THE FORESHORE: SESSION 18
Presented as part of Flotilla: National Conference of Artist Run Centres. Victoria Park Cultural Pavillion, Victoria Park, Charlottetown, PE
[su_spacer size=”10″]September 22, 2017, 2:30-4 p.m
LINDSAY DOBBIN: LISTENING AS A CREATIVE ACT & HARMONY WAGNER: LISTENING TO THE ENERGY OF THE BODY
Drawing upon a lifelong relationship with sound, landscape and water, artist and musician Dobbin will share stories about their creative practice of listening, and how it is a method to deeply communicate with, and be in relation to, the living land. As an artist who often works with(in) the natural world, Dobbin acknowledges the animacy of all things and employs listening as a path to collaborate with the environment — revealing that land is not an instrument for our own expression but a teacher and agent that we can be responsive to.
The body is an energetic system in a state of dynamic flux. While contained as a distinct environment, each body is also in relationship with the energy of the day, the season, and cosmic cycle of the greater environment. Wagner will speak to how our bodies navigate this ever-changing, yet cyclical state, as seen through the lens of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Martial Arts.
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Lindsay Dobbin is a mixed Indigenous (Mohawk) / Settler (Acadian / Irish) artist, musician, curator and educator who lives and works on the Bay of Fundy, Canada. Dobbin’s place-responsive practice includes media art, performance, sculpture, installation, social practices and writing, and is invested in and influenced by Indigenous epistemologies and cultural practices, such as drumming.
Harmony Wagner is a filmmaker, novelist, practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine and has instructed qigong and Internal-style Martial arts for 20 years.
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Image credits: Rob Cameron (left), Harmony Wagner (right)
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ABOUT THE FORESHORE
The Foreshore is a collaborative pursuit and shared space between Access Gallery and Other Sights. The Foreshore is inspired by the deep influence of the waterways on our cities and societies on the West Coast. As a place of unclear jurisdiction, and thus of contestation, friction, and constant movement, those who dwell in this zone must continually adapt to a changing environment. As a site it conjures histories specific to this region: narratives of trade and exchange, habitation and nourishment, resistance and violent erasure. Considering the potential of this zone as both concept and site, the project asks the following: How do we generate conditions of emergence? How can we take up space differently? How do we support unruly practices and futures?
Over the last 7 months, the storefront adjacent to Access’ gallery space at 222 East Georgia has hosted bi-weekly open discussion sessions informed by invited artists, writers, curators, and activists. Adding to this exciting program, we have launched an artist-in-residence series to provide space and time to artists interested in addressing questions of the foreshore.
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Established as an non-profit artist-run centre in 1991, Access Gallery is platform for emergent and experimental art practices. We enable critical conversations and risk taking through new configurations of audience, artists, and community. For more information visit accessgallery.ca
Access Gallery gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council and BC Gaming, the City of Vancouver, the Hamber Foundation, the Burrard Arts Foundation, the Contemporary Art Gallery, NSB Reederei, and our committed donors, members and volunteers.
Other Sights gratefully acknowledges the support of the British Columbia Arts Council, The Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 15, and the Canada Council for the Arts.