SOUND + FILM PRESENTS: Vertigo Space 1

Sun. September 29th 2024
@  The Ministry of Casual Living (All Ages)
5:30 PM - 8:00 PM doors at 5:30 PM
ver·ti·go / A sensation of whirling and loss of balance, associated with looking down from a great height...

Vertigo Space is the first in a series exploring and documenting the sonic and visual potential of a concrete staircase.

*This is a free event but seating is limited and tickets are required. Get your tickets here: https://tinyurl.com/2zvsvcyy

Audience members must arrive at 5:30pm sharp to gain access to the building, doors will be locked after this time as the performances will be recorded. Entry on main floor. Seating on the stairs, elevator access if required.

Featuring: Elbow Kiss / Dana Sipos / Beaded Field / Natasha Lavdovsky

About the artists and what they're gonna do:

Elbow Kiss is the sound project of Em Boreen (they/them). Em weaves gentle string plucking with haunting melodies and prose into elegies to past selves and loves. Drawing on influences of classic country "honkey tonk angels", contemporary indie, and their own yearning and heartbreak, Elbow Kiss gets right down to the seed of the feeling through harp, guitar, and reverberous vocals.

In this installation, Elbow Kiss sends out a transmission to unlikely recipients. Sentiments, questions and fears that were once lost in translation, in moments of missed human connection. The epiphanies and impossible thoughts that come to us much too late. A prayer to whatever entity, energy or place might be awaiting beyond the skylight of the Vertigo Space, for these messages to be delivered in some form or another. How can we feel understood when we cannot be heard? Can we conjure our own salvation in the echoes of these questions?

https://www.instagram.com/elbow.kiss/
https://elbowkiss.bandcamp.com/
https://www.elbowkiss.ca/
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Dana Sipos coaxes silkworms out of their cocoons and spins them into song. She inhabited the far north before going nomad and now residing among the old growth, her captivatingly nuanced songs are filled with a wild wind and a haunting surrealism. Self-categorized in the subgenre of "Moonfolk," Dana's songs are infused with the natural world, the cosmic, the subconscious, the strange. A new collection of captivating songs that hold the complexity of the human experience up to the light is in the works.

Leaning into the idea that songs are "living things" that evolve and grow and using the stairwell as a voice in the choir, Dana will give stretch and resonance and space to songs that she has written specifically for this performance as well as from her upcoming (2025) release. She will aim for the songs to be in conversation with the space, responding to the resonance and bringing curiosity to their interplay. The audience will be invited to join their voices into the stairwell choir, including the opportunity for vocal improvisation and play, exploring and enjoying the harmonious and dissonant beauty that comes from the collective voice.

https://www.danasipos.com/
https://www.instagram.com/dana_sipos/
https://bandcamp.com/dsipos
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Beaded Field is a solo experimental project, inspired by haunting soundscapes, historic spiritual practice, & foley sound design. Atmospheric and dark, Beaded Field invites you into a space that exercises feelings of unrest while anchoring the experience in meditative, hypnogogic rhythms that tie the individual to a collective centre.

Utilizing a theremin that has been modified through effects pedals, Ilona will be creating resounding looped drones, layering discordant harmonies that echo to create a disorienting, yet centralized, spiral dance. Building upon the natural resonance of the stairwell, her work imitates ancient sound chambers used for spiritual connection/collaboration in times of grief. Bringing lightness into the piece, she will be distributing bells for audience participation, illustrating hope within darkness and the regenerative power of collective participation.

https://www.instagram.com/beaded.field/
https://www.instagram.com/necrosol_noise
https://necrosol.bandcamp.com/
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Natasha (Tasha) Lavdovsky is a neurodivergent artist & amateur lichenologist, who grew up in traditional Tsawout First Nations unceded Territory (on so-called Vancouver Island). In 2009 Tasha obtained a bachelor's degree in studio art and art history from Princeton University where she/they also studied geology, oceanography and environmental studies.

Since 2011, Tasha has been committed to deepening their understanding of anti-colonial perspectives and environmental stewardship, which greatly informs her ecologically oriented work in video, performance, photography, installation, textiles and sculpture. Tasha recently completed an MFA in Intermedia Studio Art remotely through Concordia University while living in Pacheedaht Territory. Tasha’s current work focuses on ecological reciprocity interventions and subversive approaches to public art.

http://www.natashalavdovsky.com/

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The 2024 “SOUND + FILM” series is generously supported by the Victoria Music Strategy Grant, a fund that seeks to celebrate Victoria's musical talent while addressing some of the barriers and challenges faced by musicians in the city. We would also like to thank The Ministry of Casual Living for it’s continued support for our events, and MediaNet for technical sponsorsip. Stay tuned for more events!

Film + Sound (temporarily renamed Sound + Film for current events ;) is a series of spontaneously programmed film and music nights that feature avant garde and experimental works by international and local directors, hidden gems from the archives, and live score by local musicians. It has been taking place since 2018 on the traditional territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) peoples.

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