A Cool, Somewhat Disjointed Experience
On June 10, I attended the daytime portion of the Arts Court Open House Party. This indoor-outdoor event took place only a short walk from the U of O campus and featured a variety of hands-on workshops, screenings, panels, and exhibitions.
The open house was hosted in partnership with two local arts organizations celebrating milestone anniversaries: the underground music presenter Debaser marked their 10th anniversary, while SAW, an artist-run centre focused on performance and media arts, celebrated their 50th.
When I first arrived on the scene, I immediately B-lined for the trail of artisan booths along the street, where vendors sold everything from hand-made jewellery to self-published books. There were T-shirts and hoodies, screen-printed tote bags and hand-made jewellery, as well as a few food booths selling sweet treats perfect for a sunny summer day.
The event catered to a wide variety of ages: kids participated in a sticker-making workshop with their families during the day, while later in the evening the venue transformed into a more club-like environment featuring live music from local indie artists.
Inside the venue, the Digital Arts Resource Centre (DARC, formerly SAW Video) offered mini tours of their recording studio, digital editing suite, soundstage, and the Loop collaborative workspace – spaces that are usually reserved for members. I also got to watch two videos screening at the DARC microcinema: the satiric first episode of Lido TV and the music video for The Halluci Nation’s “The Virus”.
Lido TV is a variety show hosted by Colombian-Canadian singer/songwriter and producer Lido Pimienta. The show played with the aesthetics of kids television, featuring colourful sets, costumes, and props. It featured a skit poking fun at the performativity of land acknowledgements that had the audience chuckling. In contrast, the Halluci Nation music video felt especially powerful when played in the dark screening room with the beat booming from loudspeakers.
One of my favourite parts of the day was walking through the Ottawa-based artist Norman Takeuchi retrospective exhibition “Shapes in Between”. The exhibit follows his artistic journey from still life drawings to his signature fusion of traditional Japanese style, pop art, and a black-and-white photographic style. I also enjoyed seeing some of Takeuchi’s graphic design poster work for the Canadian Museum of Nature. The Norman Takeuchi retrospective can be viewed at the OAG until August 27th, 2023.
Another exhibit that featured cool graphic designs was the SAW Gallery’s display of posters, pamphlets, articles, videos and artworks from 50 years of SAW history. I loved reflecting on all the people who’ve been making and enjoying art together for decades, but was especially intrigued by an old newspaper clipping bemoaning controversial art in Ottawa.
The last thing I did was catch the tail end of artist nichola feldman-kiss’s discussion with the OAG’s chief curator, Catherine Sinclair. The artist spoke about their process and the relationship between their art and colonialism. I was fascinated by the insights they shared about the back end of creating performance pieces: feldman-kiss explained that they found the models for the piece “an initial aversion to the plight of the sufferer” by posting an online advertisement, and were actively discouraged from learning the technical aspects behind performance pieces during their formal artistic training, as it could complicate their artistic vision.
Admittedly, the event’s schedule and venue were somewhat confusingly laid out, especially for an open house meant to introduce newcomers to the Ottawa arts scene. With so many interrelated arts organizations in downtown Ottawa, it can be hard to figure out what is what. Employees were stationed at various points and happy to answer questions, but I would have appreciated a more intuitive layout with obvious signs or some kind of pamphlet introducing the different organizations involved in the event.
I didn’t stick around in the evening, but I saw people excitedly gathering at the entrance of the SAW courtyard at 5pm to get their pink wristbands. Maybe next year I’ll fully experience Pique instead of just catching bits of artists rehearsing throughout the day, though the schedule’s promotion of a “hug mosh” after midnight left me somewhat skeptical.
Other events I missed out on included screenprinting, button-making, stop-motion animation and tap dancing workshops.
Ottawa’s independent arts scene is rich and worth dipping your toe into, even when artist spaces can sometimes feel unfamiliar and intimidating. Many events and exhibitions are free or relatively affordable for students, and after years of arts events being adapted to online formats, it’s refreshing to spend time experiencing the local arts scene in person.
