Tiohtià:ke : Rencontres montréalaises
16 June 2022
A series of audiovisual training and creation workshops brought together young people from different backgrounds in Montreal in May 2022. In total, 7 young people (mostly in their twenties) participated in all or parts of these workshops offered by Tryspaces. Their identities, as Indigenous, racialized, refugee, migrant or other people, as native or adopted Montrealers, as women, men or others, as students, workers, parents, etc., met during these workshops to reflect on the impacts of these identities on their spaces in the city and to learn about digital tools that can allow them to express them.
Organized in collaboration with Wapikoni, this series of workshops aimed to support the sharing of realities, experiences and practices from the same city. Two Wapikoni trainers, Juana Rubio, filmmaker, and Kathia Rock, multidisciplinary artist, accompanied the participants in their creative process. The Innu artist also created the soundtrack on which the participants then mixed their videos to create their piece. This series culminated with an initiation to Vjing given at the Société des arts technologiques of Montreal SAT! Participants were introduced to architectural projection (mapping) and real-time video mixing (VJing). Using all of the photo, video and audio content they had captured in the previous stages of the project, each participant was able to mix, project and perform their experimental content in front of the group. While they drew from a common collection of photos and videos of their spaces, the performances were diverse and represented the creativity and individuality of each participant. You can see an overview of the projection here.
Through this creative process, participants were able to compose a space of reflection and of sharing. Discussions about their creative processes, but also their spaces in the city, and the practices and relationships that animate them, contributed to a better understanding and increased visibility of the diverse realities they live in Montreal/Tiohtià:ke. This project allowed them to acquire new digital and artistic skills to apply to their own practices. It also highlighted the importance of this emerging dialogue between different groups in order to reflect on particularities but also meeting perspectives, in a city where intercultural dialogue is increasingly crucial. The meeting also allowed participants who were less familiar to learn about the realities of Indigenous youth in Montreal.
A collective video is being produced at the moment and will be shown in different spaces. Stay tuned for more information!
