it is as if
Ross Creek Centre for the Arts, Canning NS, January – April 2025
EXHIBITION WALL TEXT:
it is as if is an experimental and emergent exhibition featuring drawings, mobiles and interactive kinetic sculptures. The exhibition will develop over the coming months through a series of micro-residencies in collaboration with other artists, improvisors and the days happenings. To be honest, I’m not exactly sure what is going to happen in this show, even as I write this text for the show. And this is, precisely, the point.
We live in precarious and turbulent times; ai, amazon, billionaires, chatgpt, “democracy”, Don, Elon, floods, fires, food, genocides, hurricanes, housing, home-less-ness….. the list goes on. Some might call it a poly-crisis, unprecedented. And while there is so much of it that feels unpresidented, (and it is!), chaotic and turbulent states are common phenomena in our ecosystems and biospheres. In fluid dynamics, turbulent flow is a far more common than laminar, and plays a crucial role as a mixing mechanism, distributing heat, moisture and pollutants in our atmosphere, weather patterns and ocean currents. If we think about turbulence in terms of our social structures and daily life, it is akin to kairos (opportune time or critical moments), where when faced with crisis, individuals and communities come together, and become incredibly resourceful, creative and adaptable.
The reliable prediction of turbulence is one of the most important unsolved problems in classical physics. It remains elusive because turbulence is a series of “multi-scale chaotic problems with no general solutions.” Which is all to say; when you’re wondering to yourself, why life is so often in a state of crisis, maybe this is just the way they things go!” What if we reframe precarity and unpredictability as general state of the world? Does this shift in perspective offer us new ways of being? And what insights could improvisational practices offer us as we are tasked to collectively respond and adapt to an increasingly inhospitable world?
What if, we welcome the fundamental agency of uncertainty?
it is as if it is an ensemble
improvised performance research by andrew maize, andrew mackelvie, brian riley, doug cameron and susanne choi
Over a 3-day micro residency, we experimented with hanging mobiles instruments, improvised compositions and the temporal tunnel – and video delay looping system, developed by Pascal Dufaux and Sarah Wendt. Our research was presented in front of a live audience.
