Ice Follies 2020
February 15th - 29th, 2020
Theme: mkomiiwi: be ice, turn to ice, be covered in ice, be icy
Exploring that transformation from water to ice and from one realm to another. As we shift and adapt new worlds are opened and old pathways disappear. Our mode of travel changes. Ice heaves form from prevailing winds. Ice is pushed up against itself, the shore.
Aanmitaagzi, Mkomiwii: (Turns to Ice) Installations and Performance, 2020
Aanmitaagzi has presented as part of the Ice Follies festival as a presenter and co-producer for the past 5 festivals. For Ice Follies 2020, Aanmitaagzi presented works developed through their Where Does Art Begin? project. This included several installations on the lake and a performance, which took place on February 22, 2020.
Where Does Art Begin? is an cross-sectoral inter-arts project of gathering, dreaming and making, providing an opportunity for exploration and transformation through customary harvesting practices, art-making and dance theatre. On Saturday, February 22nd at 7pm, Aanmitaagzi conducted their major performance on Lake Nipissing.
We are at a very exciting time when many indigenous artists, knowledge keepers and communities are redefining who we are and how we organize ourselves. We are moving away from traditional Canadian models of organization in arts, culture, heritage to reconnecting our contemporary ways of being to our historic frameworks. What’s in our bundles? When do our gifts move together simultaneously and when does one stop and the other continue? What do we risk losing when we operate alone? This project will provide an opportunity for us to trace the roots of transformation, dreaming and making.
Within the Nipissing First Nation arts and cultural milieu, we have been inspired to commit more vigorously to each other and our respective practices, our relation to our natural world and our future. We believe that gathering together our artistic and cultural resource leaders is critical in providing our contemporary art makers with forums to engage with our indigenous holistic approaches. Where Does Art Begin? creates an engaging, meaningful and timely forum to investigate where our work intersects, and departs.
Installation Gallery
Aanmitaagzi open studio art making for Ice Follies 2020
In the weeks following the opening reception, Aanmitaagzi hosted a variety of events including, paper lantern building and freeze frame making workshops and performances by members of Aanmitaagzi. All contributions were then installed as part of the festival.
Mkomiiwi: (Turns to Ice) Performance
In the weeks following the opening reception, Aanmitaagzi hosted a variety of events including, paper lantern building and freeze frame making workshops and performances by members of Aanmitaagzi. All contributions were then installed as part of the festival.
Creators / Performers
Sid Bobb*
Miigwan Buswa*
Penny Couchie*(Choreographer)
Christine Friday
Daniel Lomas
JP Longboat
Meagan Lozicki Paulin
Tasheena Sarazin*(Costumes)
Tijana Spasic
Imelda Villalon
Installation Artists *
Animikiikwe Couchie-Waukey
Chris Couchie
Dan & Eva Couchie
Daniel Couchie
Sherry Guppy
Karis Jones-Pard
Ange Loft
Donald Sutherland
Cultural Consultants
Dan & Eva Couchie
Carol Guppy
Performance Gallery
