Tag Archives: art installation
September 1, 2016 Canadian Performer Refuses To Show Face
In Toronto Canada, an arrogant performance artist declares themself amazing while refusing to show any facial expression.
When we reached out to the haus of dada for comment we received the following message in German via telegraph from curator Fritz Snitz. “The Ubermarionette only does private performances for close friends, artists and cherished audience members and is not interested in speaking with you peoples.” -Ritzy Fritzy
Artist Would Rather Give Ownership of Her Work to Those Who Inspire, Than Those Who Can Pay.
Performance Artist’s Perceived Gender Affects Audience Reaction
Tags: art installation, art therapy, Canadian Art, dada, haus of dada, performance art, performance artist, Toronto, trauma therapy
September 29, 2015 BEING: inside the glacier. Performing GLACIOLOGY with Anandam Dance Theatre
Using the movement of glaciers across landscapes as an entry point, this piece explores states of density, collaboration, collapse, overpopulation, relocation, disruption, environmental tipping points, disappeared people, mass graves, icebergs, and melting ice caps. Glaciology combines site specific performance with human sculpture and choreographic installation to create a surreal, constantly shifting image of bodies as landscape and simultaneously as capsules of history and memory; both human and geological.
http://www.scotiabanknuitblanche.ca/project.html?project_id=1568
Choreography: Brandy Leary
Sonic Designer/Composition: James Bunton
Tags: anandam dance theatre, art installation, brandy leary, Canadian Art, canadian artist, christine shaw, glaciology, haus of dada, human glacier, human sculpture, jen goodwin, lisa anita wegner, performance art, public art event, Scotiabank Nuit Blanche
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- Posted under art installation ideas, art therapy
April 16, 2015 An Open Letter to Lady Gaga: from my haus to yours
Lisa Anita Wegner
Dear Gaga,
My name is Lisa and I am a filmmaker, performance artist, curator, storyteller, light bender and space/time traveller. You inspire me tremendously, and I am writing to express my appreciation for what you have sparked in my work, beginning with Queen of the Parade, my first large-scale performance/fashion/video installation and the work that put me on the map as an artist.
Rise and Fall of The Queen of Jupiter 2016
In 2008, I had hit hard times – I lost my film production company, all my savings, my heart and my mind. I collapsed getting to the Cannes Film Festival in 2008 and spent the next two years largely unable to function. In the Trauma Therapy Department of Women’s College Hospital, I found art therapy. I started a daily art-making practice that saved my life. I had gone offline and expressing myself in art and video was my lifeline, my communication with the outside world.
I remember the exact moment the idea for Queen of the Parade was born: I was walking my dogs and listening to “Marry The Night” after I had been binging on the BBC Series My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. (I am obsessed with the gloriousness of Gypsy Fashion.)
That night, hearing your lyrics, “I won’t give up on my life/I’m a soldier to my own emptiness/I’m a winner,” affected me profoundly, and set something inside me aflame. In a flash, I pictured myself as an enormous woman in a huge dress with a video screen on the front, with your song resounding in my head. I rushed home and wrote everything down in a crazy, inspired burst. This was the first step toward the 26-foot installation that was part of Toronto’s Nuit Blanche in 2013; during the event itself, I listened to “Marry The Night” on repeat with ear buds while I was twenty feet in the air.
This led to my first commission by Partners in Art, who commissioned a gallery-sized 10-foot Queen. This was a terrific experience that enabled to connect more directly with the audience, and I didn’t want the performance to ever end.
Something was awakened in me and this led to a whole body of work of experimenting on and off the space/ time continuum and speeding up and stretching out moments. I could finally breathe; I felt like I had come alive.
My new performing persona Think(k) Blank Human was born the following Nuit Blanche in Toronto as part of my installation TRIANGLE. I found comfort in her skin, and really came out of myself as a performer.
In 2016, I will be creating The Fall and Rise of The Queen of Jupiter, which feels like the natural progression of my work. This time, I will be kicking off my high heels and putting on Thin(k) Blank Human’s space boots, and I shall rise from a pile of fabric into a 40 foot Alien Queen. Instead of strutting, I will run and dance.
This performance piece will run 33 minutes and I would love permission to use extended versions of “Marry The Night,” “ARTPOP” and “Applause” as the soundtrack for the ascension.
I am approaching Thelma Madine, the Gypsy dressmaker from the series, to design the Queen of Jupiter’s Gown, and I would love to have permission to use those three songs.
This is my story of re-invention, and I feel like this is the first piece I’m presenting that is truly me. I’ve been searching for authenticity through artifice and I finally have landed on something. I feel extremely compelled toward this project. For women who have crashed and burned and for those of us who have gotten up, I feel it is our job to inspire others to get up and stand as tall as we can. You preach this every day, and this is one of the many reasons for my unbridled admiration.
Please let me know your thoughts me using your music for The Fall and Rise of The Queen of Jupiter in 2016.
An ocean of appreciation from my Haus to yours,
Lisa
Mighty Brave + Haus of Dada, Toronto
bosslady@mightybraveproductions.com
p.s. Thin(k) Blank Human did many a cover of Marry the Night, she was so inspired.
Tags: appreciation, art installation, haus of dada, haus of gaga, inspiration, lady gaga, lisa anita wegner, marry the night, mother monster, queen of jupiter, Queen of the Parade, thelma madine, thin(k) blank human, trauma therapy
July 2, 2014 The only thing missing is you #WINDOWBOXSELFIE
To embrace the high angle and tall shape of The Window Box I found myself looking up into the empty Gallery 1313 Window Box space while contemplating what I wanted to fill it with. While I was contemplating someone took a picture of me. I have been fascinated by the fact that so many Smart Phone users now choose to interact with the world through the lens of their phones, constantly taking photos and video of everything that they experience and interact with. Even more fascinating is their desire, at events such as concerts, to take pictures of themselves with the action in the background, with this seemingly as important a part of the event as witnessing it firsthand. As an installation and performance artist, I have been struck by how a good 80% of the audience opt to look at my work through their phones.
The installation #windowboxselfie that will be in Gallery 1313’s Window Box during July of 2014, is designed to play on this compulsion, creating an invitation to its viewers to create a self-portrait while they take a picture of an art installation. The round mirror angled toward the viewer shows their face while jewel-tone film gels create a halo around their face. Mirror film with RoscoFlex S lighting gel creates a surreal reflective surface, giving the viewer a playful saint-like self-portrait created from their own reflection, in a celebration of the self made possible through new technology.
The title #windowboxselfie is printed in on the glass front of the Window Box so that it will be captured in each photo taken; and this will result in the Window Box exhibition space itself proliferating in self-portraits posted on social media.
Through the artist’s and Gallery 1313’s online social media, there will also be opportunities for viewers to see the best of submitted selfies, and vote for those they like best in various categories, continuing the interactive nature of the installation.
#windowboxselfie was created by Lisa Anita Wegner, and continues the trends of her recent art practice in its use of found objects, and the theme of reflection. This installation in particular focuses on using film expendables for the majority of its construction, creating extra layers of meaning in using film supplies to create a ‘set’ that then encourages people to make their own ‘filmic’ records.
Construction and design expertise was provided by Nikolai Berda of Longbranch Design, a company which specializes in providing design solutions for professionals in various creative fields. This is the third collaboration between Lisa Anita Wegner and Longbranch Design, with their design and fabrication skills having previously brought her installations for ScotiaBank Nuit Blanche 2013 and ARTrageous Art In Motion 2014 to life.
Materials for the installation have been supplied by The Haus of Dada, Lisa Anita Wegner’s film and art collective, with additional funding provided by Partners In Art. Process video by Lisa Anita Wegner
We encourage taking and tagging of #WINDOWBOXSELFIE selfies. We will choose from the most interesting ones and prizes will be awarded and at the end of the month. So come to Gallery1313 at 1313 Queen Street West, take a look into the mirrors and take a picture of yourself.
The only thing missing is you.
Here is a short video of how we made it
Taking a Selfie Has More to Do With Self Worth Than You Realize: Read what Molly Fosco at Huffington Post has to say
#WINDOWBOXSELFIE
instagram @gallery1313 @lisa_anita_wegner @longbranchdesign
Tags: #windowboxselfie, art, art gallery, art installation, art installations, art is for me, art process, creative process, gallery, gallery 1313, lisa anita wegner, Longbranch Design, nikolai berda, phil anderson, process art, queen street west, rethinking possible, selfie, Toronto, video art, window art, Window Box
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February 16, 2014 The Triangular LAW of a Freedom Junkie
I am thrilled to bring one facet of the TRIANGLE ascension experience to the opening of DIGITIZE, a show running at Moniker Gallery March 6-12. Come March 6th 7pm -11pm see all the art and ascend with me in my multi projector experience.
Here is a taste of the inaugural blastoff that was Feb 1st at Belljar.
TRIANGLE is a three location ascension experience with blastoff being October2014. The triangle is an ancient symbol used to meditate on ascension, as a conduit for higher energies, and as a cosmic aerial to receive the frequency of a higher realm. A triangle opens your third eye. Come be a part of 3 distinct sound and projection environments with timed performances by the artist who will be your Guide, ensuring your comfort during your intergalactic travel. The TRIANGLE will be located between 2186 Dundas -an art hub- The Belljar Bar and Cafe -a social hub- and Lisa Anita Wegner’s studio -an imagination hub- which closes the triangle.
Come and experience TRIANGLE, where everything mundane will be transformed into the marvelous. As all space and time exist in one moment, travel in and out is accessible to those who use the vehicle of the triangle.
Born from my Dada dream lab experiments, TRIANGLE began with the notion that with imagination, the mundane can transformed into marvellous. The various video images start with mundane footage, a flower, my feet walking, a few seconds of an octopus shooting ink. Through layering and playing with timeline I create what I call video studies. They are an everyday part of my art practise, a visual diary.
My art practice has a focus on re-birth, redemption, transformation, and process work, using a multi-media approach that fearlessly probes for the truth, richness and hard-won lessons from my personal journey over the past half-decade that has confonted me with extraordinary difficulties. Emerging from my personal darkness, I have come to love rhythm and repetition both on and off beats; as well as the beauty and possibilities of found objects – even with technology. I work with a pastiche of donated equipment, and have embraced both the imperfections and new creative possibilities that result.
While spending time at three venues, I noticed that my studio, The Belljar Cafe, and 2186 Dundas gallery were located in a triangle. When I started researching the three-angled shape, TRIANGLE was born.
I am experimenting with a performing persona who lives outside the space/ time continuum. For TRIANGLE she will be the Guide, walking earthlings from one venue to another while performing in each projection once every hour. She wears a dress made from da-lite project screens and all her exposed skin is covered with white makeup.
My current body of work includes Dada Lab Experiments in which a multimedia “history” is created through spontaneous exploration for both myself and Haus of Dada, my studio. A silent black and white film titled Sunbathing on Mars 1916 is the backbone of this multi-year project. This for me is the ultimate creative freedom. As a trauma survivor, there is something cathartic in the ability to recreate myself and revise my history; and now TRIANGLE will be the first stage in inventing my future.
Tags: art, art installation, art projections, belljar cafe, blastoff, lisa anita wegner, moniker gallery, projection, projection womb, sacred geometry, triangle, vonliptov
Lisa Anita Wegner 