Digital Now Initiative – Artist Work

2022-2023

Vancouver

Throughout 2022, with the support of the Canada Council for the Art’s Digital Now Intiative, Brady Ciel Marks carried out mentorships with artists Chipo Chipaziwa, Evan Swain, and Yasmine Whaley-Kalaora to develop three independent sonically-engaged projects. The works which arose from these year-long mentorships were shared through the LIVE Biennale and the LIVE Platform, and some also aired on Vancouver’s Co-op Radio.

Chipo Chipaziwa: Performing? No, Performance!
A white border frames a cropped image of Chipo's glossy lips, parted, almost smiling as she prepares to speak into the microphone in her hand. The title in white serif lettering below the microphone reads: Performing? No, Performance!
Performing? No, Performance!, title image, Dec 2022. Courtesy of the artist.

Performing? No, Performance! is a five part series of podcasts hosted by Chipo Chipaziwa. Drawing from her research into the LIVE archives, in each episode Chipaziwa interviews a different performance artist, inquiring into the “why” and “how” behind the work they create, and asks what studio time looks like for them. Artists interviewed include: Jelili Atiku, David Ezra Wang, Emilio Rojas, Cheyenne Rain LeGrande ᑭᒥᐊᐧᐣ, and Paul Wong.

Listen to all episodes here.

Evan Swain: cityscape / Visit to where you are

cityscape/Visit to where you are is a series of activations and meditations in drawing, animation and sound by Evan Swain. Throughout their mentorship, Swain created a series of audio-visual vignettes as a way to understand the city in which they live. Shared on the LIVE Platform in a blog-like format, through a mix of documentary and world building fiction, their intermedia work provides a mapping of the city’s radical spaces, people and modes of being, and speculates towards new queer utopias.

See all posts here.

Yasmine Whaley-Kalaora: cite / site

cite/site is an ongoing series of audio essays by Yasmine Whaley-Kalaora which piece together field recordings, spoken text, voice messages and pop culture audio. During her mentorship, Whaley-Kalaora began this series which places importance on threads of ongoing citation while relocating these sonic fragments in an auditory form of place.

Listen to all episodes here.

Participants

Chipo Chipaziwa, Evan Swain, Yasmine Whaley-Kalaora