Performance Art

#callresponse : conversation & action

Artists Christi Belcourt, Maria Hupfield, Ursula Johnson, Tania Willard, and Laakkuluk Williamson-Bathory collaborated and conspired with Isaac Murdoch, Esther Neff & IV Castellanos, Cheryl L’Hirondelle, Meagan Musseau, and Tanya Tagaq to create a series of site-specific works that have continued to evolve as an ongoing project, and result in unique gallery exhibitions and across the country. Engaging with the hashtag #callresponse—perhaps the most ubiquitous symbol of a modern form of conversational structure and organization—viewers are invited to peek into a much larger and more expansive meta-dialogue.

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Black Light, White Night

Nocturne 2018

This year was Nocturne’s tenth edition. A milestone for the organization, marked by a partnership with the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective, who helped select Raven Davis as Nocturne’s first Indigenous Curator. Davis, in turn, selected this Nocturne’s theme: Nomadic Reciprocity, a multilayered reflection on what is given and what is taken as we move through space, and as we move here in Halifax over unceded and unsurrendered Mi’kmaq territory.

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Don’t Listen to Me: Mark Harvey

on plants, toxic masculinity, + advice from grandmothers

I’ve descended into a dark room with a large video projection of what looks like a tropical jungle. The camera moves slowly and deliberately through rich vegetation while the narrator— New Zealand artist Mark Harvey—gently talks to you about Schrödinger’s Cat. Mark explains how plants absorb energy from other nearby plants, and the research suggesting this applies to people too. He talks about quantum entanglement. The whole thing is quite hypnotic. And sitting on the floor in the far corner of the room, is a small video monitor showing the artist wrestling with a young tree, yanking and pulling, trying to rip it out of the ground with his hands.

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Amery Sandford

Amery Sandford: Master of ceremonies

Exploring our complex relationship with Newfoundland identity

Amery Sandford draws upon the history of touristic paraphernalia, such as postcards and brochures from the early 20th Century that depicted North America as a pristine escape from the cultural and economic troubles of one’s homeland—a new frontier.

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Mocean Dance animates its past in lightening speed

The Masterworks winner has helped shape contemporary dance in Atlantic Canada

At fifteen years, the 2016 Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Masterworks Arts Award winner Mocean Dance is one of the longest surviving contemporary dance companies in Atlantic Canada and well-known for its highly physical, collaborative work.

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Going there: The playful pain of Neil LaPierre

Delving into the personal and surreal, Neil LaPierre is committed to bringing the HA-HA’s into art discourse.

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From Paradise City to Death Valley

Lisa Lipton sets her sights on a horror/romance feature film

In this Visual Arts News podcast, Veronica Simmonds chats with artist Lisa Lipton about her travels across North America, her exploration of drumming culture and work on a new feature film, THE IMPOSSIBLE BLUE ROSE.

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