Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art is pleased to present an evening of sound in an abandoned industrial site at the edge of Winnipeg’s city limits. 

As part of CRISIS CANON, Andrea Roberts’s site-specific artwork for the 2019 STAGES biennial, the artist has written a five part series of sound scores to be performed live at the long vacant British-American Cement Plant in Rosser. 

Join us Saturday, September 7 for an abstractly hypnotic and at times harmonic sound performance featuring the vocals of Sarah Jo Kirsch and Zohreh Gervais, and the sound work of Bret Parenteau and Doreen Girard. 

The performance uses Roberts’s sculptural intervention as a backdrop. On a massive cement block found on the site, Roberts has etched a poetic and sorrowful text that draws from a mistranslated version of Lorem Ipsum written by the Roman rhetorician Cicero in the 1st century BCE. Like a ghostly trace and invocation, Roberts’ performance and imprint reinvests meaning into a long-forgotten rhetoric and the waste of industry.  

Location: The former British-American Cement test pile site (Sturgeon Road, RM of Rosser)
Performance Date: Saturday, September 7, 2019 from 7pm to sunset
Bus leaving Plug In ICA at 6:15pm register at Rachael@plugin.org

Additional information: The former British-American Cement test pile site is located on Sturgeon Road between Park Royale Way and Prairie Dog Trail in the RM of Rosser. It is a 25 min drive from downtown Winnipeg. Exact coordinates are 49°57’04.7″N x 97°16’35.6″W. The pathway is not paved. Portable washroom on-site for performance.
Image caption: Andrea Roberts, CRISIS CANON, site-specific intervention and performance. Photo by Robert Szkolnicki
Site-specific Intervention: 24 hours access

Entry is free and all are welcome. 

BIOs

Andrea Roberts has exhibited in group and solo exhibition nationally and internationally, including TRUCK Gallery, Calgary; Film Pop, Montreal; The Auxiliary/MAW, Middlesbrough, UK; The University of Oakland, Detroit; SomArts, San Francisco and Plug In ICA. Roberts is former member of Kursk, Wolbachia and Hoover Death, and is currently performing as VOR, a solo experimental electronic project. Roberts is a recipient of the Murphy & Cadogan Contemporary Art Award, a recent nominee for the RBC On the Rise Award. Roberts holds an MFA in Sculpture from California College of the Arts (2014), a BFA Hons in Sculpture from the University of Manitoba (2011) and was recently artist in residence at Brooklyn’s Pioneer Works Center for Art and Innovation and Miami’s Art Center South Florida.

Sarah Jo Kirsch is a Winnipeg based musician who continues to make waves as a soloist and recitalist in North America, Europe, and the Middle East. She has been hailed as “…one of the finest contemporary dramatic vocalists in Canada today,” (Calgary Herald) “…with the ability to get under the skin of everything she sings,” (Winnipeg Free Press). Sarah regularly appears as a soloist with Winnipeg’s finest ensembles, at Winnipeg’s art music chamber series and festivals, and in sociopolitically charged salon concerts. Sarah also lectures and moderates for the gamut of classical listeners. She broadcasts music on CKUW 95.9 FM (ckuw.ca) on Cacophone. Kirsch studied music at the University of Colorado and the University of Manitoba.

Bret Parenteau is a sound artist based in Winnipeg. Under the initials B.P., Parenteau has been crafting his formula of noise, field recording, & tape manipulation for the past few years. There is no shortage of releases under B.P. as Parenteau has released a steady amount of work across Canada, US & internationally. Parenteau heads the label Makade Star and formerly Male Activity 2013-2019. 

Zohreh Gervais studied violin and viola at the Alberta Conservatory before moving to Winnipeg to continue her musical studies at the University of Manitoba. An accomplished soprano as well as a violist, Zohreh earned a bachelor’s of music degree under the tutelage of Tracy Dahl and Mel Braun. Zohreh’s voice has been described as “sparkling,” “gorgeous and crystal-clear,” and her passion for baroque and early music have made her a sought-after soloist and collaborator. Zohreh sings with Canzona as a soloist and chorister, and was a frequent soloist with The Musical Offering. Zohreh has released two albums: Acquiescing, 2004 an album of her original compositions for voice, piano and strings, and My First Songs and Rhymes, 2010, an album of children’s nursery rhymes and lullabies. Zohreh is the singer and songwriter of bluegrass band, Hay Fever and co-founder and Executive Director of Polycoro, Manitoba’s newest professional chamber choir.

Doreen Girard is a Canadian interdisciplinary artist working with sound, installation, and expanded cinema. A cofounder of the Negative Space and Bent Light artist collectives, Girard performs solo, with the electro-acoustic piano duo Burden, and in a number of experimental and minimal sludge projects. Girard’s approach focuses on experimentation of the resonant and refractive properties of glass, wood, string and metal, aiming to activate the participant’s awareness of their perceptual field. Her interests include early music, funereal doom, trauma theory, and the physics of sound and light. She has performed and presented work throughout North America.

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STAGES biennial 2019
August 16- September 8, 2019

A temporary public art exhibition of installation, sculpture and performance through out Winnipeg

Featured Artists: 

RAYMOND BOISJOLY 
DANIEL BUREN 
FASTWÜRMS
KENNETH LAVALLEE
JOAR NANGO 
SILKE OTTO-KNAPP
ANDREA ROBERTS 

Curated by Jenifer Papararo

This is the second iteration of the STAGES biennial presented by Plug In ICA. This year’s exhibition builds on the previous edition in its presentation of temporary public sculpture, installation and performances throughout Winnipeg, but 2019 has an expanded range and includes the remounting of an historic artwork. The biennial commissions seven artworks that take place across the city and its outskirts in abandoned industrial sites, apartment buildings, malls, municipal parks and parking lots.

For details on each artist’s project including maps and event notifications please download the Plug In ICA App, available for iphone and android. Search “Plug In ICA” in the App store. All information also available on our website: plugin.org

STAGES 2019 is generously supported by: 

Presenting Sponsor | The Winnipeg Foundation
Featured Artist Sponsor | Michael Nesbitt
Major Sponsors | Daniel Friedman & Rob Dalgliesh; James & Leney Richardson
Engaging Sponsors |Susan Glass & Arni Thorsteinson; DIALOG design; BLDG architecture office inc
Supporting Sponsors | The French Embassy; Toronto; Downtown Biz
Contributing Sponsors | Gary Ursell; Assiniboine Credit Union; KPMG LLP

STAGES would not be possible without our Community Partners: the Alt Hotel; Alliance Francaise; Festival de Voyageur; Lewyc ICA, Martha Street Studio; Shelter Canadian Properties LTD; Studio 393; Leon A Brown Ltd; Trotzdem Inc; Winnipeg Art Gallery; Winnipeg Tourism and X-cues.

Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art recognizes we are in the territories of the Anishinaabeg, Cree, Dakota, Dene, Métis, and Oji-Cree Nations. Plug In ICA is situated in Treaty 1 territory, the ancestral and traditional homeland of Anishinaabe peoples. Treaty 1, was signed in 1871, taking this territory from seven local Anishinaabe First Nations in order to make the land available for settler use and ownership. (referenced from the University of Winnipeg)

Plug In ICA extends our heartfelt gratitude to our generous donors, valued members, and dedicated volunteers. We acknowledge the sustaining support of our Director’s Circle. You all make a difference.

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council, the Manitoba Arts Council and Winnipeg Arts Council. We could not operate without their continued financial investment and lobbying efforts. 

Plug In ICA relies on community support to remain free and accessible to all, and enable us to continue to present excellent programs. Please consider becoming a member of Plug In ICA and a donor at https://plugin.org/support or by contacting Angela Forget: angela@plugin.org

For more information on this program and STAGES biennial, contact Rachael Thorleifson at rachael@plugin.org. For general information, please contact: info@plugin.org or call 1.204.942.1043

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