This spring, the See/Hear performance series, featuring music, movement, and visual projections by local artists, will take place triweekly in the Jean Pigott Place at City Hall.
This free daytime series, co-presented by Debaser, SAW Video, Ottawa Dance Directive (ODD), and the City of Ottawa Community Arts & Social Engagement, will feature visual projections by Pansee Atta, sounds by Wellington Sanipe (March 5 and April 16 only) and Pama (March 26 and May 14 only), and movement choreographed by Yvonne Coutts of Compagnie ODD.
Inspired by the arrival of a warmer season, the artists will play with the tension between themes of growth, abundance and excess, reflecting on the overwhelming impact of the wet season can have on the environment and human geography.
This free performance series, made possible by the City of Ottawa, responds to the Ottawa Music Strategy recommendation to make more City-owned space available for music. Following a successful pilot performance series in summer 2019, the project has expanded to engage video and dance artists in a series of multidisciplinary performances.
WHAT: See/Hear free performance series featuring sound, movement and visual projections
WHEN: 12 PM on March 5, March 26, April 16, and May 14
WHERE: Jean Pigott Place, Ottawa City Hall (110 Laurier Ave W)
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Pansee Atta is an Egyptian-Canadian artist whose practice considers themes of colonization, resistance, and identity, as well as the role of cultural institutions in legacies of epistemic violence. Previous exhibitions have taken place at La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse, the Art Gallery of Mississauga, Z Art Space in Montreal, MSVU Art Gallery and others. Previous residencies include the Impressions Residency at the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, the SparkBox Studio Award, and at the Atelier of Alexandria. She is a doctoral candidate in Cultural Mediations at Carleton University, on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishnaabe nation.
Yvonne Coutts is the Artistic Director and resident choreographer of ODD/CDC. Her work for Compagnie ODD has been featured in many national festivals over the past decade and also in Europe, Asia, and the USA as an independent choreographer. Yvonne was a company member and associate director of Le Groupe Dance Lab where she danced with and for wondrously talented artists. She has received commissions from dancers across Canada and has been a guest artist in residence at many nationally recognized professional programs. She is a faculty member of The School of Dance Professional Contemporary Programme and was the 2015 recipient of the Ottawa Arts Council Mid-Career Artist Award.
Wellington Sanipe is an experimental ambient musician, creating lush, eerie and blissful synth loops
Pama is an experimental music duo that creates evocative atmospheres through improvisation with analog and digital instruments. Ellen Waterman (flutes/voice) and Michael Waterman (theremin, homemade and hacked instruments, processing) have long histories of sonic exploration whether in the context of Ellen’s contemporary music performance or Michael’s work with improvised audio collage band Mannlicher Carcano. As Pama, they create sonic dazzle vector patterns that scramble time, space and place.