-year undergraduate course addressing the history, concepts and technologies of sound in film.
September 2021 – present:
Research Assistant: Cinema and Media Arts immersive Dome
York University, Toronto
Hardware/software design, construction and pedagogical implementation of an immersive media dome and accompanying production studio for spatial sound and VR at York University’s Department of Media Arts.
September 2017 – April 2022
Teaching Assistant: Media Practices
York University, Toronto
Curriculum development, implementation and assessment of film and media classes for first
and second-year undergraduate students addressing contemporary concepts, modes and technologies of production for film, video, VR/AR and interactive media.
Winter 2015 – 2017:
Sound Design Instructor
OCAD University, Toronto
Develop, implement, coordinate and conduct classes and workshops for a six-
week curriculum introducing students to the concepts and technologies of audio
production for film, video and interactive media. Students learn the fundamentals of audio
recording and soundtrack production, including location sound, foley, effects, spatialization,
mixing, mastering and composition.
1999-present:
Sound Designer
Recent clients include:
Moment Factory: Interactive kiosk concept; sound design and conceptual development.
http://michaeltrommer.blogspot.ca/2014/01/peoples-republic-moment-factory-project.html
OCAD University SFI Lab: NaturePod virtual environment and audio-visual pod. Sound design and conceptual development.
Intel: HPC High-powered Audio Computer. VR and sound design, conceptual development.
http://michaeltrommer.blogspot.ca/2015/11/intel-hpc-vrinteractive-video-wall.html
Vidibox: iPad video mashup app demo fpr Sonàr Festival, Barcelona, Spain.
http://michaeltrommer.blogspot.ca/2014/06/vidibox-ipad-project.html
June 2010 – present:
Specialized Workshop Instructor
InterAccess Electronic Media Arts Centre, Toronto
Developed and conducted workshops on specialized sound software (Ableton Live, Max 4 Live,
Soundhack), field recording and experimental music theory and practice
June 2019 – August 2020:
Adjunct Professor in Art, Media, Performance and Design
York University, Toronto
– Thesis advisor for Master’s student in Media Arts/Fine Arts
– Conducted bi-weekly and final assessments of research-creation and written work
– Liaised with faculty and department chairs
June 2013 – August 2018:
English for Art and Design (EAD) Coordinator and Instructor
OCAD University, Toronto
– Develop, implement, coordinate and conduct classes, lectures and workshops for a six-
week intensive curriculum for incoming students; particular emphasis is placed on academic
writing, oral presentation and critical thinking skills
– Conduct assessments of incoming students; grade and provide ongoing assessments and
feedback to participants throughout the course duration
– Prepare, administer and invigilate all exams and oral tests
– Liaise with university faculty, administration and course instructors regarding logistical and
academic matters
– Organize weekly field trips to cultural and academic sites of interest
– Familiarize students with university facilities and resources
– Logistics/troubleshooting for all components of program
– Administer program budget
– Prepare final report submission
– Supervised student mentors
April 2002 – June 2013:
Business English and EAP (English for Academic Purposes) Instructor
Embassy International (formerly Pacific Gateway International College), Toronto
– Developed and taught a three-month rotational curriculum for recent graduates and working
professionals; particular emphasis was placed on developing oral and written critical thinking
skills, current business concepts, and proficiency in academic English
– Prepared students for TOEIC, TOEFL and Cambridge tests
– Conducted intra-mural debates and monthly presentations
– Created and moderated class blogs
– Developed and conducted case studies and simulations based on current events
– Planned and directed faculty professional development workshops
– Assessed and counseled students on a regular basis
– Liaised with scholastic and government agencies
– SMART Board proficient
– TOEIC test invigilator
– Consistently received outstanding assessments from both students and directors.
October 1992 – October 1999:
Arts instructor
Muki Baum Accessibility Centre
– Planned and conducted a visual arts program for clients with multiple disabilities.
– Assessed client needs, communicating regularly with educational and clinical staff to develop
individually tailored programs aiming to achieve specific therapeutic and cognitive goals.
October 1990 – September 1991:
English Professor
ČVUT Technical University (Mechanical Engineering Faculty), Prague, Czech Republic
– Taught Advanced English, focusing on conversational, technical and written English skills.
– Assisted students with TOEFL and Cambridge test preparation.
Education:
May 2024: PhD in Cinema and Media Arts, York University, Toronto.
April 2015: MFA in Interdisciplinary Art, Media and Design (IAMD), OCAD University, Toronto. Recipient of the Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence.
2002: TESL Ontario Teaching Certification, CCLCS, Toronto.
1990: York University, Toronto: Bachelor of Fine Arts, Faculty of Visual Arts
1985: St-Lawrence College, Kingston. Marketing diploma, Faculty of Business.
Software Competencies:
Audio: Ableton Live, Adobe Audition, Cockos Reaper, Avid ProTools, Wwise, SpectraLayers, PureData, MAX/MSP, iZotope RX, Sound Particles, Native Instruments Reaktor, VCV Rack and other digital and analog modular synthesis platforms.
Video: Adobe Premiere, AfterEffects and Media Encoder, Blender, Unreal Engine, DaVinci Resolve, TouchDesigner, Metashape and other photogrammetry/LiDAR-based scanning and rendering platforms.
Languages:
Fluent in English and French; strong working knowledge of German, some proficiency in Spanish, Greek, Czech.
Selected Performances, Works and Exhibitions:
April 2023: Radiograms, immersive installation, InterAccess Gallery, Toronto.
November 2021: Ancient Thoughts and Electric Buildings audio installation, Tsonami Festival of Sound Art, Valparaiso, Chile
November 2021: Five Days in the Western Channel A/V installation, ‘Tradition Transformed’ Carmichael Canadian Landscape Exhibition, Orillia, Ontario.
August 2021: Johatsu 2D, Venice Architecture Short Film Festival, Venice, Italy.
July 2021: Points Further North ambisonic VR installation, International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), Santiago, Chile.
April 2021: Johatsu 2D, Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma, Online.
March 2021: Johatsu 2D, Video Installation. International Festival of Films on Art (Official Selection).
November 2020: Johatsu 2D, Video Installation. 404 International Festival of Art and Technology, Rosario, Argentina.
October 2020: Ancient Thoughts and Elelctric Buildings, Ambisonic VR Installation, SoundingBoard03, SEM Conference for Ethnomusicology, Online.
October 2020: Shanawdithit VR, Ambisonic VR Installation, ISEA Symposium on Electronic Art, Montréal
October 2020: Ancient Thoughts and Elelctric Buildings, Ambisonic VR Installation, ISEA Symposium on Electronic Art, Montréal
November 2019: Points Further North, Ambisonic VR Installation, Society for Ethnomusicology Conference, Indiana University
October 2019: Bergmál, Ambisonic VR Installation, Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, Montréal.
November 2018: Bergmál, Ambisonic VR Installation, Printemps Numérique #9: Blockchain, Canadian
Centre for Architecture, Montréal.
July 2018: Bergmál (Quad Version), Audio-visual installation, Gamma Festival of Audio-Visual Arts,
St. Petersburg, Russia
May 2017: Five Days in the Western Channel, Audio-visual installation, IVAM Centre of Modern Art,
Valencia, Spain.
September 2016: Night Swimmer, Ontario Place, Site-specific outdoor multi-channel sound installation, In/Future Exhibition, Ontario Place, Toronto,
May 2016: Spectral Sound System +15, Site-specific multi-channel Audio Installation, Arts Commons +15 Pedestrian Network, Calgary, Alberta.
November 2015: Five Days in the Western Channel, Audio-visual installation, Centro Atlántico de
Árte Moderno, Gran Canaria, Spain.
March-April 2016: Night Paddler, Multi-channel sound installation. Kontort Project Space,
Katzman Contemporary, Toronto.
February 2016: Spectral Sound System – White, Networked Improvisation, Audioblast Festival
#4, Nantes, France.
November 2015: Five Days in the Western Channel, audio-visual installation, IVAM museum of
Contemporary Art, Valencia, Spain.
October 2015: Long Beaches Binaural, Canadian Association for Acoustic Ecology ‘Audio
Postcards’ project.
May 2015: greyfields:wavefields v.3, audio-visual performance; Nuovo Cinema Aquila, Rome.
May 2015: Room Tone, site-specific audio installation; ZK/U Centre for Art and Urbanistics,
Berlin, Germany.
April 2015: The Hours of Peace, audio-visual installation; ZK/U Centre for Art and Urbanistics,
Berlin, Germany.
March 2015: Transmissions from the Technological Sublime, audio-visual installation;
OCAD University Black Box Gallery, Toronto.
January 2015: Come Up to My Room: Proximity, site=specific multi-media installation (with Corinne
Thiessen), Gladstone Hotel, Toronto.
May 2014: Radiant Banff, audio-visual installation, Philosopher’s Knoll, Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff, Alberta.
November 2013: HTO, interactive audio-visual performance (with Eric Filion); Music Gallery, Toronto.
November 2013: greyfield:wavefields v.2, interactive audio-visual performance (with Eric Filion); MUTEK_img festival, Centre Phi, Montréal.
August 2013: ghostwood v.3, Phonophani Festival, Frankfurt, Germany.
July 2013: ghostwood v.3, Sound//Space – V22 Summer Club, London, England.
May 2013, greyfields:wavefields, audio-visual performance (with Eric Filion), MUTEK a/visions 3,
Montréal.
October 2012: Photon’s Dance, site-specific audio-visual installation and projection (with Teresa Mar), Woontoren de Admirant, Emmasingel. Eindhoven Glow festival, Eindhoven, NL.
September 2012: The Ghosts of Bay & Front, tactile sound installation; RBC Plaza South Lobby, Toronto.
August-September 2012: Ghostwood a/v, video + tactile sound installation; NAISA (New Adventures In Sound Art) Space, Wychwood Barns, Toronto.
July 2012: Ghostwood a/v v.2, audio-visual installation; Soundfjord gallery, London, U.K.
November 2011: Streams of Consciousness, site-specific sound Installation, Salina Art Centre, Salina, Kansas.
May 2011: Hlysnan, audio-visual installation; SoundFjord gallery, London, UK.
October 2010: Equilibrium, audio-visual installation and projection (with Theresa Mar); Eindhoven St.-Catharina Cathedral, Eindhoven Glow festival, Eindhoven, NL.
September/October 2010: Greyfields, audio-visual performances; SPARK Festival, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; pixillerations 2.0, Brown University, Providence RI.
October 2010: The Humming of Summer Sidewalks; infrasonic audio installation for Bank of Nova Scotia’s ‘Nuit Blanche’; Gallery 1313, Toronto.
September 2010: August Drift: Listen to the Weather, ‘Ear to the Earth’ festival, New York.
August 2009: live sleep 2; Framework Radio commission for broadcast in London, Devon and Thessaloniki. Greece.
August 2009: greyfield 3, audio installation; FILE – Electronic Language Festival, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
April 2009: What is the Sound of the War against the Poor?, commissioned for New York-based sound artists Ultra-Red’s ‘Public Records’ label.
February 2009: Soundreach, networked audio-visual performance with sound artist Zen Lu,
January 2009: Greyfield 2, audio installation; SoundLAB VI, Köln.
December 2008: Greyfield 2, art tech media festival, Cordoba, Spain.
September 2008: Soundtravels, improvised audio-visual performance, Dundas Square, Toronto.
May 2008: Semiosis 3, audio-visual performance (with Eric Filion); Mutek 08: a/visions2,
Théatre du Nouveau Monde, Montréal.
January 2008: Semiosis, audio-visual performance (with Eric Filion); Plaza+ Festival of audio-visual art, Plaza Futura, Eindhoven, Netherlands.
December 2007-February 2008: Listening Shell installation (with Dody Nash); Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
October 2007: live sleep, Radio piece commission for Resonance FM, London.
July 2007: i/o Media, audio-visual performance; Electric Eclectics Festival of Experimental Music, Midland Ontario.
June 2007: r.p.m., audio-visual performance with Carsten Nikolai/Olaf Bender of raster-noton, Berlin. Drake Hotel, Toronto.
Autumn 2006: Greyfield 1, audio installation; Liquid Architecture Festival, Brisbane, Australia.
Summer 2006: Wilderness Network, outdoor sound installation, Hartwick College, New York.
September 2005: TD path, sound installation; Kabat-Wrobel gallery, Toronto.
September 2002: Outskirts: Lullabye for an Empty Mall, sound installation; Gallery 1313, Toronto.
August 2000: Birdscape in Red (with Lois Andison), Sable-Castelli Gallery, Toronto.
July 1999: re:audio-day, net-based audio project (with Arnold von Wedemeyer), From 0 to 1 and
Back Again, Kunsthalle Schirn, Frankfurt, Germany.
I have also released music on a variety of international labels, including Transmat (Detroit), Wave Music (NY), Gruenrekorder (D), Impulsive Habitat (P), Unfathomless (BEL), 3leaves (H), Thinner (Berlin), Fountain Music (Japan), Audiobulb (UK), Truffle Music (Toronto), con-v (US), and/OAR (Seattle), Ultra-Red/Public Record (NY), Stasisfield (US), Serein (UK), Audiogourmet (UK), 6 one 6 (Detroit), test tube (Lisbon), Interchill (Montréal), Flaming Pines (AUS), Welthassle (ESP), and Dakini (Tokyo).
Grants, Residencies and Awards:
July 2022: Lawrence Heisey Graduate Award in Fine Arts
December 2020: CIBC Graduate Student Award for Academic Excellence
March 2019: Canada Council Audio Arts Grant for the ‘Bergmál’ VR Project
May 2018: SSHRC Doctoral Scholarship Award
April 2018: CIBC Excellence in Fine Arts Graduate Student Award
May 2017: Crocker Hunkin Scholarship Award
May 2015: OCAD University IAMD Award for Academic Excellence
April-May 2015: Artist in residence, ZK/U Centre for Art and Urbanistics, Berlin.
April 2015: Canada Council for the Arts grant for the production of ‘Berlin Anamnetic’.
April-May 2014: Artist in Residence, Banff Centre.
September 2013/2014: OCAD University Dean’s Grant.
October-November 2011: Mamori Soundlab sound art residency, with Francisco Lopez,
Llago Mamori, Brazil.
2011 Canada Council for the Arts: major audio arts grant for Ghostwood.
2010 Canada Council for the Arts grant for Greyfields.
Publications:
Michael Trommer (2020). Points Further North: An acoustemological cartography of non-place, Journal of New Music Research, 49:1, 73-87, DOI: 10.1080/09298215.2019.1704020
Michael Trommer (2024). Petra Anamnetic: acoustic territories in southern Jordan. International Journal of Cartography, 1–10.https://doi.org/10.1080/23729333.2024.2346604
Michael Trommer (2024). Spectral Sound System: Mapping the Mnemonic Soundscape. ISEA 2024.