Join the CURC in Onkwehonwené:ha for a talk with artist Judy Anderson!  
 

Judy Anderson is nêhiyaw from Gordon First Nation, Treaty 4, Saskatchewan. Her practice includes beadwork, installation, three-dimensional pieces, painting, and collaborative projects; her work focuses on spirituality, family, colonization, decolonization, and nêhiyaw ways of knowing and being. Her current work is created with the purpose of honouring people in her life and nêhiyaw intellectualizations of the world. She is a Professor of Canadian Indigenous Studio Art in the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Calgary. 
 

Presented by the Concordia University Research Chair in Onkwehonwené:ha (New Scholar) Studio Arts,  and IFRC Co-Director, Hannah Claus. 
 

Hannah Claus is a visual artist of Kanien’kehá:ka and English descent who utilizes material and sensorial processes to express Kanien’kehá:ka ways of knowing and understanding. The objectives of her program are to create a space for Onkwehonwené:ha [Indigenous methodologies] regarding research–creation and to establish a Kanien’kehá:ka ontology. Her transdisciplinary, studio-based research engages with the idea of space shaped by language, material culture and place as transversal living concepts. Claus is a member of Kenhtè:ke | Tyendinaga Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte. 

How can you participate? Join us in person or online by registering for the Zoom Meeting or watching live on YouTube.

Date: Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Time: 4:00 - 5:45 PM EST

Location: 4TH SPACE, Concordia University, 1400 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W. or online via Zoom or live on YouTube

This Halloween, please join us online for the opening of AbTeC’s newest virtual space, the Skins Arcade! Come as you aren’t to this launch party, where for the first time ever, all six of the video games created in our Skins Workshops will be on display. Plus, virtual snacks and plenty of pumpkins!

Since 2008, AbTeC has been offering the Skins Workshops on Indigenous Storytelling and Digital Media to Indigenous youth in person and online; in their community centres and schools; in colleges and university classrooms; and at festivals, conferences and other gatherings. Our 200-hour video game workshops have resulted in playable games that are freely available for download. In our beautiful new arcade, you can sample each one by watching short, edited play-throughs on virtual, old-school video game consoles. Follow up by busting a few moves on our DDR machine and enjoying a virtual snack. Check out our virtual photo booth and then send us your selfies! (We’ll show you how.)

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗻:

𝟭. 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘃𝗶𝗮 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲
Create your own avatar, play games, and interact with fellow players!
See Instructions here

𝟮. 𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺
Prefer to spectate? Tune in via Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube LiveStream for all the action and excitement. Join the chat and share the experience with friends!

𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀:
𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲: Thursday, October 31, 2024
𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲: 2:30 – 3:30 PM EST
𝗟𝗼𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: AbTeC Island, via Second Life
𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: https://gallery.abtec.org/#visit
𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺: AbTeC Facebook, AbTeC Instagram, or Obx YouTube

On Friday, October 11, 2024, this public discussion reunited members of the Indigenous artist collective Nation to Nation (N2N), which was established in 1994. Artists Skawennati and Ryan Rice (both Kanienʼkehá꞉ka) were joined by Michif scholar Cathy Mattes and Assistant Professor of Art History at Concordia University, Michelle McGeough (Cree/Métis).

This event was organized by Mikhel Proulx (PhD Art History, 2023) with the support of the FOFA Gallery, the Indigenous Futures Research Centre (IFRC), and the Concordia University Research Chair in Computational Media & the Indigenous Future Imaginary.

Time: Friday, October 11, 2024, at 6 PM

Location: EV-1.605 York Auditorium (opposite the FOFA Gallery), Concordia University, 1515 St. Catherine W.

Event Background

In the early 1990s, three emerging artists established a working collective. Skawennati, Ryan Rice, and Eric Robertson (Gitksan) had all been students of studio art at Concordia University, where they were also members of First Nations Concordia. They named themselves, as Rice notes, after a principle of a historic Haudenosaunee treaty: “the Kahswentha, the Two Row Wampum Belt, which is built on the relationships of mutual respect from Nation to Nation.” N2N hosted exhibitions, screenings, workshops, and performance evenings across Canada. They supported dozens of Indigenous artists working at the boundaries of contemporary art, including in new media, performance, and social practice.

Among N2N’s exhibitions was “Art Bingo” (1994), a performance event in which participants were rewarded with artwork prizes. “Native Love” (1995) was a touring exhibition that highlighted Indigenous expressions of love, sex, and care in the artwork of over forty artists. “TattooNation” (1997–8) drew on diverse cultural traditions of tattooing, and featured tattoo designs by contemporary Indigenous artists in a touring exhibition. And CyberPowWow (1997–2004) provided space for Indigenous cultural expressions on the Internet, supporting interactive artworks within a multi-user environment.

Nation to Nation’s activities took place in concert with vast institutional shifts in the Canadian art landscape. Their efforts have been influential in the formation of contemporary Indigenous art, and were often developed outside of the support of established funding agencies and display spaces. On the occasion of Nation to Nation’s thirtieth anniversary, this gathering offers an in-depth exploration of this important collective for the first time.

Bios

Skawennati is a visual artist. Her machinimas and machinimagraphs (movies and still images made in virtual environments), textiles and sculpture have been presented internationally and collected by the National Gallery of Canada, the Musée d’art contemporain de Montreal and the Thoma Foundation, among others. Recipient of a 2022 Hewlett 50 Arts Commissions Grant and an Honorary Doctorate from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, she is also a founding board member of daphne, Montreal’s first Indigenous artist-run center. She co-directs Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace (AbTeC), a research-creation network at Concordia University. Originally from Kahnawà:ke, Skawennati resides in Montreal.

Ryan Rice, Kanien’kehá:ka of Kahnawake, is a curator, critic and creative consultant. His curatorial career spans 30 years in community, museums, artist run centres, public spaces and galleries. He is currently the Executive Director of OCAD University’s Onsite Gallery in addition to his 2021 appointment as its Curator, Indigenous Art. In 2022, he presented three solo exhibitions; Jordan Bennett: Souvenir at Onsite Gallery, Pageant: Natalie King at Centre [3] and Versification: January Rogers at daphne Art Centre and advanced two public art commissions as the Indigenous Public Art Curator with Waterfront Toronto. He received the 2022 Changemakers BIPOC Award from Galeries Ontario / Ontario Galleries (GOG). Rice is co-curator for the 2023 edition of the Bonavista Biennale (NL). His contributions to community, leadership, and organizational experience includes co-founder of the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective, the Inuit Art Foundation Board, an advisory member of Longhouse Labs.

Michelle McGeough (Cree Métis/Settler) completed her PhD in Indigenous art history at the University of New Mexico. Prior to returning to school for her advanced degree, she taught Museum Studies at the Institute of American Indian Art and was the Assistant curator at the Wheelwright Museum of the Native American Indian in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Dr. McGeough has a Master’s degree from Carleton University as well as a BFA from Emily Carr and an undergraduate degree from the Institute of American Indian Art. She also has a B.Ed. degree from the University of Alberta. Dr. McGeough currently teaches at Concordia University in the Art History department.

Cathy Mattes (Southwest Manitoba Michif) is a curator, writer, and art history professor based out of Sprucewoods, Manitoba, Canada. Her curation, research and writing centers on dialogic and Indigenous knowledge-centered curatorial practice as strategies for care. She has a PhD in Indigenous Studies from the University of Manitoba, and currently teaches at the University of Winnipeg in the History of Art and Curatorial Studies programs. Mattes has been beading since she was 20 years old and has taught beading and moccasin-making in workshops, university courses, and around her kitchen table with family and friends.

Mikhel Proulx is a settler art historian. He is the Fonds de recherche du Québec Société et culture Postdoctoral Fellow at the Vulnerable Media Lab at Queen’s University. Mikhel has recently curated exhibitions and presented research in Leonardo Journal, Performance Research, the Journal of Canadian Art History, the Pantheon-Sorbonne University, the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, and Foundation PHI in Montreal.

This event was initially scheduled for Wednesday, September 25, 2024 but was rescheduled (in solidarity with the student walk-outs) for Wednesday, October 9, 2024.

On Wednesday, October 9, 2024, the Jarislowsky Institute get together and presentation by IFRC undergraduate member Milo Puge, moderated by IFRC Research Coordinator, Hanss Lujan Torres. Completed over the summer, Milo’s arrangement featured modern and contemporary Indigenous artworks that showcase the many ways that language and art can interplay. Contextualizing this interaction across multiple public and private spaces highlights the importance of Indigenous languages within the everyday as a form of resistance.

Time: Wednesday, October 9, 2024, from 4 to 6 pm

Location: The Jarislowsky Institute, EV Building, EV-3.711, 1515 St. Catherine St. W., Montreal

Join us on Monday, August 12, for a visiting scholar talk featuring Prof. Hēmi Whaanga. Hēmi will talk about his current collaborative research projects exploring digital and virtual protocols, Māori cosmologies, Māori Indigenous knowledges, satellite imagery, and virtual and augmented realities. He will also speak about his role as Co-Director of the Abundant Intelligences (AbInt) research program and the exciting future research initiatives. This event can be attended in person or online.

Time: Monday, August 12, 2024, from 3 - 5 PM EST

Location: In person at 4TH SPACE, Concordia, 1400 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W.

Online: Register for the Zoom Meeting or watch the YouTube livestream

AbTeC hosted an artist talk with Solomon Enos on Wednesday, June 26, 2024 at 4TH SPACE!

Artist and Indigenous futurist Solomon Enos talked about his incredible work imagining the future of his people, the Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) – and all of us. This free event accompanied the exhibitions We See Far at AbTeC Gallery, We See Far AFK at ELLEPHANT, and his compelling solo show Resist with Love: The Xtopias of Solomon Enos at daphne. Resist with Love is on display until August 17, 2024.

Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace (AbTeC) celebrated Indigenous Peoples Day with an Art Crawl! On Friday, June 21, 2024, three exciting exhibitions opened across Tiohtià:ke (Montreal) and cyberspace.   

At 1 pm EST, participants met on AbTeC Island, AbTeC’s headquarters in the online world of Second Life, for AbTeC Gallery’s launch of We See Far: Afro- & Indigenous Futurists. This virtual exhibition features artworks by Camille Turner, Solomon Enos, Ekow Nimako, and Skawennati, four established artists who for decades have been envisioning thriving futures for our peoples. The artists will be in attendance as their avatars. For more information about how to get to AbTeC Gallery and use Second Life, visit the AbTeC Gallery website. The event was also lived-streamed on Facebook.

At 3:30 pm EST, there was the opening of We See Far AFK at ELLEPHANT Gallery. In this one-day-only, pop-up exhibition, ELLEPHANT showcased the physical versions of each of the works displayed in AbTeC Gallery. 

Finally, at 6 pm EST, daphne, Montreal’s first Indigenous artist-run centre, hosted Resist With Love: The Xtopias of Solomon Enos. A Kanaka Maoli based in Hawai’i, Solomon is a prolific creator who draws, paints, and sculpts both physically and virtually. He is one of the world’s most imaginative Indigenous Futurists, creating entire multiverses in which speculative narratives play out. In observance of the special day, Elder Kevin Deer welcomed those in attendance. Resist With Love will be on view until August 17, 2024. 

In preparation for the We See Far: Afro- & Indigenous Futurists online exhibition, Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace (AbTeC) hosted a How to Second Life virtual workshop. The workshop took about one hour to teach all the necessary Second Life skills required to enjoy the exhibition from the comfort of your computer. Staff were on hand for an additional hour after the workshop to help guide participants through avatar customization. If you missed this workshop, you can still learn how to create your avatar and get to AbTeC Gallery, you can watch these short instructional videos.

On Wednesday, April 24, 2024, art historian and IFRC member Rodrigo D’Alcantara along with the participating artists celebrated the launch of this publication with a roundtable discussion. The publication is a culmination of the dissident contemporary art project TransWEB. 

TransWEB: Building Dissident Platforms Through Virtuality (2024) is a digital publication organized by IFRC Graduate member and PhD Candidate Rodrigo D’Alcântara. It features essays by D’Alcântara and Brazilian transdisciplinary artists Dyó Potyguara, Romulo Barros, Yná Kabê Rodríguez, Walla Capelobo and Sumé Aguiar. The authors were invited to discuss notions of transnationality, trans-culturalism, trans-species, transsexuality, among other plural ways of thinking about the practice of Brazilian dissident art in dialog with North American epistemologies. This publication emerges from TransWEB residency held at the SBC Gallery in 2022.   

This event was a collaboration between Rodrigo d’Alcântara, A Pilastra Gallery, and SBC Gallery of Contemporary Art. The digital publication was supported by the Indigenous Futures Research Centre at Concordia University. 

The Indigenous Futures Research Centre (IFRC) co-presented a panel at CUJAH’s conference, Unveiling Narratives: Exploring the Intersection of Art and Storytelling.  

This panel brought together Professor Nicolas Renaud, filmmaker, installation artist, and Concordia Faculty member from the Huron-Wendat First Nation of Wendake, in conversation with artist and undergraduate student, Neko Wong-Houle, from the Blackfoot, Kainai First Nation, to discuss their respective artistic practices and the possibilities of using digital and analog animation as a tool for Indigenous storytelling. This panel was moderated by the IFRC’s Research Coordinator, Hanss Lujan Torres. 

Nicolas Renaud discussed his film, Onyionhwentsïio’ (2022) (which means “Our wonderful land” in Wendat), an experimental animated short film on the path of a portage trail that reads as a commentary on Indigenous people having to carry the weight of a long-enduring legacy of colonial oppression.  

 Neko Wong-Houle discussed their film Otanimm/Onnimm (Daughter/Father) (2020), a collaborative project between Wong-Houle and their father, Terrance Houle. Together, they present a work articulated around their deep connection to one another, lovingly exploring an Indigenous daughter/father story.  

On Thursday, March 21, 2024, the Indigenous Futures Research Centre (IFRC) joined the FOFA Gallery in co-presenting an artist talk with Nancy Barić and Steven J. Yazzie (introduced by Michelle McGeough). 

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙉𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝘿𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 brought together films by Nancy Barić and Steven J. Yazzie, centering relationships with land and water. Alternating between documentary style representation and abstract imagery and sound, the two films explore issues of representation, ecology, and stewardship.

On Monday, March 11, 2024, the IFRC co-presented the Montréal premiere of Returning Home alongside Cinema Politica and Projet Mikana.  

Returning Home follows Phyllis Jack-Webstad, a residential school survivor whose experiences inspired the Orange Shirt Day movement on a nationwide educational tour, while her family struggles to heal multigenerational wounds at home in Secwépemc territory. Amid a global pandemic and the lowest salmon run in Canadian history, the film also explores the absence of salmon along the upper Fraser River, and how a multi-year fishing moratorium is tearing at the fabric of Secwépemc communities. 
 
After the screening, there was a discussion with the director, Sean Stiller. 

On Thursday, February 29, 2024, the Indigenous Futures Research Centre (IFRC) once again collaborated with the Just Feminist Technology and Scholarship Lab and cohosted this virtual artist talk featuring asinnajaq! 

asinnajaq is from Inukjuak, Nunavik and lives in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal). Her work includes photography, filmmaking, writing and curating. She co-created Tillitarniit a three day festival celebrating Inuit art and artists. asinnajaq wrote and directed Three Thousand (2017) a short sci-fi documentary. 

They co-curated Isuma’s show in the ‘Canadian’ pavilion at the 58th Venice. In 2020, asinnajaq was long listed for the Sobey Art Award. She co-curated the inaugural exhibition INUA at the Qaumajuq. asinnajaq programmed the Flaherty NYC 2022 fall program Let’s all be lichen. In their work, asinnajaq is interested in sharing tools for navigating life’s journey. 

This event was part of the fifth season of the Feminist and Accessible Publishing and Communications Technologies Speaker and Workshop Series Disrupting Disruptions, organized by Dr. Alex Ketchum. 

On Monday, December 11, 2023, the IFRC co-presented the Montréal premiere of Tautuktavuk (What We See) alongside Cinema Politica in collaboration with Isuma TV. The film explores issues of domestic violence and substance abuse from the perspective of two Inuit women:  

After experiencing a traumatic event in Igloolik (an Inuit hamlet in Foxe Basin, Qikiqtaaluk Region in Nunavut), Uyarak leaves her community and family in Nunavut to live in Montréal. When Covid-19 lockdowns close off the Canadian Arctic from the rest of the word, Uyarak is further separated from her closest friend and eldest sister, Saqpinak. The film becomes a series of vignettes of heartache and healing — both in the dramatic based-on-true-events narrative, and the lived reality of these characters and creators.  

The screening was followed by a discussion featuring co-director Lucy Tulugarjuk, filmmaker and singer Alanis Obamsawin, with artist and curator asinnajaq as moderator. This event was open to the public, by donation. 

On Wednesday, November 1, 2023, the Indigenous Futures Research Centre (IFRC) collaborated with the Just Feminist Technology and Scholarship Lab to cohost this virtual artist talk featuring two remarkable pairs of Indigenous sisters working at the intersection of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM). This event highlighted the exciting work of Kahentawaks and Wannekerakon Tiewishaw, founders of Revital Software, and Keara and Caeleigh Lightning, founders of Studio Ekosi.  

Revital Software is a small company that works with Indigenous communities to create interactive language revitalization software and Studio Ekosi uses narrative-driven games and animated films, to create moments of joy, worlds that spark wonder, and characters people see themselves in. 

The Tiewishaw and Lighting sisters spoke about their work, challenges and aspirations as Indigenous women in STEAM, but also about their path to Indigenous language/culture revitalization and their relationship to software development and animated films as means to achieve their ambitions. 

This event was co-sponsored by Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace (AbTeC) and moderated by IFRC co-director Prof. Jason Lewis. It was part of the 5th season of the Feminist and Accessible Publishing and Communications Technologies Speaker and Workshop Series Disrupting Disruptions, organized by Dr. Alex Ketchum.