You And I Are Water Earth Fire Air Of Life And Death - PART 4
Are (2023)
12-HOUR EVENT DECEMBER 12, 2023
Organized by Christof Migone
Curated by Myriam Lambert, Christof Migone, and Alexandre St-Onge
After learning about all the steps involved in making whisky during a three-month artist residency with Marla Hlady at the Glenfiddich Distillery in Scotland in the summer of 2019 it struck me how inadequate the word ‘whisky’ (root meaning: 'alcohol - water of life’) is because it only captures a small part of the manufacturing process. The resulting expanded 12-word sentence, You And I Are Water Earth Fire Air Of Life And Death, has evolved into a 12-year long project, each year focusses on one word of the sentence and manifests into a yearly 12-hour event on December 12 from noon to midnight.
So far, three events have taken place: You (2020), And (2021), I (2022). This year: Are (2023). The project has morphed from a modest 12-word text piece to a sprawling curatorial endeavor (up to now, featuring 89 artists from 11 countries across 5 continents). Thus far the event has happened primarily as an online stream (audio + video), last year the last 3 hours were also live in person at Arraymusic in Toronto. This year there will be 6 hours presented live. The event will be held in Québec City and Avatar will be the main host institution. This year the entire 12 hours will live streamed as per usual, but the whole event will be screened at the Cinéma Beaumont in Québec City's Méduse complex for free. As a founding member of Avatar I’m extremely pleased that the event will be held at Méduse (where Avatar is located), especially given the fact that the organization is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.
As mentioned, this year the word is ‘Are’, consequently the focus will be on plurals: multiplicities leading to infinities, polymorphs and polyglots, surrounded sounds, layers upon layers, etceteras upon etceteras. New this year is the inclusion of a subtitle: (Sommes Sonnes)—this translates from the French simply to ‘are sounds’. Also new this year, Myriam Lambert and Alexandre St-Onge are joining the project on the curatorial side.
The first year it started with ‘You’, then in 2021 ‘And’ came to connect you to anything and everything, and last year that point of connection was ‘I’—the porous one, the sole collective. This year with ‘Are’ action enters the fray. What are you and I to do? What are you up to? Well, let’s begin with being, simply being, however tenuous or contentious that may be. ‘Are’ points to fact, to status, but it also suggests question marks, suggests that the known might not always be as it seems.
Overall, the curatorial premise is intentionally left open as to how the theme is interpreted. Heterogenous experimentation is encouraged. The process is a conversation.
Each year artists and institutional partners are invited to participate. Usually each partnership entails programming one of the twelve hours and providing artist fees, consulting on the curatorial aspect, and spreading the word once the event lineup is confirmed and the promotional material is available. The project’s structure intends to remain nimble and stay as decentralized as possible. What is ‘usual’ is adaptable. Each partnership is unique.
LINEUP
HOUR 1 (12 EST) FADO (Tkarón:to/Toronto) PRESENTS Tanya Mars, Ronnie Clarke, (tba), (tba)
HOUR 2 (13 EST) Crónica (Portugal) and Neural (Italy)
PRESENT (tba)
HOUR 3 (14 EST) NAISA PRESENTS Kelly Ruth
HOUR 4 (15 EST) Resonance Extra (London, UK) PRESENTS Milo Thesiger–Meacham
HOUR 5 (16 EST) Rhizome (Québec) PRESENTS Maud Joiret (Belgique)
HOUR 6 (17 EST) Rad’Art (Italy) PRESENTS Myriam Lambert (Québec)
HOUR 7 (18 EST) Université Laval (Québec) PRESENTS Alexandre St-Onge (Québec)
HOUR 8 (19 EST) Spira (Québec) and Antitube (Québec) PRESENT David B. Ricard (Québec)
HOUR 9 (20 EST) Université Laval (Québec) PRESENTS (tba)
HOUR 10 (21 EST) Avatar (Québec) PRESENTS Diane Landry (Québec)
HOUR 11 (22 EST) Avatar (Québec) PRESENTS Christof Migone (Tkarón:to/Toronto)
HOUR 12 (23 EST) FADO (Tkarón:to/Toronto) PRESENTS Amélie Laurence Fortin, Georges Azzaria, Jocelyn Robert, Caroline Gagné
PRESENTED BY
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
RADIOS & STREAMERS
PROGRAMME
PRESENTED BY AVATAR
DECEMBER 12, 2023 12 NOON – 12 MIDNIGHT
LIVE IN-PERSON AT:
Circuit Beaumont (Québec)
STREAMED LIVE ONLINE 12 NOON – 12 MIDNIGHT ON:
YouTube Live (direct link tba)
AND BY:
Arraymusic
NAISA Radio
Radius
Radio Bloc Oral
Resonance Extra
Wave Farm Radio
ARE (S0MMES SONNES) HEURE-HOUR 1
10 MST, 11 CST, 12 EST, 17 GMT/WET, 18 CET, 19 EET
FADO (Tkarón:to/Toronto) PRÉSENTE-PRESENTS The 'One' (One Through Four)
One Number One by Tanya Mars
One Number Two by Ronnie Clarke
One Number Three by (tba)
One Number Four by (tba)
'One' is part of the series that runs alongside the 'You And I Are Water Earth Fire Air Of Life And Death' series of 12 events over 12 years. 'One' is the 4th in the series that has its own 12-word sentence: 'Different From The One Place Time Mood Mindset You Are In Now.'
The single-take recordings will be stretched from 12 to 15 minutes (à la Warhol). Eight of the resulting 15 minutes will be presented in groups of four at for the first and last hours of the 12 hour event. Each one will be presented on its own, as one, followed by another one, and so on. Four solos in a quartet, times three. The remaining four will be presented at the end of hours 7, 8, 9, and 10.
ARE (S0MMES SONNES) HEURE-HOUR 3
12 MST, 13 CST, 14 EST, 19 GMT/WET, 20 CET, 21 EET
NAISA PRÉSENTE-PRESENTS Kelly Ruth (Amiskwacîwâskahikan/Edmonton)
ARE (S0MMES SONNES) HEURE-HOUR 4
13 MST, 14 CST, 15 EST, 20 GMT/WET, 21 CET, 22 EET
Resonance Extra (London, UK) PRÉSENTE-PRESENTS Milo Thesiger-Meacham
ARE (S0MMES SONNES) HEURE-HOUR 5
14 MST, 15 CST, 16 EST, 21 GMT/WET, 22 CET, 23 EET
Rhizome (Québec) PRÉSENTE-PRESENTS Maud Joiret (Belgique)
ARE (S0MMES SONNES) HEURE-HOUR 6
15 MST, 16 CST, 17 EST, 22 GMT/WET, 23 CET, 24 EET
Rad’Art (Italy) PRÉSENTE-PRESENTS Myriam Lambert (Québec)
ARE (S0MMES SONNES) HEURE-HOUR 7
16 MST, 17 CST, 18 EST, 23 GMT/WET, 24 CET, 00 EET
Université Laval (Québec) PRÉSENTE-PRESENTS Alexandre St-Onge (Québec)
+ for the last 15 minutes of the hour, FADO Presents The 'One' (Five) by Nadège Grebmeier Forget
ARE (S0MMES SONNES) HEURE-HOUR 8
17 MST, 18 CST, 19 EST, 24 GMT/WET, 00 CET, 01 EET
Spira (Québec) and Antitube (Québec) PRÉSENTENT-PRESENT David B. Ricard
+ for the last 15 minutes of the hour, FADO Presents The 'One' (Six) by (tba)
ARE (S0MMES SONNES) HEURE-HOUR 9
18 MST, 19 CST, 20 EST, 01 GMT/WET, 01 CET, 02 EET
Université Laval (Québec) PRÉSENTE-PRESENTS (tba)
+ for the last 15 minutes of the hour, FADO Presents The 'One' (Seven) by (tba)
ARE (S0MMES SONNES) HEURE-HOUR 10
19 MST, 20 CST, 21 EST, 02 GMT/WET, 02 CET, 03 EET
Avatar (Québec) PRÉSENTE-PRESENTS Diane Landry (Québec)
+ for the last 15 minutes of the hour, FADO Presents The 'One' (Eight) by (tba)
ARE (S0MMES SONNES) HEURE-HOUR 11
20 MST, 21 CST, 22 EST, 03 GMT/WET, 03 CET, 04 EET
Avatar (Québec) PRÉSENTE-PRESENTS Christof Migone (Tkarón:to/Toronto)
Three works: Poker, Éternuité (Forever Sneeze), Oreiller (Pillow Talk). All three have the head in common. All involve several participants.
Poker (2001)
Two hands holding a variety of microphones scrape, scratch, pinch and poke eleven participants poker-faced in front of the camera. Participants: Katie Bethune-Leamen, crys cole, Michel F. Côté, Anni Lawrence, André Éric Létourneau, Jonathan Parant, Leila Pourtavaf, Sam Shalabi, Marie-Douce St-Jacques, Alexandre St-Onge, Roger Tellier-Craig. Remixed and reedited in 2023.
Éternuité (ForeverSneeze) (2008)
The sneeze as an attempt to become eternal. Participants: Sally Baydala, Erica Brisson, Eryn Foster, Stephanie Khoury, Angus Leech, Wm Leler, Demian Petryshyn, Naomi Potter, Don Pyle, Duncan Speakman, Barbara Sutherland, Pandora Syperek, Janice Wu. Remixed and reedited in 2023.
Oreiller (Pillow Talk) (2023)
Studies in the convergence between ears and pillows. Participants: Marguerite Arbour, Lé Boucher Trudel, Stéphanie Letarte. Text: Lisa Robertson.
ARE (S0MMES SONNES) HEURE-HOUR 12
21 MST, 22 CST, 23 EST, 04 GMT/WET, 04 CET, 05 EET
FADO (Tkarón:to/Toronto) PRÉSENTE-PRESENTS The 'One' (Nine Through Twelve)
One Number Nine by Amélie Laurence Fortin
One Number Ten by Georges Azzaria
One Number Eleven by Jocelyn Robert
One Number Twelve by Caroline Gagné
PARTICIPANTS
Holding a Master’s degree in visual and media arts from Laval University (2016), Myriam Lambert explores the theme of identity and core values through sound art, electronic art, relational art, installation, video, performance, and literature, using the most applicable medium to create artivist works that reflect the poetry of the everyday. Lambert has presented her work in many art centres, museums, and sites of memory in Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain, France, Italy, Mexico, and Switzerland. She has also been a lecturer and jury member for several Québec artist-run centers, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec. Actively involved in artist-run centres in Québec since 2003, Lambert is presently the General and Artistic Director of Avatar, an artist-run centre dedicated to the research, creation, circulation, and dissemination of audio and electronic artworks and artists in Québec, Canada, and internationally. She lives and works in Quebec City.
Christof Migone‘s research delves into language & voice, bodies & performance, intimacy & complicity, sound & silence, rhythmics & kinetics, translation & referentiality, stillness & imperceptibility, structure & improvisation, play & pathos, pedagogy & unlearning, failure & endurance. Current and ongoing investigations: microphone hitting, book flipping, tongue extruding, record releasing, word hyphenating, para-pedagogical positioning, careless curating, noise making, sequitur following, paper passing, interval counting, rhythm repeating, phone licking, machine fingering, playlist compiling, silence listening, dozens of dozens, strobosonoscopics and stroboscopsonics.
Alexandre St-Onge is an intermedia artist and a sonic performer exploring the mutation of the performative body through its sonic, textual and visual mediations. Philosophiae doctor (PhD) in art (UQAM, 2015) and assistant professor at l'École d'art of Laval University, he is fascinated by creativity as a pragmatic approach to the ungraspable and he has published over twenty works. He has presented his work at Galerie des Arts Visuels of Université Laval in Québec City, the Leonard & Bina Ellen Gallery in Montreal, at Sporobole in Sherbrooke, at Latitude 53 in Edmonton, at the Tsonami festival in Valparaiso, at Paved Arts in Saskatoon, at Eastern Bloc and at the Cinémathèque québécoise in Montreal, at Avatar and at Mois Multi in Quebec City, at L'Écart in Rouyn-Noranda, at Action Art Actuel at Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, at the Errant Bodies Space in Berlin, at the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery in Toronto, at the festival Send and Receive in Winnipeg and at the Disturbance festival in Copenhagen to name a few places and events. Co-founder of éditions|squint|press with Christof Migone, he is also creating with collectives and artists such as: Marie Brassard, Simon Brown, Karine Denault, K.A.N.T.N.A.G.A.N.O., Lynda Gaudreau, Klaxon Gueule, kondition pluriel, mineminemine, Line Nault, Shalabi Effect, undo and Unzip Violence amongst others.
Milo Thesiger-Meacham is an artist, writer and composer based in London.