ICS 2018 – 4th edition

New models are emerging, allowing the Aboriginal art scene to constantly reinvent itself and to be heard.

The 4th edition of Indigenous Contemporary Scene (ICS) takes place in Montreal from May 26 to June 3, 2018, taking the form of a double partnership with the ATF and the OFFTA. Aboriginal representation and self-representation in the performing arts are the spearhead.

The first Encounters with Autochtone Creators at the ATF

For one week, ten Francophone and Anglophone artists from Quebec and Ontario, participate in a 7-day process of dialogue, critical reflection and artistic practice guided by Maori choreographer Victoria Hunt (from Sydney, Australia). This initiative provides a rare opportunity for Aboriginal creators to come together in a place of learning and exchange. This space allows them to explore the question of representation and self-representation, to critically examine the shows presented by the festival and to exchange with their creators.

This edition is the first collaboration between Onishka Productions and artist and producer Patti Shaughnessy – co-founder and member of the O’Kaadenigan Wiingashk Collective – who participates in the conceptualization of the Aboriginal Creators’ Encounters at the ATF and acts as co-curator.

The encounters end with a sharing of the experience with the public through the realization of a collective performance as an offering on the notion of welcome. This experience allows us to experience a radical hospitality, reminding us that we are all welcomed in Aboriginal territories.

SCA at OFFTA

In the third collaboration with OFFTA, this edition of SCA also features programming that emphasizes the importance of listening. Brian Solomon creates The NDN Way, a dance performance inspired by The Indian Way, a 1960s audio documentary on Cree worldviews. This work is presented in a double bill with the theatrical and sound project Aalaapi | ᐋᓛᐱ – Aalaapi: “to be silent in order to hear something beautiful.”

While the dominant representations of Indigenous peoples are often impregnated by colonialist discourses, the artists who are part of these peoples make them evolve and bring out new ones through their practices and their works. Organized shortly before the debates surrounding the creation of SLĀV and Kanata, this edition of SCA on Indigenous Self-Representation and Representation addresses a critical and very current issue: it relates to the importance of minority communities deciding for themselves how they are presented, whether on stage or in general.

Artistic Director: Émilie Monnet Guest Curator for the Encounters with Native Artists: Patti Shaughnessy Production Manager: Erika Kierulf Technical Director: Timothy Rodrigues Coordinator: Sage Wright Videographer: Mélanie O’Bomsawin Communications and press relations: Bénédicte Jutras, RuGicomm Graphic artist: Sébastien Aubin

« Du 26 au 31 mai, (...) les Rencontres de créateurs autochtones ont réuni vingt créateurs autochtones du Québec et de l’Ontario, anglophones et francophones, pour réfléchir à la question de la représentation et de l’autoreprésentation et aborder les enjeux auxquels font face les créateurs autochtones. Au terme de cette semaine, la SCA a tenu les 1er et 2 juin 2018 un ensemble d’événements performatifs. »

« Sa pratique artistique contribue au rapprochement des artistes de différentes nations, provoque des rencontres et contribue à faire découvrir la richesse des arts d’ici et d’ailleurs. Selon elle, l’avenir de l’art autochtone est prometteur « parce que Montréal est en train de devenir une plaque tournante en ce domaine », créant un pôle d’attraction pour les artistes de tous horizons. »

« Selon Émilie Monnet, il n’y a pas de réel phénomène de résurgence de l’art autochtone, seulement une plus grande visibilité des productions artistiques et une plus grande réceptivité de la part du public. « (...) on a l’impression qu’il y a en ce moment une explosion de l’art, mais les artistes autochtones ont toujours été créatifs et actifs, il y a simplement plus d’occasions actuellement pour que leur travail soit vu, étudié par le public, plus d’accessibilité, des nouvelles technologies pour que les voix autochtones soient entendues. »

PROGRAMMING

First Nations Art: The Contemporary Ancestral

Round table panel
MODERATOR: Émilie Monnet
GUESTS: Victoria Hunt (Sydney)
Lara Kramer (Montreal)
Nimikii Couchie (Nipissing/Montreal)

Indigenous traditions and knowledge have the potential to influence the forms and expressions of modern-day theatre and dance. How do traditional and contemporary interweave? After a week of Indigenous Creators Exchange organized by ICS in collaboration with the FTA, four artists from Canada and Australia share their visions of the future of their art.

Agora Hydro-Québec du Cœur
des sciences de l’UQAM

Day of Invigilation

Performative conversation
DIRECTED BY: Victoria Hunt
A performative conversation on representation
CURATORS: Émilie Monnet & Patti Shaughnessy
WITH: Ivanie Aubin Malo, Catherine Boivin, Nimikii Couchie, Barbara Diabo, Waawaate Fobister, Victoria Hunt, Émilie Monnet, Mariana Medellin, Patti Shaughnessy, Brian Solomon, Leticia Vera
Invited elder: Amelia Tekwatonti McGregor

Over seven days, ten First Nations creators will gather together in a process of dialogue, exchange and practice. Physical training will be rooted in Body Weather and the Maori concept of Whakapapa
and Mauri.

The public are invited to a sharing of process in which the artists convey their relationship to the culturally sacred, alongside issues regarding the exoticisation of Indigenous cultures by both the coloniser and the colonised. This inspired critique works to lay bare the falsified objectivity that is not only an historical violence, but a deeply personal encounter. Representational and intimate at the same time, the viewer is implicated in the colonial gaze and in the construction of identity and representation as an always political act.

Espace vert, Wilder

THE NDN WAY

BY: Brian Solomon
WITH: Maria Medellin, Brian Solomon
Double feature
Presented along with Magnéto’s Aalaapi (Québécois-Inuit radio documentary laboratory)

THE NDN WAY has its roots in a radio documentary created in 1974 by Cindy Bisaillon after finding inspiration in the synthesis of the Cree world views by Ron Evans. Inspired by that original recording of the Cree storyteller, Solomon re-imagines, remixes and interprets these philosophies about medicine, death, sweat lodges and pipe ceremonies in
a highly theatrical, visual art-warp collage.

For a third year, ICS is partnering with OFFTA to present avant-garde Indigenous artists from Montreal and elsewhere working in the performing arts.

New models are emerging, allowing the Aboriginal art scene to constantly reinvent itself and to be heard.

PROGRAMMING

First Nations Art: The Contemporary Ancestral

Round table panel
MODERATOR: Émilie Monnet
GUESTS: Victoria Hunt (Sydney)
Lara Kramer (Montreal)
Nimikii Couchie (Nipissing/Montreal)

Agora Hydro-Québec du Cœur
des sciences de l’UQAM

Day of Invigilation

Espace vert, Wilder

THE NDN WAY

BY: Brian Solomon
WITH: Maria Medellin, Brian Solomon
Double feature
Presented along with Magnéto’s Aalaapi (Québécois-Inuit radio documentary laboratory)

La Licorne

VISUALS

PARTNERS

New models are emerging, allowing the Aboriginal art scene to constantly reinvent itself and to be heard.

PROGRAMMING

First Nations Art: The Contemporary Ancestral

Round table panelMODERATOR: Émilie MonnetGUESTS: Victoria Hunt (Sydney)Lara Kramer (Montreal)Nimikii Couchie (Nipissing/Montreal)

Agora Hydro-Québec du Cœurdes sciences de l’UQAM

Day of Invigilation

Espace vert, Wilder

THE NDN WAY

BY: Brian SolomonWITH: Maria Medellin, Brian SolomonDouble featurePresented along with Magnéto’s Aalaapi (Québécois-Inuit radio documentary laboratory)

La Licorne

VISUALS

PARTNERS

Round table panel
MODERATOR: Émilie Monnet
GUESTS: Victoria Hunt (Sydney)
Lara Kramer (Montreal)
Nimikii Couchie (Nipissing/Montreal)

Agora Hydro-Québec du Cœur
des sciences de l’UQAM

BY: Brian Solomon
WITH: Maria Medellin, Brian Solomon
Double feature
Presented along with Magnéto’s Aalaapi (Québécois-Inuit radio documentary laboratory)