2014 - 2015 Programing


Leena Raudvee "Stillness" Photo by Leila Kent.






WIAprojects intends to facilitate worldwide actions: 

Stillness Talking and Walking for 2014-15

As this is our research year where we intend to re-evaluate the future of our program and for our host CWSE, we reach out globally for inspiration and politically in solidarity. Gather your friends, send the call out wide and far and let's be still together. Find time to think, to clear yourself, for the political battles ahead - they are there. We can then talk in the winter and prepare to walk in the spring.... look after each other! 

Stillness: The Performing Small Spaces Community in the UK is calling for a mass stillness on Oct 18th at 11am for 10 minutes. Leena Raudvee & Pam Patterson at WIAprojects would like to extend this invitation, on behalf of this community, to our friends in performance across Canada and worldwide. Please share your documentation and comments… upload images, video and comments here to Global Stillness, Talking & Walking and to Performing Small Spaces https://www.facebook.com/perfss so watch for these calls. 

Talking: Talking performances and research were done individually and in outreach with others. One such "talking" research event and performance has evolved into an exhibition HOW ARE U OCAD U? opening April 15 at CWSE Gallery. Here we took stock of our learning community and recommended actions for change. Link to our OCADU talk project is on Facebook at:

Walking:  We are going to contribute to Global Performance Art Walk call from Gustaf Broms:
DEAR ALL GLOBAL PERFORMANCE ART WALKERS......
A proposal for a joint action:
Last year I made a five day walking project in Stockholm, Sweden.
In its exhausted state this MIND started to think about :
    my moving feet as the cause for the planet spinning,
    like a hamster in the treadmill.
    This image lingered on and became a question about,

HOW WE CREATE REALITY ?
The possibility - the responsibility of our expression.
If we had many bodies, in many places,
that simultaneously made actions with intention
WILL THIS AFFECT REALITY AND HOW WE PERCEIVE IT ?


If you are interested in this type of exploration,
making parallel actions - in time
wherever your body might BE
feel free to join.
4 TH - 10 TH OF MAY 2015, 9-4 GMT
Please share your performances with us at: https://www.facebook.com/WIAprojects

HOW ARE U OCADU?
Research/exhibition by undergraduate art and design education students.
Curated by Meaghan Barry, OCADU.
Facilitated by Pam Patterson, OCADU (Faculty) & Director WIAprojects, CWSE/OISE/UT
April 15 - May 30, 2nd Floor CWSE Hallway Gallery, OISE/UT, 252 Bloor Street West, Toronto.

A community of art & design educators mounted a campaign inviting the OCADU community to assist them in re-imagining OCADU for the 21st century. This action was an outgrowth of our deep curiosity about our own complicity in teaching and learning at OCADU. We wanted to open the Pandora’s Box and excavate the messiness. We all know that we need to dig deep and take risks in studio practice in order to push our work to stronger and richer iterations. But, how can we as educators do the same? How can we define OCADU as a community: Is it a place of/for community gathering(s)? What is its ethical grounding? What is its reason for being? How can we determine what learning means? How can we realize this research in political and artistic form?

While our posters are presented as tongue-and-cheek, the data they were derived from was diverse, compelling, and often contradictory. This inquiry is located in a feminist-inspired community of practice which, in honouring WIAprojects’ mandate and the vision of the CWSE OISE/UT, engages artists, activists, researchers and students in critically examining their own education. 


Cover: That F Word by Lana Missen
That F Word (2015) - Lana Missen

Curator: 
Meaghan Barry

May 29 - July 31 CWSE Hallway Gallery, OISE/UT 
252 Bloor Street West, Toronto
Opening Reception: May 29th, 5-7pm



“I’m a feminist with a small ‘f’ not a capital one, just trying to raise awareness. But these stigmas are sticking and becoming a hindrance. We need to reclaim something but I don’t know what it is yet.” 
                                                                                                                                                                    ...  from Missen’s spoken word piece “It Doesn’t Matter” (2014)
              
Lana Missen’s work “That F Word” brings together a diverse community of self-identified feminists. Through portraiture and personal handwritten texts, various voices express ideas, feelings, and positions from within the movement. This project embraces those from different backgrounds and cultures, ranging from Zimbabwe, Aboriginal heritages, and 8th generational Canadians, as well as the spectrum of genders, and generations representative of those from ages 19 through to 70. “That F Word” exists as prints, a book, and a blog in order to democratize the work and encourage engagement through multiple public spaces.
              
The series has assisted Lana in finding her own position within feminism and has enabled her to passionately connect with others, collaborate on ideas, and share stories. Feminism is about equal rights and opportunities for all genders but it is also about much more on a personal level. In ‘Khadijah’, the viewer is challenged by a woman’s gaze, experiencing her sense of her pride and strength. The accompanying text piece emphasizes ‘I am a black feminist’. Whereas in ‘Marie’, there is a comfortableness and a quiet confidence at play. The participants in this project represent diverse voices and backgrounds but echo similar thoughts on feminism through their own personal lenses. However, negativity towards feminism saturates our media and online dialogues in both threatening and derogatory ways. This project is in response to the misinformation, hatred, and stereotyping that exists. “That F Word” creates a safe space for feminists to share self and voice. You are invited to participate in the conversation by visiting: www.thatfwordproject.tumblr.com 

Biography:
Born and raised in Cobourg, Ontario, Lana Missen is a Toronto-based visual artist working with photography to explore themes of the body, identity, and female representation. Through portraiture, she aims to create visibility and a space to share her own and others’ stories to a wider audience. A strong believer in the importance of collaboration and community, Missen’s practice is based on engaging with individuals and her viewers.               
              
Her current body of work “That F Word” was shown at OCAD University’s 100th Graduate Exhibition this spring, and was part of the ‘Contact’ photo festival in Toronto this May. She has also displayed works in the juried CLIC Eastern Ontario Photo Show, where she won first place in 2012. She was part of the "Aperture" show at Moniker Gallery in downtown Toronto in 2014. She has an interest in art education, and outside of her fine art practice, Lana enjoys documenting performances of live theatre, dancers, and musicians. 

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