Poster design by Ajeeb Sir
The 2023 season premiere of the building-wide music and art party bringing music, art and performance to the Arts Court four times per year.
Pique spring edition features audio-visual performances, media art installations, live collaborations, and DJ sets by forward-thinking, visionary artists from Algonquin territory and across Turtle Island.
The event is ALL AGES and licensed.
Entry is PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN with a suggested donation of $20-$40.
For enlargeable and plain text versions, click here.
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Pique takes place on the stolen land of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg people. If you support our programming, please consider also donating to a local Indigenous organization or fundraiser. Learn more about this land acknowledgement and find educational resources and ways to support at www.debaser.ca/land-acknowledgement
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Please note the following health and safety policies that apply to audience members at Pique winter edition:
Wear a mask over the mouth and nose at all times when not eating, drinking or performing. Free KN94 masks will be available to audience members while supplies last.
Wash and sanitize your hands often. Hand sanitizer will be placed at all box offices, bars, merch tables, food vendor area, and in large supply around the event.
Before attending the event, please do a self-assessment of your health. Are you experiencing symptoms of any communicable virus or illness? If yes, please do not come to the event site.
For your information, we will also be taking the following measures to prevent the spread of infection:
HEPA air filtration units designed for larger rooms will be placed in Club SAW, the Studio and the Alma Duncan salon.
Signage reminding people to wear a mask will be placed in all venues, at bars, merch tables, and box offices.
Stage crews will be supplied with disinfectant wipes/spray and asked to sanitize microphones between performances.
Free COVID-19 rapid tests for any artist, worker or volunteer available on request, while supplies last.
For any artist or worker who must cancel their participation in the event due to a confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19, Debaser will honour 50% of their agreed-upon payment. If there are any artist cancellations related to COVID-19 or another infectious illness, we ask that audience members keep in mind our policy to honour 50% of payments when considering making a refund request.
Attendees are expected to respect one another. Violence, aggression, oppressive behaviour or language, or bullying will not be tolerated. If you are currently implicated in an accountability process, please ensure you are respecting the space and well-being of those your actions have affected before joining this space virtually or in-person. If Debaser's staff and/or Board are made aware of any behaviour that violates our safety policy, the person(s) perpetuating this behaviour will be asked to leave immediately. We reserve the right to intervene and/or remove ANY person(s) in the space who are creating or contributing to an unsafe environment.
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Entrances are accessible by ramp, and indoor spaces are accessible by automated doors and elevator to all floors. Wheelchair accessible, gender neutral washrooms are available throughout the building.
Click the following links for accessibility and visitor information:
Thank you to our Sponsors and Partners:
Pique is presented in partnership with the Arts Court, SAW, Ottawa Fringe, Digital Arts Resource Centre, the International Film Festival of Ottawa, the Canadian Film Institute, Riverbed Reading Series, Women from Space Festival, Artengine, and the Ottawa Dance Directive, with support from Kilam Media, Wall Sound, Dominion City Brewing Company, Postering Ottawa, n.10.as, Apt613, and CKCU FM, and is funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of Ontario, Canadian Heritage, the City of Ottawa, the Ontario Arts Council, and the SOCAN Foundation.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Vivek Shraya
From pop dance tracks to power ballads, Vivek Shraya is known for writing music that moves minds and bodies with striking choruses and evocative lyrics. Her most recent solo album, Part-Time Woman, was a Polaris Music Prize longlister. Both as a solo artist and in her duo Too Attached, Vivek has toured/supported Tegan & Sara, Tanya Taqaq, Lido Pimienta, Owen Pallet, Peaches, Dragonette, and more. Seven-time Lambda Literary Award finalist was a Pride Toronto Grand Marshal and has been a brand ambassador for MAC Cosmetics and Pantene. She’s a Board Director at Tegan and Sara Foundation, and currently adapting her debut play as a CBC show How to Fail as a Popstar. Her new book People Change (Penguin Canada) came out in 2022 and a new solo album out 2023 called Baby, You’re Projecting (producer James Bunton - Donovan Woods, ohbijou).
Darius Jones & Amirtha Kidambi
Longtime collaborators Amirtha Kidambi (voice) and Darius Jones (alto sax) join sonic and compositional forces to materialize "Angels and Demons", musical adaptations of cosmological writings by iconic composer and bandleader Sun Ra. The duo was formed to honor the intellectual, literary, and spiritual contribution of Sun Ra, as a philosopher and teacher. Dancing between Ra's prophetic poetic verse, abstract phonemes and syllables, sound, noise, tone, melody, and rhythmic interplay, Jones and Kidambi use their unique compositional and improvisatory voices to amplify Ra's poetry to contemporary audiences.
Joe Rainey
Joe Rainey is a Pow Wow singer. On Niineta, he demonstrates his command of the Pow Wow style, descending from Indigenous singing that’s been heard across the waters of what is now called Minnesota for centuries. Depending on the song or the pattern, his voice can celebrate or console, welcome or intimidate, wake you up with a start, or lull your babies to sleep. Each note conveys a clear message, no matter the inflection: We’re still here. We were here before you were, and we never left.
You can read his full bio here.
Mas Aya
The double meaning of Brandon Valdivia's pseudonym Mas Aya neatly encapsulates his musical outlook. Over the past fifteen years, the Toronto composer, percussionist, and producer has established himself as an integral part of the city's vibrant and varied music community through his membership in groups such as Not The Wind, Not The Flag, Picastro, The Cosmic Range, I Have Eaten The City and Lido Pimienta.
Máscaras is anchored by Valdivia's deft and atmospheric production style that folds together intricate spiraling synths, balmy environments, and crisp drum programming, variously drawing from trap, footwork, early Warp-label gestures, and the digital end of dancehall reggae. Yet it's his love of organic instrumentation that truly cements his commitment to an eclectic, unclassifiable aesthetic.
Diana Lynn VanderMeulen
Mysterious elements of our natural world are studied alongside the super synthetic as I seek to shift perspective, challenging an individual perception of reality. 360° environments contemplate our sense of presence and connection to nature, inner spaces, and reckonings of imagined landscapes. Remixing techniques, I navigate new digital tools to expand the lifespan and audience of durational immersive installations and location-specific artworks.
Diana Lynn VanderMeulen is a multidisciplinary artist based in Toronto with a BFA Honors from York University. Recent projects include her solo physical-virtual exhibition Shimmer of a Petal, Now a mountain Stream, with Sky Fine Foods & ArtGate VR and the self-released Augmented-Reality application Swampy GoGo, which extends digital realities from a series of 2D mixed media landscapes. Alongside representation with Sky Fine Foods, VanderMeulen has been involved in many public and DIY ventures. She has shown at AGO, Canadian Embassy (Tokyo, Japan), CADAF Paris, Gardiner Museum, and Idea Exchange.
Stefana Fratila
Stefana Fratila is a Romanian-born artist, composer, and sound designer based in Toronto, Canada. She is also a DJ and co-founder of Crip Rave, an event platform showcasing and prioritizing Crip, Disabled, Deaf, Mad, and Sick body-minds within safer and more accessible rave spaces. She has exhibited, performed, and screened her work internationally, including at MoMA and e-flux (New York, USA), Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria), Kamias Triennial (Quezon City, Philippines), and the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery (Toronto, Canada). She has also completed residencies at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Wave Farm Transmission Arts, and CMMAS (Mexican Centre for Music and Sonic Arts).
She has released music via Halocline Trance, ISLA, Bedroomer, and Genero and her film scores have screened at Le Centre Pompidou, Toronto International Film Festival, New York Film Festival, Festival du Nouveau Cinéma Montréal, and The Viennale.
MvB
Michaela van Beinum is a light artist, abstract painter, and electrical engineer. In her engineering world, she explores control systems, microelectronics, and sustainable energy solutions. In her art world, Michaela expresses herself through projections, painting, and multimedia of all kinds. Working primarily on light installations, she creates new worlds within a single room. Her paintings are a bright collection of natural colours and reflective materials. Her curiosity about how new materials, mediums, and light interact with each other keeps her work dynamic and playful. As a BIPOC woman in STEM Michaela's work is often centered around the interaction between nature, femininity, and technology.
Geronimo Inutiq
With experience in electronic music production, performance, film, video, digital images, and multimedia installation, Geronimo Inutiq has performed and exhibited his music and artwork across the country in multiple installations and in prestigious venues. As a cultural worker, he has participated in important social dialogues. Known notably amongst other things for his innovative work in remixing Inuktitut music, and for seminal film archive video remixes, Geronimo Inutiq continues to offer a unique perspective through his creative pursuits.
No Tourists
Comprised of 5 artists and 2 producers, Toronto-based music group No Tourists explores and bends the genres of hip-hop, R&B, house, dancehall, jazz, and funk. With an emphasis on authenticity, experimentation, and community, our music creates worlds where both the artist and listener can be their purest self.
This versatility of our sound and culture can be attributed to more than half the group’s members being born and raised outside Canada. Our music is self-written, produced, and recorded in-house, marrying the spontaneity of a jam session with a polished attention to detail and craft.
Fraud Perry
The rising star shaking up the industry with her infectious flow, playful attitude, and captivating presence. Through boldly blending punk, rap, pop, and dance with sharp lyricism to create her signature sound, she tackles the unpredictable chaos of love, anger, truth, and urgency, with songs reflecting her own journey of self-discovery, & experimentation
Theland Kicknosway
Theland Kicknosway is an Indigenous youth who uses his voice to spread his message and showcase Indigenous culture. He is wolf clan from the Potawatomi and Cree Nations and is a member of Walpole Island, Bkejwanong Territory. Theland has gained recognition in the Indigenous community and worldwide as a traditional singer, drummer, dancer, activist & influencer. In 2018, Theland became the youngest Indspire Laureate named for Culture, Heritage and Spirituality. His path-breaking efforts have been highlighted by Nike, Disney, BBC and have also been mentioned in Teen Vogue, Entertainment Tonight, and Complex. In his 18th year in the Physical World, Theland continues to shine.
Sleeps-With-Bears
Sleeps-With-Bears is the gender-fluid alter ego of Howard Adler, they are an artist and VJ based in Ottawa, Canada. They rarely make an appearance, but when they do it's usually something fun like hosting a 2-Spirit bingo or introducing a film that they've starred in. As a VJ they like manipulating content in real-time, using their own footage, sampling from 80’s pop culture, and using Indigenous and queer imagery. They are 2-Spirit, Jewish and Anishinaabe, and a member of Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation in North-Western Ontario.
MS. BABY
MS. BABY (pronounced miss baby) is a Franco-Camerounian DJ based in Montreal. Her stage name is a wink to her role of "enjoyment master" during her performances, during which she curates a meticulous blend of native African culture with worldly musical inspirations for one goal: make the people dance. This blend results in a colourful cocktail of beautiful sounds including Amapiano, Afropop, R&B, Dancehall, and Brazilian Funk. MS. BABY is well-known for moving crowds of all sizes at local clubs and festivals such as Mural Festival, Moonshine, Datcha, Barbossa, Ausgang and even opening for Tiwa Savage.
Banggz
Banggz is a rapper and music producer who uses his talents and experiences to ensure that every song he creates conveys a feeling to the listener. The Ottawa-based Nigerian rapper has a great appreciation for hip-hop but also draws influence from genres and styles from his birthplace. Sonically pleasing and lyrically purposeful, Banggz can attract listeners who are able to relate to various elements in his music.
As a natural storyteller, Banggz is inclined to paint scenes through his lyrics. In his song “Open Up”, he tells a story that explores toxicity in relationships. On ‘21’, he speaks about his attempts to bridge the gap between cultural differences in Ottawa and Lagos and the challenges encountered. His latest release, ‘ttyl’ is a 9-track project that speaks on anxiety and the dynamic nature of life.
JAYEL
JAYEL (aka MusicbyJayel) is a DJ and producer in the process of making a mark on the music scene near you with their many talents. Sharing their passion for music with others, MusicbyJayel loves to mix open format touching on genres from around the world. With the use of long blends, edits from the globe, and a splash of your favourite songs, you’ll find the perfect mix of genres such as Amapiano, Hip Hop, EDM, Dancehall, UKG Dubs, and More. Jayel just celebrated the release of their first Edit Pack Winter Solstice available on Bandcamp with more heat to come.
natalie hanna, Jennifer Pederson & Liam Burke
natalie hanna is a queer, disabled, Ottawa-born lawyer of Middle-Eastern descent. She is the author of lisan al’asfour (ARP, 2022) and thirteen chapbooks, including machine dreams with Liam Burke (Collusion, 2021), nominated for the 2022 bpNichol Chapbook Award. She runs battleaxe press, a feminist small poetry press. Twitter @battleaxenat
Jennifer Pederson is an Ottawa poet, grandmother, teacher, and musician. Her poems appear at bywords.ca, newpoetry.ca, with battleaxe press, and others. Her poem Man Again, selected by Phil Hall, won the 2011 Tree Reading Series Origami Crane award. She is the former director of The Sawdust Reading Series and is currently recording her second album.
Liam Burke is a writer and musician who lives in Ottawa on unceded Algonquin Anishinaabe land. He is the co-author of ‘Orbital Cultivation’ with Manahil Bandukwala (Collusion, 2021) and the bpNichol 2022 nominated chapbook 'machine dreams' with natalie hanna (Collusion, 2021). He is a member of long con magazine’s editorial board.
Aaron Daniels Casey
Aaron Daniels Casey is a Transgender Queer multimedia artist from Ottawa, Ontario. His style consists of bright colours, bold lines, figures captured in movement, and surrealist narratives. His primary mediums are sculptural installation, mixed media painting, and video art. The work he creates is used to weave personal Trans focused folklore. These folktales surround his Fae creatures, which take inspiration from Celtic myths to modern Drag looks, combining elements from the Historic past and Queer present.
Around We Go presents 3 mixed-media Faery sculptures mid-celebration. Viewers are invited to walk around the circle to continue the feeling of festivity, or enter the center and feel like the focus of the celebration. Although the origins of these creatures are left a mystery, anyone joining their space is invited to weave their own narrative on what they are there to unfold.