Pen Pals

Laura Gonzalez (Performer), Marie-Claire Forté (Performer)

Research output: Performances, compositions and other non-textual formsComposition

Details

PEN PALS / RÉLATIONS ÉPISTOLAIRES 2023
A wellbeing exchange project co-delivered by CCOV & TMS

Pen pals / Rélations épistolaires is a collaborative project originally instigated by CCOV ( Centre de Création O Vertigo, Montreal, Canada) working in this edition in collaboration with Take Me Somewhere, Glasgow. The project is a transcontinental sharing of questions, ideas and practices between artists living in Montreal and Glasgow whose creative practices intersect with aspects of ‘wellbeing’.


TMS and the CCOV have invited Aniela Piasecka & Laura Gonzalez, artists from Glasgow to exchange and collaborate with Mycelium & Marie Claire Forté, two Montréal artists to exchange remotely in a conversation around the question of “well-being.”

The 3 month exchange across cities will use letter writing, digital exchange and video letters to share thoughts, reflections and questions surrounding how performance can address wellbeing whether that be ecological wellbeing, community wellbeing or personal wellbeing. Our hope with this project is that we can shine a light on the research that artists are doing locally and bring it into an international conversation.


The artists will begin their correspondence through video-letters, through which each artist interchange roles of mentor and mentee, knower and not-knower. After the first month, the pen pals will be invited to explore other forms of correspondence as their relationship evolves. In April 2023, CCOV and TMS will host a public discussion, in-person and livestream, with all the participants from both cities to debrief and share reflections of their penpal exchanges.

This project was originally developed by CCOV and is an evolving model for how artists can benefit from online international exchange whilst staying landed in their own communities exploring how a more formalised and spacious correspondence can support a different sort of listening and reflection, while also exploring how we can remain connected across borders in the absence of physical travel.

The correspondence period will be from January 16 – April 20 2023 culminating in a public online event at the end of April 2023.
Original languageEnglish
PublisherTake Me Somewhere
Media of outputOnline
Publication statusPublished or Performed - 29 Apr 2023

Keywords

  • wellbeing
  • writing
  • breath
  • health
  • dance
  • movement
  • body
  • performance

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