When I told Vox Sambou of the Montreal hip-hop collective Nomadic Massive I had an interview lined up with Emrical his face lit up. “He’s very….” The Haitian emcee paused and silently did his best Tommie Smith impression lifting a black power fist like the African American sprinter atop the podium at the 1968 Olympics.
Conversations
Montreal-North stand up
MC Emrical puts police and politicians on blast following the three-year anniversary of Fredy Villanueva’s death
Stealing to save the world
Kenk is a dark graphic novel about Toronto's notorious bike thief
Creatively, the graphic novel Kenk is an astounding success in its unique form: it is a thick book of dark pages containing photocopied images from previously recorded video with smudgy typewriter text that captures audio and carries a loose narrative. As a devourer of political comics and graphic novels I’ve never seen anything comparable, and while the heavily processed industrial and gloomy aesthetic was jarring at first, it grows on you and begins to make sense throughout the 260 pages.
The story follows Toronto’s notorious bike thief Igor Kenk as he talks about his past in Slovenia, waxes philosophic on the suicidal and absurd Western lifestyle and runs his infamous bike shop in the Trinity Bellwoods Park neighbourhood of Toronto.
One play at a time
Teesri Duniya Theatre challenges the status quo
Teesri Duniya Theatre was founded in 1981 as an alternative theatre in Montreal that set out to change the world, as Artistic Director Rahul Varma tells me, “one play at a time.” I ask Varma to describe the theatre in a few words and, pausing for a moment, he offers: “Powerful, personal and provocative.” Having experienced one of the non-profit’s plays, about the 1986 Filipino Revolution (People Power, written by the CBT Collective and directed by Nina Lee Aquino), I would have to agree entirely with Varma’s assessment.
Varma tells me that for 30 years the group of dedicated, inspired and politically-motivated artists have been telling untold histories and supporting multiculturalism and interculturalism that is committed to multiethnic casting and narratives. Decidedly socio-political and cultural, Teesri Duniya’s lineup over the years is a list of provocative titles: Miss Orient(ed), The Adventures of Ali and Ali and the Axis of Evil, Bhopal, My Name is Rachel Corrie and Truth and Treason.
The beauty and agony of home
A conversation with God's Lake Narrows artist Kevin Lee Burton
God’s Lake Narrows is a new interactive narrative on the National Film Board of Canada’s increasingly interactive website. Exploring themes of longing and belonging, Winnipeg artist and former resident of the God’s Lake Narrows (GLN) reserve Kevin Lee Burton deploys photographs, text, and a layered soundscape to introduce audiences to his community and all the beauty and agony that it entails.
The text begins by situating reserves in a framework of proximity and (in)visibility – “For those of us who aren’t from one, or don’t know someone who is, our experience is limited to what we see and hear on the news: an endless loop of stories about poverty, illness, abuse and death.” Burton’s project—originally conceived as an art gallery instillation—sets out to challenge and complicate the way many (Canadians) view, think about, and form opinions of, reserves – all 3,063 of them (and by extension, the aboriginal peoples of Canada).
A left-leaning take on political portraits
Michael Caines' depictions of US leaders are sincere yet ridiculous
Karl Rove is a baby. Or, at least the Karl Rove of Michael Caines’ art collection Perfect Happiness is. In one painting Rove’s bulbous forehead peeks out from under a bonnet, while a smiling Ronald Reagan, depicted in a blue frock and enormous hat, holds on to Rove’s tiny body like a proud mother.
“I think black comedy is my territory,” said Caines, a Toronto native now based in Brooklyn. “These are serious and intense paintings, but hopefully funny to look at. I’m definitely playing, and doing something a bit naughty.”
Rove, the Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff under President George W. Bush, is also depicted as a version of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz in another of Caines’ paintings. He wears the signature blue dress and red shoes, but walks with a deer in the scene from Jean-Honord Fragonard’s 17th century painting, “The Swing.” The head is distinctly Rove’s, only the corners of his mouth are droopy and his facial features cinched close together in the center of his face as though he’s about to cry. His political power has been stripped — he’s in Caines’ world now.
Radio Without Boundaries: Breaking free of format and formula
Interview with Public Radio Remix founder Roman Mars
“If it makes a sound, it’s radio to me.” — Roman Mars
One of the targets for serious re-imagining at the Radio Without Boundaries conference (which finished up yesterday in Toronto) was traditional radio. Long considered a cultural wasteland, the befouled soundscapes of industrial radio have inspired a new generation of artists who are actively refashioning and expanding the boundaries of radio’s possibilities. At the forefront of this creative movement is Roman Mars, founder of Public Radio Remix.
Public Radio Remixis an experimental sound stream hosted by PRX (the Public Radio Exchange) to showcase pieces from the PRX archive and to develop new approaches to radio. “It’s an effort to break apart format” said Mars in his artist talk on Saturday.
Radio Without Boundaries: Crowd-sourcing history with personal memories
The Place and Memory Project (interview with Shea Shackelford)
The world of sound art encompasses a diversity of textures. At this weekend’s Radio Without Boundaries conference in Toronto, the workshops and performances range from the beautifully abstract to more traditional uses of voice and narrative. Big Shed Square Dance is all about stories.
The ‘square dance’ workshop was put on by Big Shed, the folks responsible for The Place and Memory Project which uses people’s memories and stories to recreate places that no longer exist. The fun thing is that story-gathering takes place on the telephone. Big Shed has a memory hot-line waiting to take your call.
Radio Without Boundaries: Tapping into the treasures of fictional ‘truths’
An interview with Jonathan Goldstein
Sound is such a pervasive part of our cultural experience that we hardly notice it. For instance, who says of the digital revolution that it is a revolution in sound? And yet, that is exactly what is taking place in cultural outposts around the world. Pioneering creators are bringing traditions of experimental discovery, aesthetics and — in the words of Public Radio Remix founder Roman Mars — “joy”, to growing communities of listeners and practitioners who want to experience the genre bending soundscapes, songs, documentaries, essays, riffs and portraits that make up the world of sound art culture. There is a new golden age of radio and it sounds nothing like anything you’ve heard before.
I am in Toronto at the Radio Without Boundaries conference hosted by New Adventures in Sound Art. The three-day conference is a gathering of artists for workshops, artist talks and performances by practitioners from across North America. (For those who want to listen in live check out the NAISA webcast.)
For those who missed today’s proceedings, I am busily digesting the day’s events into (hopefully) pithy summaries and descriptions of the various workshops and presentations. I also I snagged a few short interviews with some of the key presenters including Jonathan Goldstein (from CBC’s Wiretap), Roman Mars (from Public Radio Remix) and Shea Shackelford (from The Big Shed). First up, Jonathan Goldstein….
Last week I wrote an editorial exploring the role of the arts in creating healthy and prosperous countries. With the government of Canada making major shifts across the board last night, becoming a Conservative majority government (I refuse to call it the “Harper Government”) many artists and arts organizations are writhing at the thought of the potential for further arts cuts and the additional silencing of alternative voices.
With at least four years of a Conservative, social program slash-happy, government ahead of us, what is there for artists to do? Artists must be purposful in their practice and be tactful in their dialogue.
Poet and performer Kaie Kellough on language, poetry & power
Art Threat TV celebrates National Poetry Month
To celebrate National Poetry Month, Art Threat TV presents a profile of Kaie Kellough, one of Montreal’s finest literary performers. Kaie’s range and dynamism as a performer and poet have garnered him attention and admirers across the country and internationally.
