Ice Follies 2023

February 10th - 24th, 2023

 

THEME: NBAAGZI MKWAM (THIN ICE)

Under the Surface was chosen because it represents the efforts behind the scenes to make Ice Follies 2012 more community-oriented and engaging. With artists travelling from across the country to work alongside of local artists, community members, and coordinators we hope to present a unique arts experience on Lake Nipissing that everyone can enjoy.

The Ice Follies Experience, an Ice Shanty curated by Dermot Wilson, 2023

The Ice Follies Experience is an “historical” installation in a vintage ice-fishing shack.

The Ice Follies Experience is unique on the planet; i.e., an interaction with nature AND with community in an unusual environment/site. These experiences have been happening in North Bay for almost twenty years now. Some of the children who visited in 2004 are now parents who still hold onto their own Ice Follies memories and stories.

Inside the 64 square-foot re-purposed ice shack, visitors will find low-resolution photocopied images of young and old visitors to the exhibition over the past nine incarnations. They will also hear a soundtrack featuring interviews with past Ice Follies artists talking about their own Ice Follies experiences.  

In these ways, the installation becomes an artifact of a truly northern event and “humanizes” the site-specific exhibition by reflecting upon the community that was attracted to and mystified by these installations.

Wilson is attempting to both recall and celebrate the experiences of getting our families and ourselves down to the ice in water-proof outer wear,  and then to relive that joyous trek out onto the ice of Lake Nipissing.   

The experience is coloured by the inherent adventure of our Follies circumnavigation and the “danger” of that icy plain, the feeling of being on a narrow, frozen ledge or in a “liminal”, and thereby mystical, and perhaps transformative, space. These intrepids then (visitors), venture out here to encounter contemporary site-specific sculptural artworks,  eco-performances, ice sculpture workshops, interactive installations, and other folks wandering from site to site, experiencing the art or simply standing quietly in the midst of this icy snow-covered vastness.

Artist Bio:

Artist/curator, Dermot Wilson, born in Dublin, Eire and living in northern Ontario for almost 20 years, works in various media including digital video, audio, time-based installation, digital imaging, computer animation and performance to create works that include meditations upon his relationships with the community and the environment.
 
Dermot has performed in galleries, bars, artist-run centres and on various outdoor sites in many communities across Canada and in Europe.  His noise/spoken word performances (tend to challenge our institutions and promote dialogue about place and environment. Dermot’s multi-disciplinary installations often include: found objects, large-scale pencil drawings, hanging screens, LCD screens, “duration” works and audience interaction constructions. Recent installations include: Our Cosmic Geometries (Visual Arts Centre of Clarington) and Contemporary Abstract (Art Gallery of Peterborough), Iterations/Emanations (KINO Gallery and Wroclaw University Gallery, Wroclaw, Poland), and Random Acts of Joy (TOTE Gallery, Brazil). He has performed spoken word rants since 1996 and is currently performing site-specific sound art works in various clearcut sites in Northern Ontario.
 
Hyperboreal (ambient sound/spoken word performance collective with Jason Brock) has performed in Europe, South America and in various cities in Canada. Dermot has curated international and national group and solo exhibitions for ten years as the Director of the WKP Kennedy Gallery in North Bay (2002-2012) and for six years at the NRCC. He also worked for several Media Arts collectives and organizations across Canada. The first Director of Paved Arts in Saskatoon, the  founder of N2M2L in North Bay, and the first curator for the Ice Follies Biennial, Dermot Wilson was a Founding Board Member for both the Artist-run Centres and Collective of Ontario and the Media Arts Network of Ontario. Currently he works as Executive Director at the Nipissing Region Curatorial Collective and develops media performances with Hyperboreal.

 

Social Links:

Website: https://www.variflux.tv/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wilsondermot/?hl=en

Installation Gallery:

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