FESTIVAL PROGRAM SERIES
2017
Co-Presented by Subtle Technologies and Evergreen Brickworks
June 3rd–25th
Evergreen Brick Works
550 Bayview Avenue, Toronto
This program series was the second module of the 6-week distributed 2017 festival for Subtle Technologies. All events and artworks took place in and amongst the landscapes and architecture of the Evergreen Brickworks—a converted brick factory and industrial park located on the lower Don Valley River.
Importantly, Indigenous artists, curators and elders were consulted as collaborators in the programming, and Indigenous ways of knowing and being on the land were brought into productive friction with Western concepts of food, agriculture and medicine.
by Jo SiMalaya AlCampo
In the Children’s Garden Greenhouse,
8am-5pm, Saturdays and Sundays
A series of interactive sound art installations situated in the greenhouse of the Brick Works, Alcampo’s singing plants are potted banana plants that respond to human hand gestures to emit soundscapes of Aboriginal chants, songs and spoken words that ask the land for permission to access its resources.
Installation view of Singing Plants: Redux by Jo SiMalaya Alcampo. Photo credit: Natalie Logan.
Vistors engaging with Visitors. Photo credit: Zach Pearl.
On the final day of the program, a live performance was given by SiMalaya Alcampo in tandem with a seedbomb-making workshop. Attendees were invited to 'play' the plants. Photo credit: Zach Pearl.
Part of the performance involved the audience. Participants joined hands while holding a conductive wire to jointly affect the sound of the plants. Photo credit: Zach Pearl.
A Workshop Series led by Lisa Myers
In the Fido Kitchen in the Young Welcome Centre
June 6th,7th, 13th, 14th, 20th and 21st, 6-9pm
This series of culinary workshops were a collaboration of food scholars, artists, food advocates and cooks from Indigenous communities around the province who gathered virtually through video conferencing. Cooking and critical discussion happened in tandem as wild rice, maple syrup and berries were explored as both pragmatic food crops and symbols in a networks of relations (of race, knowledge, power, etc.)
Guest Scholars/Chefs, included:
SUSAN BLIGHT
JAMES WHETUNG
PETER MORIN
SEAN ADLER
& MELODY McKIVER
Workshop participants cook manoomin (wild rice) and learn about how it's traditionally harvested and prepared. Photo credit: Natalie Logan.
Indigenous artist, curator and chef Lisa Myers (left), along with Indigenous artist and activist James Whetung (right) share a glass of fresh cranberry juice and speak with Manitoban Indigenous artist and author Peter Morin via Skype
A well-earned meal: Manoomin (wild rice) pudding with fresh wild blueberries.
Developed in Partnership with First Story Toronto
Led by Wild Foragers Society
Saturdays June 3rd,10th,17th & 24th, 10am–12pm
Sundays June 4th,11th,18th & 25th, 1–3pm
Participants in this interactive tour program, were guided through the Don River Valley Park, learning about local indigenous history of the river basin and its wealth of medicinal plants through a smartphone app developed by First Story Toronto. Culinary and healing properties of the plants were discussed by founders of the local foraging and citizen-science initiative Wild Foragers Society.
Each week concentrated on a theme according to the natural growth cycle of the season. Participants were encouraged to attend multiple sessions and to bring something to share.
A tour-goer looks on at a blossoming elderberry floret as the analgesic properties are discussedx. Photo credit: Natalie Logan.
Lee, from Wild Foragers Society, bends over to take in the pleasant odour of wild strawberries and tobacco. She points out their importance in indigenous medicine and oral tradition. Photo credit: Natalie Logan.
A tour group ends with a sage-burning ceremony at the summit of the Brickworks, on 'Deer Hill' overlooking the river basin and downtown Toronto. Photo credit: Natalie Logan.
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