Artist Statement
In my sound practice, I explore the interplay of memory, noise, and nature. Using processed field recordings and intricate sound design, I craft immersive soundscapes that transport listeners to ethereal worlds where time seems to dissolve. My work fluidly transitions between organic textures and dystopian sounds, creating a unique auditory experience. As an electronic music DJ, I blend Latin bass with experimental techno, pushing the limits of my auditory explorations. Through my work, I invite audiences on a transformative, profound auditory journey.
Artist Bio
Millie Wissar is an award-winning sound designer and artist. She has collaborated on projects like Pulsos Subterráneos by Elena Pardo (Vancouver 2021, New York 2021, Montreal 2022), Cities and Memory (2019-2022), Santo Noise – Argentina 2020, Translocalities – Costa Rica 2024, and the Vancouver Latin American Film Festival (2019-2023).
Millie explores themes of memory, noise, and nature, using processed field recordings and sound design to transport listeners to magical, ethereal worlds where time disappears. Her music creates an inner journey inspired by nature, constantly shifting between organic textures and dystopian sounds.
Her passion for acoustic ecology led her to create The Happy Listening Project, a podcast connecting listeners to nature through a sonic travel log. Additionally, she is an electronic music DJ, blending Latin bass with experimental techno.
Sound Art & Film Scoring
Live Film Scoring: Pulsos subterráneos / Underground Pulses, by Elena Pardo (2022-2023)
Pulsos subterráneos is a 16mm Multi-Projection Performance by Elena Pardo (Mexico City, Mexico) featuring live film scoring by guest composers and sound artists. Elena and I collaborated on the following performances:
- Vancouver Latin American Film Festival, Vancouver, BC, September 2022.
- MONO NO AWARE Cinema Arts Festival, New York, NY, December 2022. Supported by the Arts Abroad Travel Grant from Canada Council for the Arts.
- Cinemathèque Quebéquois, Montréal, QC, June 2023, with Misha Marks. Supported by the Arts Across Canada Travel Grant from Canada Council for the Arts.
Pulsos subterráneos is an invitation to observe and listen to the visible and subterranean/physical and intangible territories of two regions of Mexico that experience or resist the mining industry: Zacatecas and Oaxaca.
The images were shot in Ixtlán de Juárez, Capulálpam de Mendez and Guelatao in the Sierra Juárez of Oaxaca; in Vetagrande, Mazapil, Concepción del Oro and Salaverna in Zacatecas. To guide herself during this exploration, Elena listened to and recorded the stories shared by some of the people in these communities. The interviews and research materials can be found in the project’s website: http://pulsossubterraneos.com/
Elena Pardo is an audiovisual artist who lives and works between the state of Oaxaca and Mexico City. She has positioned herself as one of the representative filmmakers of experimental cinema, combining the making of documentaries and expanded cinema and animation. She has made animations for the musicians Lila Downs and Los Pellejos, for the artists Demián Flores and Francis Alÿs, and for projects such as Ambulante, Oaxaca Cine or the Oaxaca Book Fair.
Sound Concept & Sound Design: Tactile Textiles: Dance Forms in the Street, by Juliana Silva (2023)
Tactile Textile: Dance Forms in the Street, by Colombian artist Juliana Silva, is an interactive art project that delves into street carnivals and festivals’ celebratory and healing origins. The project aims to immerse visitors in carnivals and street celebrations, showcasing their cultural significance through textiles, sound installations, and stop-motion animation. Inspired by various carnivals and celebrations in Colombia, the project highlights the connection between dance, music, and the collective joy experienced in these festivities.
This project was funded by the Canada Council for the Arts in the Research and Create component. More information can be found on the artist’s website: julianasilva.co
Reimagined Soundscapes: Cities & Memory (2019-2022)
In Memory of the Grand Rosetta, a reimagined composition by Millie Wissar using archival space sounds. Featured in Space is the Place, released in 2019.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the Moon landings, Cities & Memory curated a unique interactive collection of the sounds of space and the history of space travel.
Covering everything from the first Sputnik beep to the sounds of the latest Mars Rovers via the iconic Apollo missions themselves, every space sound in Space is the Place has been reimagined and recomposed by one of 80 artists from 21 countries around the world – creating an entirely new sound world built from the sounds of space.
Together in Batwa, Uganda, a reimagined soundscape composition by Millie Wissar using an original recording by Colin Hunter. Featured in Remixing the world, released in 2019.
Passing of time in the pandemic (Guadalajara, Mexico), a reimagined sound composition by Millie Wissar using Guadalajara’s lockdown sounds. Featured in Remixing the global lockdown, released in 2020.
While in quarantine, I experienced the stillness of time, fear, joy, sadness, connection with others and mostly hope. Time felt different while in quarantine. It started out feeling “normal” and doable, but everything started to melt together as the days went by.
Some days went by too quickly, while others never happened. Some weeks felt like a long hour, and some got lost in my memory and dreams. This piece represents the emotional time during a pandemic.
Lucifer in Hell, a reimagined composition by Millie Wissar, featured in Cities and Memory Inferno, and released in 2021.
To mark the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death, Cities and Memory invited over 80 artists worldwide to create sound compositions that evoked the vision of Hell depicted in his masterpiece The Divine Comedy.
“Eternal darkness of horror. A place frozen by the flapping wings of Satan. This composition was created with dry ice recordings, real screams, long reverbs and shimmery delays. Beware! You could be summoned by the dark lord.” – Millie Wissar
Invalid Valid, a reimagined composition by Millie Wissar based on the original recording “Gorbachov Overthrown.” Featured in Shortwave Transmissions, released in 2022.
Cities and Memory teamed up with The Shortwave Radio Archive to present more than 100 incredible recordings from the history of shortwave radio worldwide for artists to remix and reimagine.
by Cities and Memory
Reimagined film scoring: Hand Tinting, by Joyce Wieland (2020)
Hand Tinting, by Joyce Wieland (1967-68), is a 6-minute silent, experimental film, made from outcuts from a Job Corps documentary shot in 16mm. Watch a preview of this film, featuring my reimagined film scoring, at Vucavu.
This piece was commissioned by Alexandra Gelis and Jorge Lozano, curators of Luxando, a film + noise program featured in the 2020 Santo Noise Festival of Sound Art and Extreme Music, based in Córdoba, Argentina.
Drawing from the archives of CFMDC in Toronto, curators Alexandra Gelis and Jorge Lozano selected six experimental films made in celluloid 35mm, 16mm, and Super 8mm, which shared the poetics of embodiment, discontinuity, the indeterminate, analog glitch, perturbations, gaps, scratches, repetitions, chaos, noise. To provoke an encounter, they invited six South American artists who share these poetic frictions, in their sound practice and asked us to respond to the impact on their terms, to bring forth new possibilities.
Reimagined film scoring: Metropolis, by Fritz Lang (2011)
This is a glimpse of my Bachelor of Arts thesis project which consisted in redesigning a score and adding ambience and sound effects to Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927). The idea behind this project was to honour silent films and bring them back to life so that new generations can enjoy them and reconnect with this period of cinema history.
Live Music Sets & DJ’ing
Live Set at Ruido Vírico, presented by Audiotalaia, May 2021, Spain (online)
Audiotalaia is an online platform and netlabel devoted to producing, curating, supporting, and disseminating works related to experimental music, sound creativity, and beyond.
DJ Sets
Millie Wissar’s 2024 Curated Playlists on Spotify
Photo by oli.bees
Field Recording & Acoustic Ecology
The Happy Listening Project (2023-)
The Happy Listening Project takes you on a sonic adventure across the world to discover the rich diversity of natural soundscapes. Join us as we travel through secluded beaches, tropical rainforests, highlands, and deserts, and immerse yourself in the soothing sounds of birds, winds, rain, fire and water. Each season is set in a different country, including Peru, Thailand and Costa Rica.
We invite you to expand your awareness of our natural environments while discovering the perfect sounds to reduce stress, improve focus and induce deep, restorative sleep.
The Happy Listening Project is hosted by Millie Wissar and produced by Maria Cecilia Saba.
Field Recording Albums on Bandcamp
These albums are part of an ongoing series through which I practice deep listening and use sound as tool for creating memories. I welcome the opportunity to collaborate with artists, researchers, educators, filmmakers, noisemakers and everyone interested. Albums available for purchase on Bandcamp:
- Sounds from Riviera Maya 2019
- Sounds from Cuzco City 2019
- International Dawn Chorus Day 2020
- Covid-19 Pandemic Soundscape 2020
- Listening Breaks in 2020
Artist Talks
On Spatial Sound (2021)
In 2021, Em Halberstadt and I were invited by the Museum of Other Realities (MOR) to discuss the many layers of sound in VR. While Em focused on the spatialization of sound, I elaborated on how Ambisonic Sound works.
A full recap of the event and recordings from both talks are available on the MOR website.
Sound Design at A Shell in the Pit
A Shell in the Pit
A Shell in the Pit is an award-winning audio company made of people who are passionate about bringing games to life through immersive sound. We specialize in game audio, technical audio, composition, and trailers. Visit our website to learn more about our team and projects.
Below are some of the games I have collaborated on:
- Tchia: Winner of Best Audio for an Indie Game at the Game Audio Network Guild Awards 2023!
- Pacific Drive
- Thank Goodness You’re Here
- Sneaky Sasquatch
- Ikenfell
- Jett: The Far Shore
- I was a Teenage Exocolonist
- 30XX