Profiles - collectif [*]
sections:
WHAT IS [* ] - MANDATE - PROJECTS
What is [* ]?
** further depth * * a trace *************************
**** a (different) (hi)story *************************
****** knowledge *************************************
******** open ended **********************************
**********(un)noticed ********************************
************ what you (don't) think of ***************
************** (non)logo * dynamic * in evolution ****
* is everywhere
* is our collective
[* ] is a creative, artistic, dynamic, bilingual collective of multi-diverse individuals joined to build community and initiate positive artistic action.
Why [* ]? Why not? Creating a collective is in tune with our fundamental desire for community, our creative drive, our being in the world - part of the world -- our impulse to do something about it.
How [* ]? Anyway possible, collective drawing, public interventions, street art, street theatre, culture-jamming, sharing, learning, discussions, performance, interaction with people you don't usually interact with, interaction with areas you think you shouldn't interact with, living the change you want to see in the world, making links and crossing ties with other collectives to create a solid base of diverse individuals who learn from one another.
Who [* ]? Anyone who shares our mandate. This art collective is not just for artists but open to all sorts of people, formally educated, graduates of the school of hard knocks, old, young, middle aged, ecologists, business people, philosophers, musicians, actors, performers, clowns, acrobats, nurses, doctors, designers, writers, trainers, motivational speakers, psychologists, gardeners, farmers, horticulturalists... you get the picture. We are hoping to make links between diverse minds; identities are mobile and dynamic; promoting knowledge as cultural co-creations, co-creativity as a way of life.
Where [* ]? Anywhere. But mostly in the streets, and other places where art is not usually placed. Break the separation between art and life. Why stay in the gallery when you can be with the rest of the world? Let's go roof-climbing, let's sit in alleyways, let's sit on street corners, let's visit missionaries, shopping malls, let's talk to everyone, let's visit the rest of the world!... [* ] is everywhere.
[* history]
One fine afternoon Pam and Sophie came together to help each other out and collaborate. Pam was working on the Art Matters Festival and Sophie was organizing her first Artivistic event. They hit it off, hung out a couple of times, shared a lot of heavy discussion, shits and giggles, and many dishes of fried noodles. Later one said to the other "Hey, let's start a collective on art and activism," "How will we do that?" "We'll see." Pam was happy to put an end to just complaining about life and start being more proactive J. The idea was sparked around April 2004 and the ball started to roll in the summer and here we are now!
Presently we are three and hope to grow:
[* Pam Cantor]
A student (Concordia University, Fine Arts), multi-disciplinary artist, massage lady, personnel trainer, cook, motivational speaker, nature lover and good friend J. Public art interventions that bridge performance and catharsis both for artist and audience make me a happy excited Pam! By creating my own experiences a whole range of emotions are felt and I possibly render myself vulnerable. [In vulnerability there is growth and heightened experiences of personal awareness] Holistic approach to life: unity, harmony and interconnectedness help me break away from notions of separation, isolation and barriers to growth and learning. [* Interaction and engagement with unknown sites and unknown people bridges the notion of interactivity and leads to the deconstruction of social conditioning] I want to break the separation that lies between art and life [* My life, my felt experiences are my art - being in motion, interaction with real life and the documentation of experience becomes my artistic practice] I like to dance, play, walk and sing, star gaze and appreciate the little cheesy things in life.
[* Sophie Le-Phat Ho]
A student (McGill School of Environment), event conceptor / coordinator (Artivistic: a Multidisciplinary Event on the Interplay between Art, Information and Activism), and section editor for activism (criticalworld.net international research project) -- interests reach all sides, partly explaining my solid inclination in exploring constructs + interactions in (and between) science, the social sciences and art, among other things. My present and future academic life is multidisciplinary (anthropology, medicine, environment, film....). With past artistic creation in the realms of video, film, performance and design, I am strangely inspired by doubt, contradiction, chaos, dialogue, mobility.... Within my involvement at the junction of art and activism, I am hoping to participate in making links between (not so) different and distant social struggles and to build community locally + globally. Realised this before learning it was said in 68 Paris: Everything is Political. I like to wander, crack ice, dance, extra-ordinary music, silence, unfinished buildings, (and people with vision + a sense of humour).
[* Marc-Antoine Vermette]
Bonjour! 6 septembre 2004, 22h27, et un projet d'écriture de scénario danse dans ma tête, se cristallise en mots plus ou moins tranquillement. Je sens ce désir d'explorer les limites du langage verbal en tant qu'outil relatif de représentation de la réalité, le pouvoir d'un dialogue invitant les émotions à se joindre à la mêlée. Je participe de temps à autres au développement d'un projet de Festival Perpétuel (un réseau d'individus qui ouvrent leurs logis à leur collectivité pour partager des activités variées). J'aime. Expérimenter les processus, défricher des formules de co-création, investir les dénominateurs communs à travers la diversité, marcher, me sentir relié... et regarder, beaucoup.
sections:
what is [* ] - mandate - projects
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