PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Montreal, October 10th 2017 – Montreal-based company Mandoline Hybride invites you to the first edition of Regards Hybride: An International Forum from Nov 10 to 12 2017 at Tangente (Espace Danse – WILDER), an event dedicated to the interaction between dance and cinema in the age of digital media, the Internet and the multiplication of screens in our daily lives.
Our bodies move in front of ubiquitous cameras with unprecedented ease, while our most ordinary gestures are archived and distributed in a multitude of contexts. From these realities, what artistic discourses emerge? How do choreographic and cinematographic practices deal with the evolution of the interaction between bodies and screens? Are choreography, dance and performance able to challenge the effects of digital technology and its development? At the confluence of a set of hybrid practices, artist and curator Priscilla Guy proposes a critical look at the relationships between dancing bodies, screens and cameras through three themes: 1) self-representation; 2) racial issues onscreen; 3) socio-artistic intervention.
Montreal is well known for its high quality productions in the field of screendance: for example, Pas de Deux by Norman McLaren, or Le Dortoir by François Girard and Gilles Maheu. More recently, multiple works by Marlene Millar and Philip Szporer, as well as CODA by Martine Époque and Denis Poulin, and Glace, crevasse et dérive by Chantal Caron have garnered international acclaim. Nevertheless, Canada has been slow to join the international trend toward organizing recurring events for the presentation of these hybrid works, where underlying political or aesthetic concerns can also be discussed.
Regards Hybride: An International Forum intends not only to facilitate the discovery of these unclassifiable works, but also to develop a critical position in order to nourish the discourse surrounding current ethical concerns in the arts. Indeed, although many Canadian festivals include screendance works in their programs, this forum represents a rare opportunity to question these practices with a critical perspective, and to better understand the mechanisms behind their creation.
After nearly a decade of creation, teaching and research in this field, Priscilla Guy wishes to consolidate her endeavors and to offer the milieu a space for the articulation and development of these atypical practices. Accompanied by 20 international artists and specialists, both arts practitioners and the general public will have access to an eclectic program including more than 35 films, 2 multi-disciplinary performances, 1 video installation, 6 panels and round tables, and 1 collective workshop, as well as numerous moments for informal discussion.
Several highlights from this dense program:
- An opening night screening with a selection of international films addressing the key themes of the forum;
- Yari Stilo (Italy) and Emilie Morin (Quebec) hijack the platforms of Premiere, Facebook and Skype in a semi-virtual performance about identity and communication;
- Léna Mill-Reuillard (Quebec), the 2016 recipient of the CALQ Prize for Work by an Emerging Artist, presents her video installation Machinari, which takes the idea of self-representation and infinitely multiplies it to create a hypnotic mise-en-abime;
- Montreal-based dancer and cultural worker Karla Etienne (Nyata Nyata) hosts two panels: 1) the first with artist and researcher Naomi Bragin (Seattle, USA) whose work addresses Youtube and streetdance, as well as Canadian researcher Jessica Jacobson-Konnefall (Calgary) and artist Terrance Houle (Calgary/Kainai Nation) who together explore questions of race and identity within Houle’s artworks; 2) a second panel on dance for camera and the prison system will include director Camille Auburtin (France) who creates collective works with incarcerated individuals, as well as artists Amie Dowling, Reggie Daniels and Austin Forbord (San Francisco, USA) whose choreographic films address questions of over-incarceration and racial profiling in the United States;
- An entire evening dedicated to two artists from Vidéographe: manon laBrecque with En deçà du réel (1997) and Robert Morin with Yes Sir Madame! (1994); their films will be considered through the lens of self-representation as well as from a choreographic point of view.
- A workshop, open to the general public, dedicated to the collective creation of a manifesto: under the guidance of Scottish artist Katrina McPherson, the workshop will propose different international manifestos written in the last two decades in order to identify the issues facing dance on screen today;
- A closing night event dedicated to Mexican creations, with the artists/researchers/teachers of the roving festival Agite Y Sirva, Ximena Monroy (Mexico) and Paulina Ruiz Carballidos (France/Mexico), who will present a conference on their relational approach to artistic practice, as well as a rich selection of Mexican films from the last 10 editions of their festival, and a traditional Mexican meal;
Regards Hybrides : An International Forum
November 10 from 8:30pm to 11:00pm + November 11-12 from 10:00am to 11:00pm
Tangente – Espace danse WILDER
Complete program, information and reservations >>>
*Announcement of the full program of officially selected films: October 23rd, 2017
PARTNERSHIPS : Tangente, Moving Image Research Laboratory (MIRL), La danse sur les routes du Québec, Circuit-Est, Agora de la danse, Vidéographe, Agite Y Sirva, Association Camillau, OFQJ, Consulat Général d’Italie
WITH SUPPORT FROM : Conseil des rts du Canada (CAC), Conseil des arts de Montréal (CAM), Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ)
©Emilie Durville / ©Yari Stilo