Skip to content

Lisa Anita Wegner

“I make stuff and sometimes write about it”

Tag Archives: Canadian Art

May 15, 2023 Mysterious gifts in the mail

I love a social experiment.

In 2019 Scott White and I created Intangible Adorations: Experience The Icon. Read about it here on Broadway World.

I also created LAW Thought Certificates A CBC comedy blog reposted by story about selling these certificates and some people we angry with me that I made so much money so easily. The more ridiculous I make my experiments, and the more I say they are fictitious, the more people seem to believe me. I sent local artists who inspire me Unlimited LAW Thought Certificates, to think about me gratis as much as they wanted.

Artist Would Rather Give Ownership of Her Work to Those Who Inspire, Than Those Who Can Pay.

An undocumented international pandemic offshoot project was Did you get an ADORATION in the MAIL? Starting in 2020 I sent anonymous artistic packages to thirty artists that inspire me. Hand written letters, collages, small gifts from my practise and red herring messages. I love paper-based mail and I love a good mystery.

At the beginning of pandemic I received a wonderful plug in massager with a cryptic message and no return address. Recently I received a Pink Panther T Shirt and a silver cross necklace. I wear them both and think often of who might have sent them. I also got a year long paper magazine subscription of Toronto Fashion sent to Haus of Dada. I actually really enjoy this for collaging.

I am full of appreciation as all of the gifts are things I would not have bought for myself but am enjoying.

Yours ’till the USA drinks Canada Dry!

Tags: , , , , , , ,

July 13, 2022 The Role of The Artist in Society

I believe every child is born an artist, and retains creative urges even into an adult life where it seems they may have been lost. During dark times, it is our role as artists to dream up the future and propose new ideas of what’s possible for the future; and then make our dreams resonate with others, to spark their dormant imaginations.

The theme that runs through my work is Liberation Through Dreaming, and I use my stories and art to tell hard stories elegantly and with humour to bring attention to poverty, disability and social injustice. Through comedy and absurdity, I invite the audience into my crip universe, where we all can be stars and agents of change; and our imaginations are nurtured so that we can thrive and dazzle.

Being on ODSP and living below the poverty line has opened my eyes to the harsh realities of disabled life in Toronto. I want to dazzle the public with my otherworldly art, to spread awareness to foster change. I want to propose brand new ways of thinking and doing things, and welcome others to dream of a future where disabled folx are nurtured and cared for, not discriminated against and hidden away. The more people I can reach and invite to join my dreaming, the stronger the creative force for change will become.

As a public artist, I also want to astonish people with magic in unexpected places. Particularly in the current climate of fear and anger growing in the shadow of the global pandemic, I believe that putting art out into the world – free and equally available to everyone – is the way to uplift people and restore faith.

Tags: , , , ,

July 4, 2022 my open windows

radical softening.

when there is a window open in my nausea, I eat

when there is a window open on my pain, I move

when there is a window open on my spasming muscles, I dance

when my cognitive function allows, I plan

Sometimes I wait

I am reclaiming my body one molecule at a time

I have reclaimed my mind

it is free to roam and create

all the time.

Tags: , ,

July 4, 2021 there you are

your face is there like a fever dream

in the background 

like you’ve always been there and all ways will be.

I saw you looking for me

On the other side of tomorrow there is no need to worry

WE will decorate for the holidays

Coffee and candies in the bathtub

artful living

and the feeling of home

Tags: , , , ,

January 25, 2020 A True Amateur (Lover Of)

“Over the years that the way I pursue my work as been called amateur. Found objects and donated equipment have become my jam and I realize an unending burning desire to tell stories through any means possible. I take it a compliment as I will always been an amateur artist in the true sense of the word. I do my work for the sheer love and hunger of it, and I will never stop. Through volume I am becoming practised with a body of film, installation and performance work. I feel lucky that money will never be a motivator of my creative output.” -The Ubermarionette 2020

Photo by Angela Chao 2016

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

April 25, 2017 Road to Human Realignment

“I am working on a performance film series called Metamorphosis Human Realignment. This physical stretching practise has changed my life and now through that doorway I am creating a piece in which I tell the truth with my body. I am very excited about this work.”

After speaking at Open Show Toronto about two of my therapy videos I have become even more aware of the clear path my body of work is taking.

I created the Fictitious History of the Haus of Dada as a therapeutic art practise and the bulk of my film and performance work has stemmed from it. After using persona and then the Dada movement as parameters I now feel compelled to strip everything down and tell my story with my body. I’ll talk a bit about that in a moment.

I started here in 2008 when I was still very sick. I made this Eva and Bobby video series in my home with iMovie and started to find my voice

 

 

 

Mama Dada was going to host the installation but that didn’t feel right. Thin(k) Blank Human was born that night.

The work progressed with a library of videos like Marry The Night

A Collaboration with Steve Weiss and Leslie Barton

A solo performance at The Mod Club in Toronto

Thin(k) Blank Human: Metamorphosis is a performance piece by artist Lisa Anita Wegner (haus of dada) and musician Ray Cammaert (Pink Moth). It began as an extension of Wegner’s Trauma Therapy and represents a safe place in the search for one’s self after complete annihilation. It is both a confirmation of vitality and a call to action. The piece explores male and female layers of the neutral self and uses vibration of sound to assist in the expression of terror, hysteria, madness, resilience and joy on the journey to re-birth.

 

After this metamorphosis I realized that I will always continue to embody Thin(k) Blank Human but as for my personal artistic through line I have come through the structure of relying on artifice to find authenticity. My current work is based in realigning my chronically tight psoas muscles which have caused a leg length discrepancy and making my physical body unstable and chronically crooked. After going to a stretch class of Mary-Margaret Scrimger’s at Pursuit I understood the power of stretching my body and how I felt different immediately. Now every day I stretch for at least 10 minutes, some studio days I stretch up to three hours. In this stretching and realignment I am finding myself and who I really am as an artist without all the performance bombast that I so enjoy.

I am working on a nude performance / film series called Metamorphosis Human Realignment. This physical stretching practise has changed my life and now through that doorway I am creating a performance to tell the truth with my body. I am very excited about this work. It’s also the first time I am not sharing as I go.

LAW

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

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.

Photo by Ashley Hurlock for Akhilanda Collaborative
Photo by Haus of Dada
Photo by Angela Chao
Photo by Haus of Dada
Photo by audience member at Black Cat Artspace
Photos by Angela Chao
Photo by Haus of Dada
Photo by Haus of Dada
Photo by Steve Weiss
Photo by Anandam Dance Theatre for Body Break
 

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: , , , , , , , ,

September 29, 2015 BEING: inside the glacier. Performing GLACIOLOGY with Anandam Dance Theatre

After having the pleasure of working with choreographer Brandy Leary on my performance piece, Sex & Candy Floorshow, I was intrigued when I heard about her 2015 Nuit Blanche piece ,GLACIOLOGY. It is part of curator Christine Shaw’s exhibition Work of Wind along the Toronto Waterfront. Glaciology is a human glacier made of 50 human bodies that slowly sweeps across the Toronto waterfront from dusk until dawn.
My art practice has always been relatively solitary, and for the past three years I have performed solo for Nuit Blanche. I was very much drawn to a different way of working and the opportunity to collaborate with a large group.
At first rehearsal, I was hoping that I was physically strong enough for this project. With the dancers, acrobats and circus performers warming up, I felt unsure. As soon as Brandy started the rehearsal with a performer massage, it felt right. Her meditative style “state work” is very much up my alley. My daily practice involves body work and meditating and I felt Brandy’s concepts for the Glacier made perfect sense. My body knew what to do.
I realized that this piece of 50 bodies was actually about doing nothing. It’s about relaxing and physically giving in to the glacier as a whole. It’s about radical physical listening and gracious waiting with your whole body.
I wasn’t sure about potentially being underneath a pile of people. I dislike crowds, and thought it might be too much for me. What was a surprise was that the glacier felt like being embraced. It was a benevolent place to be. If a foot or elbow was coming toward your head, someone would guide it away. I found the physical safety of the glacier was remarkable. I also found the feeling of being protected intoxicating. In rehearsals, when I was out of the glacier watching, all I wanted was back into the warm safety of the group.
Being in the glacier is one of the peak emotional experiences I’ve had in a performing situation, and we’re still only in rehearsal. I’ve been swept up in the movement of this physical entity of 50 bodies, and it is transformative. The first time I got flipped across the top of the group, I felt such joy. Many of the performers talked about how being in the glacier bends time. An hour in the glacier feels like about 10 minutes, and I am craving the longer sessions that we have scheduled for the actual Nuit Blanche performance. I am trying to figure out how to get this kind of emotional physical work into my daily practisc.
As with any public performance, I look forward to the plethora of images that will be collected throughout the night. Please tag your images #glaciology2015
I will write more about this experience after the festival.
2015 ADT Season FB Banners DRAFT A2
Cheers
Lisa Anita Wegner
Filmmaker Performer Curator Programmer
Here is the free link to download the soundtrack for an immersive experience next weekend: http://jamesbunton.bandcamp.com/album/glaciology-i-v
About GLACIOLOGY:
A glacier composed of 50 human bodies slowly sweeps the city for 12 continuous hours as part of curator Christine Shaw’s exhibition The Work of Wind. Anandam’s Glaciology examines the permanent effects of human and ecological disruptions in the converging wakes of colonialism, globalisation, wars and unsustainable economies by overlapping and contrasting these images with the indelible power of glacial movements across landscapes.

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: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

August 31, 2015 Reel Fashion – Paula John’s CELLULOID DRESS

“One hundred new revolutionary materials riot in the piazza, demanding to be admitted into the making of womanly clothes.”           -Volt, Futurist Manifesto Of Women’s Fashion (1920)

Gallery 1313 is excited to have Paula John’s Celluloid Dress on display in the Windowbox for September 2015.

Celluloid Dress plays with the relationship between two technologies that creator Paula John uses in her art practice – sewing and 16mm celluloid filmmaking. Inspired in part by Volt’s “Futurist Manifesto of Women’s Fashion,” this wearable dress is made from over 250 feet of exposed 16mm film from one of John’s own films and nylon mesh. LEDs stitched into the skirt illuminate individual frames and project the images onto nearby surfaces for a truly stunning effect.

This amazing piece will be on exhibit in the Windowbox for September, during the period when the city’s attention turns to film with the Toronto International Film Festival. Celluloid Dress will provide viewers with an entirely different twist on what film can be, and stimulate their imaginations to consider other uses and convergences for familiar technologies.

Paula John is a multi-disciplinary artist and scholar based in Toronto. She has been exhibiting her work (including photography, film, textiles, installation, and performance) since 2003. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Photography, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Documentary Media from Ryerson University, and a Master of Arts degree in Communication and Culture from York University. Some of the themes explored in her work include, gender, sexuality, feminism, and performance. Paula is currently working towards a Ph.D. in Theatre and Performance Studies at York University.

Paula will be giving an Artist’s Talk at the reception on Sunday, September 13th from 3-5 p.m. This will be an excellent opportunity to meet a unique artist and view one of the results of her creative vision.

-Lisa Anita Wegner, Windowbox co-curator for Gallery 1313

Artist Statement

Celluloid Dress is a performance-based installation that combines the mediums of sewing and 16mm filmmaking to explore the numerous similarities between the two technologies. I was inspired by the early twentieth century Avant-garde art movement Futurism, and in particular the 1920 Futurist Manifesto of Women’s Fashion by Vincenzo Fani (Volt). In it he declares,

Women’s fashion has always been more or less Futurist. Fashion: the female equivalent of Futurism. Speed, novelty, courage of creation… Fashion is an art, like architecture and music…Women’s fashion can never be extravagant enough… The reign of silk in the history of female fashion must come to an end, just as the reign of marble is now finished in architectural constructions. One hundred new revolutionary materials riot in the piazza, demanding to be admitted into the making of womanly clothes. We fling open wide the doors of the fashion ateliers to paper, cardboard, glass, tinfoil, aluminum, ceramic, rubber, fish skin, burlap, oakum, hemp, gas, growing plants, and living animals.[1]

The Futurists valued speed, dynamism and new technologies, and were interested in transforming all sensory aspects of life. This extended to art, literature, music, food, architecture, and even fashion. In the spirit of the Futurists I developed a project in which I could combine two technologies that I use in my art practice: sewing and filmmaking. I merged the two technologies by first sewing a dress out of film. The handmade dress was sewn entirely out of 16mm celluloid film and nylon mesh, using approximately 250 feet of one of my films. I stitched LEDs into the skirt, which illuminate individual frames and project the images onto nearby surfaces. I then physically linked the two technologies in a performance, using a film loop to connect the sewing machine and the projector.

There are a number of similarities between sewing and 16mm film making, the most explicit being that Singer, the leading manufacturer of sewing machines, also made 16mm projectors. There are also parallels between the machines themselves. Both a sewing machine and a projector are threaded; both machines have a spool and a take up; both machines make similar sounds; tension is important; and the presser foot and the film gate serve essentially the same purpose on their respective machines. Even the movements of the machines reflect each other with the spinning of the reels and of the balance wheel. The process of editing a film is also similar to sewing, where shots are stitched together. The type of 16mm filmmaking that I personally engage in shares strong similarities with the act of sewing. Both processes take place within my home at the kitchen table. Both sewing and analog filmmaking are highly tactile and laborious practices where the physicality of the medium is emphasized.

For the performance aspect of the piece I project a copy of that same film through a 16mm projector on a continuous loop. The film loops through the projector and physically moves throughout the space through the use of pulleys attached to the ceiling. Approximately fifteen feet in front of the projector sits a sewing machine, which has been modified to add a film gate, allowing the film to pass through it on its loop. During the performance, I sit at the machine while wearing the film dress and sew the film as the projector drives it forward. The film is projected on both the sewing machine and my body, and as I sew, holes are punctured in the celluloid abstracting the image. Eventually through this process as more and more holes are punctured in the film the filmstrip is completely destroyed and breaks apart.

Bio

Paula John is a multi-disciplinary artist and scholar based in Toronto. She has been exhibiting her work (including photography, film, textiles, installation, and performance) since 2003. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Photography, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Documentary Media from Ryerson University, and a Master of Arts degree in Communication and Culture from York University. Some of the themes explored in her work include, gender, sexuality, feminism, and performance. Paula is currently working towards a Ph.D. in Theatre and Performance Studies at York University.

[1] Volt, . “Futurist Manifesto of Women’s Fashion.” Trans. Array Futurism: An Anthology. . 1st ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009. 253-54. Print.
IMG_7316

IMG_7317

IMG_7321

IMG_7323


 IMG_7330

IMG_7329

IMG_7330

IMG_7333

IMG_7334

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

August 1, 2015 Art Saves Lives: Therapy Art by Angela Chao and Lisa Anita Wegner

Art Saves Lives is the first joint exhibition of Angela Chao and Lisa Anita Wegner, two visual artists whose work grew out of brain injuries they had experienced. Angela suffered a concussion at her work on a film set, while Lisa lives with post-traumatic stress disorder. lisa_angela

They connected over their art being the way out of their personal traumas, allowing them to both function and stay connected to their true selves. They share an understanding of art as something they need on a daily basis to nourish their souls, and are so simpatico on this, that they refer to themselves as each other’s “Brain Buddies.”

Angela and Lisa are eager to share their stories and their art, helping to spread awareness to others that art is a very real therapeutic option.

Come to see their show of paintings, post-production photography and collage now on display at the gallery at Richview Library: and visit their website at artsaveslives.ca.

After a concussion curtailed her first career, ANGELA CHAO discovered cranio-therapy and found herself able to think freely and begin to escape the personality and mental changes, PTSD, depression and anxiety that had plagued her since her accident. Even more exhilarating, she could sit still and accomplish things, an ability that had been taken from her. She started doodling and discovered her hidden artist, and a place where she can leave behind mental challenges and be free to create.

In her new career as an artist, she has already won an award at the Art Square gallery where her work premiered, as well as Flight Centre’s first prize of a trip to New Zealand and Australia in a competition with 1800 artists. She recently competed in Art Battle 2015, and has donated her artwork to an AIDs charity event at TIFF.  In addition, her unique story has generated coverage by the Mississauga News, Brain Injury Association and Hospital News. http://mindlessdoodle.ca/unnamed copy

LISA ANITA WEGNER is the creative producer of Mighty Brave Productions, a small award-winning multi-media production company based in Toronto. She has been exploring film, video, post-production photography and performance art for over twenty years, with an emphasis on emotional authenticity, collaboration, and – since experiencing a PTSD-related breakdown, the possibilities of art as therapy. Her work has been shown at the Phoenix Art Museum, the Art Gallery of Ontario, Gallery 1313, Moniker Gallery, Toronto Art Fair, Buddies in Bad Times, The Black Cat Artspace, NXNE Festival, Partners In Art’s ARTrageous In Motion, Scotiabank Nuit Blanche and, most recently, at the RAW Sensory show at Toronto’s Mod Club. www.lisaismightybrave.com

lisa

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

%d bloggers like this: