We enter the exhibition gallery of the MAI to experience an unusual composition of dance, storytelling, performance created by Roger White and Helen Simard. The story is constructed from conversations between Roger White and his grandmother Marianna Clark (née Goldmann). She was one of the lucky people whose family left Germany before the worst of Hitler's nazi nightmare and slaughter of Jews.
A fascinating revelation from the conversation between the author and his grandmother is that in the beginning of naziism she was a young child and hoped to get her own swastika like the other children she saw in her neighborhood.
Four dancer actors fill the space as we listen to the audio recollections of a woman who saw Hitler and Jessy Owens at the 1936 Summer Olympics. I am sharing all the details below.
Because You Never Askedis a dreamlike realm where historical fact meets auto-fictional storytelling in a multilayered, intergenerational experience. Based on discussions between composerRoger Whiteand his grandmother,Marianna Clark(née Goldmann), about her experiences fleeing Nazi Germany and arriving in the UK as a refugee, the piece combines texts mined from diaries and letters that Marianna wrote in her late teens and early 20s with the recordings of her speaking in her 90s. The story unfolds simultaneously on two different timelines, merging past and present, to explore how memories are constructed and reconstructed over time.Because You Never Askedis an archive of complex family history: one that is innocently painful, naïvely complex, and beautifully tragic.
Woven into haunting soundscapes, recordings of White's grandmother's stories are at the heart of theBecause You Never Asked—hearing her life experience in her own words creates a raw, natural experience that can provide personal insight into the complexity of living through times of war and displacement. The show's choreographic language is based on events from Marianna's life.Helen Simard’s choreographic process involved generating movement sourced from images drawn from Marianna’s family stories, memories, and archive.Because You Never Askedexplores ancestral memory and how it is stored and expressed through the body, creating a world where movement embodies the kinds of memories that are so nuanced they cannot be reduced to words.
Performed byDavid Albert-Toth,Marie Lévêque,Brianna Lombardo, andMaxine Segalowitz.
MARIANNA CLARK'S ESCAPE FROM NAZI GERMANY
Marianna Clark(née Goldmann) grew up near Hamburg, Germany, with a Jewish father and a Christian mother. After the passing of the Nuremberg laws in 1935, her parents’ marriage was deemed illegal and their citizenship revoked; the family left Germany in 1939, fleeing to the UK as refugees. In recent years, Marianna started sharing stories with her grandsonRoger Whiteof what it was like to live under the Nazi regime and the life that she left behind. White recorded her telling these stories, and also discovered her diaries and hundreds of letters written between her and her family, which shine a light on what day-to-day life was like before and during WW2. It is these stories of a young woman’s experience of leaving her homeland and forging a new identity that provide the basis of the show.
HISTORICAL ARTIFACTS
Because You Never Askedis born of a family archive, one that was kept hidden for almost 80 years. To illustrate this, historical artifacts fromMarianna Clark's archives, such as passports, photos, diary entries, Nazi documents, and letters between family members and friends, will be displayed in theMAIcafé-bar. This will further immerse audiences in the fragments of her memories. Among these artifacts will be never-before-seen historical photos ofHans Liepelt, a member of theWhite Rose Movementand childhood best friend of Marianna.
These historical artifacts will be available for viewing in theMAIcafé-bar before each performance.
Presented in theMAIgallery, the performance has been cleverly crafted to incorporate the space's four pillars, intentionally obstructing selected views at precise moments. The aim is to accentuate the permeable and fleeting nature of memory. By deliberately denying viewers a full and constant perspective,Roger Whiteoffers the audience a glimpse into his process of reconstructing his family's stories. With the audience seated on both sides of the gallery, each seat offers a different sound and visual perspective. In this manner, the audience is fully immersed in the way memory operates, where some aspects are heightened and others forgotten.
BRINGING MEMORIES & ARCHIVES BACK TO LIFE
“I want to obscure the audience's viewpoint, so that people are not able to see everything and so that the viewing experience is different depending on where you are seated. When you start looking into your family’s history, you’re never going to see everything. I spent ten years trying to learn everything and what I did learn is that it is impossible. Two people could read the same letter, and come away with completely different meanings from it, different interpretations. So as a spectator, no matter where you sit in the room, you’ll see the show differently than your fellow spectator.” –Roger White
A talkback with the artists will follow the performance on April 20, 2023
Artistic Director and Composer:Roger White Choreographer:Helen Simard Performers:David Albert-Toth, Brianna Lombardo, Maxine Segalowitz, Marie Lévêque
Technical Director and Lighting Designer:Tiffanie Boffa Rehearsal Director:Nindy Banks Outside Eyes:Alexandra Landé, Sébastien Provencher, Emily Gualtieri Costume Designer:Tricia Crivellaro Costume Assistant:Jade Simard Production Manager:Kaia Mienna Administration:Guylaine Savoie (Diagramme, gestion culturelle)
Residencies:Circuit-Est, Cas Public, Segal Centre for Performing Arts, MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels)
AWe All Fall Downproduction, presented byMAI (Montréal, arts interculturels)
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
Roger Whiteis an autodidact composer and sound-based artist. He began his career as an active musician and DJ in Tiohtiá:ke/Montréal’s underground music scene (Kops Crew, Rhythm Mercenaries, Dead Messenger). Today, White primarily composes music for dance, using audio synthesis, hypnotic sound loops and binaural recording techniques to create immersive sonic landscapes that invite spectators to sink into altered levels of consciousness. He is also currently developing a podcast that explores the creative processes of neurodiverse artists. White was an artist in residency at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts for their 2019-2020 season, through the Jewish Arts Mentorship program.
Helen Simardis a choreographer, rehearsal director and dance dramaturge. Originally from Kingston, Ontario, she relocated to Tiohtiá:ke/Montréal in 1996 to pursue a career in the arts. Simard collaborates with musicians and dancers to create visceral interdisciplinary shows. Her work uses repetition, complex spatial patterns and techniques of sensory overwhelm to create hypnotic, dreamlike performances that blur the boundaries between conscious and subconscious spaces. Past works such as NO FUN (2014), IDIOT (2017), Dance Side of the Moon (2018), REQUIEM POP (2019), and PAPILLON (2020) are joyfully chaotic and complex in their simplicity, walking a fine line between the real and the imaginary. Simard holds a BFA (Concordia University, 2000) and MA in Dance (Université du Québec à Montréal, 2014). Her current research explores themes relating to loss, memory, nostalgia, and intergenerational exchange.
Founded in 1999,MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels)is a non-profit organization that supports the development, creation, presentation and promotion of intercultural arts for a variety of audiences.MAI's programming promotes hybrid and innovative practices in dance, theatre, visual arts, speech arts, performance, music and interdisciplinary arts, while building bridges between artists and local communities through itsPublic +program.
MAIacknowledges that the land on which we live and work is part of the unceded territories of the Kanien’keha:ka nation.
Between the two curators, on the left Cheryl Sim, on the right Daniel Fiset, the artists that revealed a whole new way to use technology! Although not all the artists could be present for the press tour on March 7 2023 here are all their names: Dara Birnbaum, Chun Hua Catherine Dong, Mara Eagle, Brendan Fernandes, Francisco González-Rosas, Ilana Yacine Harris-Babou, Helena Martin Franco, Nation to Nation, Skawennati, Shanie Tomassini, Wu Tsang, VahMirè (Ludmila Steckelberg), Quentin VerCetty, Nico Williams
This is one of the most important and revealing contemporary art exhibition of the year. Usually, non aficionados of the art scene complain that they don't get what the artists are trying to say, or don't get abstract works that have inspired the artists. This exhibition's meaning is very clear, Gen Z has found its medium to paint sculpt produce movies videos music and it is wild and challenging!
The distinctive features of the exhibition are the use of technology and the main concerns of the artists who, for the most part, have grown up with cell phones, new rules of gender identification (and forgive me if I don't use the correct term) and the climate crisis.
As always, young humans look for meaning, self-identity and direction from what they have learned so far. How has that learning process been impacted by the filter of social media including the extraordinary human knowledge expansion they grew up with? Then there is the influencer phenomena where a person can be followed by millions and earn a luxurious lifestyle from posts on social media. These are some of the themes I saw addressed by the artists in this exhibition and I had to meditate on it.
As I was meditating on it I read a comment on an Instagram post: Germaine Richier (1902-1959)@centrepompidou. « The purpose of sculpture is first of all the joy of the person who made it. We must be able to feel their hand in it, their passion.» This is the opposite of the 3D printed sculptures you will see in this exhibition! Although the artists must work to produce their art, it does not flow organically from their hands. The VahMirè example on the left shows the cerebrality of the artist's process: from 360° photographic process to the printer = sculpture!
What surprised me the most comes from dazzling two-channel colour HD video projection by Wu Tsang The Looks, 2015. It illustrates how tiresome being an influencer is as the lead protagonist struggles to come up with new creations that will keep millions interested in her work! This video was produced in 2015! So much has changed since then.
On a positive note, I trust that these artists like today's youth will find rightful solutions to their dilemmas and I hope they continue to explore our evolving times.
PHI Centre has always brought us cutting edge art that explores how far our technology will take both our reflexion and creativity. Framerate: Pulse of the Earthhas accumulated years of data through 3D scanning to showcase a different view of life on Earth. For example I asked Matthew Shaw why all the landscapes had black skies. He then clarified that 3D scanning does not photograph like a camera but rather it accumulates data. ( trailer )
We enter a darkened space after taking off our shoes. There, several HD screens will show the accumulated data: plants growing, animals arriving at the slaughterhouse, quarries being dug relentlessly, people moving about and houses, buildings rising and falling. I was devastated by observing how we treat animals. It is quite engulfing and moving.
To accompany this extraordinary piece you will also have access to Taiwan Spotlight, a collection of four VR experiences :
All That Remains - Craig Quintero (2022) - trailer
Space Explorers: THE INFINITE, the groundbreaking VR experience that seized the Montreal public in 2021, is back with mesmerising new content at a brand-new location in the Old Port of Montreal, starting May 3, 2023. With inspiration drawn from NASA's missions, Space Explorers: THE INFINITE is the largest immersive space exploration experience to date, lasting one hour long.
I will write a review after the press in early May tour but you can buy your tickets HERE.
Je vais me rendre à la soirée d'ouverture pour vous faire un reportage mais n'attendez pas pour planifier votre visite puisque la foire ne dure que du 21 au 23 avril 2023.
Voici un aperçue important des expositions et activités avec plusieurs lien importants:
Une exposition au Pavillon pour souligner l'édition inaugurale de la foire Plural
Dès leur arrivée à la foire, les visiteurs seront accueillis parune exposition mettant à l’honneur 7 artistes en art contemporain canadien. Composée d'œuvres majeures issues d'une pluralité de médiums et de techniques, l'exposition située au 2e étage permettra au public de contempler sculptures, peintures, œuvres textiles et installations multimédias tout en profitant du décor enchanteur du Pavillon.
Les artistes dont les œuvres seront présentées dans le cadre de l’exposition sontAdam Basanta(ELLEPHANT),Lorna Bauer(Galerie Nicolas Robert),Shannon Bool(Daniel Faria Gallery),Rick Leong(Bradley Ertaskiran),Graeme Patterson(Chiguer art contemporain),Elisabeth Perreault(Pangée), etSarah Stevenson(Blouin Division).
La pratique photographique et sculpturale de l’artisteLorna Bauermanifeste son intérêt pour l’exploration des relations de l’humain avec son environnement. Reconnus dans leur lien à un site particulier, les projets de Bauer aboutissent à des œuvres qui répondent à un lieu et à un contexte spécifique et témoignent d’une enquête matérielle et visuelle sur les idées et les expériences générées par des écologies d’environnements vécus.
Des œuvres de la sérieMillefiori Sitio Bottle deLorna Bauer feront partie de l'exposition au Pavillon.
Explorant de multiples disciplines et médiums,Adam Basantainterroge les intersections entre les dimensions conceptuelles et sensorielles de l’écoute, la matérialité de l’appareil technologique et les instabilités de l’instrumentation. L’intelligence artificielle et les nouvelles technologies au cœur de sa démarche artistique, il propose une réflexion sur l’art génératif, à l’extrême limite entre l’humain et la machine intelligente.
L'installation Fontained'Adam Basantafera partie de l'exposition au Pavillon.
Mariant installation, sculpture, modèle réduit, animation image par image, robotique et musique, l’oeuvre deGraeme Pattersonnous plonge dans un univers aussi touchant que ludique. Fruits d’un processus de création lent et méticuleux, ses envoûtantes propositions nous invitent dans un monde parallèle doté d’une forte charge émotive où le rêve côtoie le jeu, le souvenir et la nostalgie.
Les œuvresLa maison,The BillboardetThe TrailerdeGraeme Pattersonferont partie de l'exposition au Pavillon.
Ponctuant la foire de manière distincte, les projets spéciaux offrent aux galeries une occasion unique de présenter des œuvres installatives audacieuses de grands formats – issues des pratiques artistiques actuelles. Ces espaces-projets seront répartis sur les deux étages du Grand Quai et permettront aux visiteurs de découvrirtrois installations dans un contexte immersif et surprenant.
Les artistes dont les projets seront présentés sontCaroline Mauxion(Zalucky Contemporary), Meghan Price(United Contemporary), etGiorgia Volpe(Galerie.a).
Meghan Priceest une artiste visuelle établie à Montréal qui a une pratique étendue fondée sur les textiles. Son travail fait appel à la matière, au motif et à la durée pour aborder les concepts du temps et les modes de relation avec la terre physique.
L'œuvreHutton's UnconformitydeMeghan Pricesera présentée à la foire.
La pratique artistique deGiorgia Volpese nourrit de gestes et d’objets issus de l’univers domestique et du quotidien. Par le biais de ses œuvres, elle étudie les rapports du corps à son environnement en explorant les lieux de passage, notamment entre le dedans et le dehors, l’individuel et le collectif, l’intime et le public, le réel et l’imaginaire.
L'œuvreLes mains pensentdeGiorgia Volpesera présentée à la foire.
Voir autrement que par les yeux, voir avec le corps. C’est ainsi queCaroline Mauxion aborde son travail, dans une pratique élargie de la photographie. L’artiste cherche à créer une relation incarnée avec l’image en s’appuyant sur la phénoménologie féministe. L’expérience de son corps vécu ainsi que des œuvres littéraires sont parties prenantes dans l’élaboration de ses pièces.
L'installation de Caroline Mauxionsera présentée parProjet Casaà la foire.
Bande Annonce ENGLISH translation app above La Chute des Anges : le poids de la liberté Nous vivons à une époque fascinée par l...
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