As a resident of the Southwest in Montreal, I often take the bike path along the Lachine Canal to get to several points across the city both east and north. In the short six years I’ve been living down here, with each new condo development going up, the cityscape – a once prominent and attractive feature of this path – has been basically vanishing.

In what I think is probably my most despairing of non-actions in the collected moments of Doing Nothing, you are invited to come to the Canal and stand with me, as we collectively watch (and mourn) the disappearing skyline.

When: Friday, Feb. 24, 2017 at 3pm
Where: Meet at Metro Georges Vanier (2040, rue St-Antoine Ouest, H3J 1A6), we will walk over together from there. If you arrive late, come to the canal off Rue des Seigneurs and walk eastward (without crossing the bridge) till you find us. If you want to make sure to find us, please arrive on time at the metro.
Important: Wear warm clothes and good winter/walking boots

Presented by DARE-DARE as part of the project The Sanctimonious Sect of Nothing Is Sacred.
> http://www.dare-dare.org/en/events/victoria-stanton
> http://www.dare-dare.org/en/events/watching-the-montreal-skyline-disappear

***

En tant que résidente du sud-ouest de Montréal, j’emprunte souvent la piste cyclable qui borde le canal Lachine pour me rendre en plusieurs points de la ville, à la fois à l’est et au nord. Durant les six dernières années, j’ai vu rapidement le paysage urbain se transformer, un condo à la fois. La vue sur l’horizon de la ville – autrefois une particularité attrayante de ce parcours – est en train de disparaitre.

Dans ce qui est probablement la ‘non-action’ la plus désespérée de la série Ne Rien Faire, vous êtes invités à vous rassembler avec moi près du Canal, pour regarder ensemble (et faire le deuil) de la disparition de la silhouette de la ville.

Quand : le vendredi 24 février 2017 à 15 h
Où : Rendez-vous à la station de métro Georges-Vanier pour faire la marche ensemble (2040, rue St-Antoine Ouest, H3J 1A6). Si vous arrivez en retard, rejoignez-nous par la Rue des Seigneurs, puis longez le canal vers l’est (sans traverser le pont). Assurez-vous d’être à l’heure au point de rencontre si vous ne voulez pas manquer le groupe.
Important : Portez des vêtements chauds et des bottes d’hiver.

Présenté dans le cadre du projet L’Édifiante secte de rien (n’)est sacré.
> http://dare-dare.org/fr/evenements/victoria-stanton
> http://dare-dare.org/fr/evenements/regarder-la-ligne-dhorizon-de-montreal-disparaitre

Although The Sanctimonious Sect of Nothing Is Sacred continues on (in an official capacity) with DARE-DARE till next spring, the year-end wrap-up of the centre’s programming for the 2016-2017 season takes place this Saturday Dec. 10, 2016, a time when their invited artists come together to discuss findings with a guest moderator.

DARE-DARE proposed to focus its 2016-17 season around the notions of the collective and the Common, with Rendez-Vous Society as a title. They invited artists to base their interventions on common, day-to-day realities and intervene in the social environment through projects that generate meetings and which address the concepts of exchanges, transmission and sharing.

Sylvaine Chassay, Maggy Flynn, Roberto Santaguida, the trio formed of Ilya Krouglikov, Sarah Dell’Ava and Wolfram Sander and yours truly are the artists of this ongoing programming. To discuss our respective projects, they invited the philosopher Erik Bordeleau who will act as moderator and theorist on the issues encountered during the last year.

Round table and open discussion
Saturday Dec. 10, 2016, 3pm-5pm
Les Ateliers Jean Brillant
3520 St-Jacques, Montreal

*

Pour sa programmation 2016-2017, DARE-DARE a proposé un cadre de travail autour des notions du collectif et de la communauté, sous le titre La Société des Rendez-vous. Ils ont fait appel aux artistes pour inscrire l’art dans le quotidien et s’immiscer dans l’environnement social à travers des projets qui génèrent des rencontres et qui abordent les notions d’échanges, de transmission et de partage.

Sylvaine Chassay, Maggy Flynn, Roberto Santaguida, le trio formé d’Ilya Krouglikov, Sarah Dell’Ava et Wolfram Sander, et moi même, sont les artistes de cette programmation 2016-2017. Pour discuter de nos pratiques respectives, ils ont invité le philosophe Erik Bordeleau qui agira comme modérateur et théoricien des enjeux rencontrés durant la dernière année.

Retrouvons-nous aux Ateliers Jean Brillant à 15h, pour deux heures de table-ronde ouverte à la discussion et au partage des expériences.

Public Forum About Nothing Presents: Talking About Nothing With…

Le Collectif Vierge

Le Collectif Vierge
Dec. 2 from 3 – 5pm / 2 déc 2016 de 15h à 17h
La roulotte de DARE-DARE trailer
Intersection Atwater, Greene & Doré devant le marché / in front of the market

As part of the yearlong project, The Sanctimonious Sect of Nothing Is Sacred, I am inviting artists, researchers, thinkers, and practitioners of various disciplines – both within and outside of the arts – to present their reflections in an open format around the question of Doing Nothing.

The second in the series of informal discussions welcomes a performative and participatory action by Montreal-based Collectif Vierge entitled: “Bring Something To Do Nothing”

“In a society where value is given to tangible productivity and efficaciousness, we are questioning our relationship to non-action and to nothingness. Is it actually okay to do nothing?

During our first project, Les Berceuses, our rocking chairs have become our object of transition towards this nothingness. Our pretext is to re-place the rhythm of slowness and reflection in places where it is not supposed to be. Our companions in order to acknowledge the benefits and the values of nothingness.

This new non-event is an invitation to activate the nothing inside us; to let it become something through the use, or non-use, of an object. Together, we will experiment and question why and how those objects allow us to do nothing. Is it actually nothing? What does this nothing activate inside and around you?

**When you’re doing nothing what do you do? What do you use? Bring this thing with you!”

Artists’ bio
Collectif Vierge is born from the meeting of two visual artists (Mathilde Rohr et Gabrielle Desrosiers) during a Montreal performance festival. While they each have their own artistic approach related to different mediums, they meet together in the practice of performance art. Vierge (virgo) underlines their shared astrological sign, but vierge here also refers to the blank page (la page vierge) or the virgin forest. They question and place value on the notion of dérive (drifting), as well as the everything within the nothing, the emptiness before the creation, the silence before the density.

**

Le Collectif Vierge est invité dans le cadre des Présentations publiques sur le rien qui s’inscrivent dans le cadre du projet L’édifiante secte de rien (n)’est sacré qui se déroule sur un an.

Je convie des artistes, chercheur.es et practicien.nes issu.es de diverses disciplines [artistiques ou extra-artistiques] à présenter leur réflexions durant une série de discussions informelles sur la question du Rien Faire. La formule est complètement ouverte, ce qui permet à chaque conférencier.ère de prévoir la manière dans laquelle il ou elle désire aborder le sujet et engager l’auditoire.

La deuxième dans la série comprend une action performative, et participative offert par Le Collectif Vierge : “Quelque chose pour rien-faire”

“Dans une société où la valeur est attribuée à la production du tangible et à l’efficacité, nous questionnons ici notre rapport à la non-action et au rien-faire. Est-t-il en fait correct de ne rien faire ?

Au cours de notre premier projet, Les Berceuses, nos chaises berçantes sont devenues des objets de transition vers le rien, notre prétexte pour réintégrer le rythme de la lenteur, de la réflexion et de l’état d’observation dans des environnements où il n’a pas lieu d’être. Elles se sont révélées être nos complices pour reconnaître les bénéfices et les valeurs du rien.

Ce nouveau non-évènement est une invitation à activer notre rien intérieur et à le laisser devenir quelque chose à travers l’utilisation, ou la non-utilisation, d’un objet. Ensemble, nous expérimenterons et questionnerons pourquoi et comment ces objets nous autorisent à ne rien faire. Est-ce vraiment rien ? Qu’est ce que ce rien active à l’intérieur et autour de nous ?

**Quand vous ne faites rien, que faites-vous ? Qu’utilisez vous ? Apportez cette chose avec vous !”

Bio des artistes
Le Collectif Vierge est né d’une rencontre entre deux artistes visuels (Mathilde Rohr et Gabrielle Desrosiers) lors d’un festival d’art action montréalais. Ayant chacune leur parcours personnel issu de médiums différents, elles se retrouvent dans la pratique de l’art performance. Vierge pour leur signe astrologique commun, mais aussi vierge telle la page vierge ou la forêt vierge. Elles questionnent et valorisent la dérive ainsi que le tout qui se trouve dans le rien, le vide avant la création, le silence avant la densité.

-Read more about the project here-

Public Forum About Nothing / Présentations publiques sur le rien

lo bil, NOTHING, non-progress of work a

As part of this yearlong project, The Sanctimonious Sect of Nothing Is Sacred, I am inviting artists, researchers, thinkers, and practitioners of various disciplines – both within and outside of the arts – to present their reflections in an informal series of discussions around the question of Doing Nothing. The format is wide open so each presenter will determine how it is they wish to approach the topic, and engage the audience.

Although I see (once again) how paradoxical it is to be making myself busy in the planning & carrying out of these events, it feels like this is nonetheless exactly the right time; an opportunity to collectively contemplate Nothing while the project is still happening (or not happening, as it were).

AND SO…!!

Talking About Nothing With… Presents:

lo bil (Toronto)
Nov. 9, 2016 at 7pm / 9 nov 2016 à 19h
Les Ateliers Jean Brillant
661, Rose-de-lima, Saint-Henri (métro Lionel Groulx)

***

The first in the series is Toronto-based performance artist lo bil with a new work entitled:
NOTHING, non-progress of work a

lo writes: “I enter this time and space discarding any preconceived ideas of what this performance is. I will navigate my actions by acting on impulse and questioning: What is this? Is this nothing? Why is this nothing? How can I encourage the presence of nothing? Why is nothing relevant right now? I will say what comes to mind. Within the hour, I invite you to notice whether any understanding of what nothing looks or feels like emerges.”

Of her process, she continues: “I study and think and write and move until it is time to perform. Then I practice letting go of what I imagined, in favour of experiencing what I could not have imagined.

This performance is occurring in order to research nothing. I realize there are two conflicting meanings here: (1) To research the concept of nothing. Nothing as a topic; and (2) To enter into a contentless research. A research without reference.

In the duration of the performance, I’m trying to get to the place in my brain wherein I don’t know what I’m doing or why but an energy is moving through my body with clarity. Being in front of an audience speeds up time, so this energy from nothing might surface more readily.

Do I just wait for nothing to surface? Or can I make nothingness occur somehow? I can listen for changes in the body and try to discern to what degree this state is close to nothing.

I speak transparently and move randomly, but I’m making choices about what to say and how to move. I’m navigating my way to the zone of not knowing, to make choices that I do not understand. Sometimes I give in to an action and realize I know why I did that, it’s something. So I let that go and try again to confuse myself.

Is the content of nothing performative? Will finding my nothingness connect me with all the other versions of nothingness out there?”

Artist bio
lo creates performative experiments to correlate research into process, pleasure, vulnerability, risk, memory, agency, labour, an aesthetics of the sensory, and the impact of a social location on identity. lo finds images through physical improvisations, spoken loops, and material interactions. Her work is raw, transparent, sometimes amusing and often involves a feedback loop with the audience.

lo has created work for: 7a*11d International Festival of Performance Art, 25 Hours for 25 Years for DCAC, Month of Performance Art-Berlin, ITINERANT Performance Art Festival NYC, Duration and Dialogue (as part of the collective No Object), Words and [ ] a durational conference by School of Making Thinking, and Summerworks Performance Festival 2016 where she won the FADO Performance Art Centre Live Art Award. Upcoming performances include ASSEMBLÉE at Studio 303 for WIVES Collective (Montreal), Panoply Lab (NYC) and Flowchart (Toronto).

-Read more about the series here-

The Sanctimonious Sect of Nothing Is Sacred is offering up some more moments of collective downtime…

September flew by in a flash. SIGH! The result of being too damn busy, I say.
Seems like a good moment to slow things down a bit, doesn’t it?
And what better time than now, during the height of fall colours.

I propose two occasions for Doing Nothing this October:

1.
When: Thurs. Oct. 13 at 4pm
What: Mount-Royal Maple Magnificence
Where: Meet at the statue, we’ll take it from there.
https://goo.gl/maps/wGF4AdwrHVU2

2.
When: Sun. Oct. 30 at 3pm
What: Fall Bird Watching at the Rapids Sanctuary
Where: Meet at 6th Ave, corner of LaSalle boulevard, LaSalle, in front of the parking entrance
(we’ll head to the bird sanctuary in the Parc des Rapides from there)
https://goo.gl/maps/5NQMq2oksuM2

In the hopes that we can share some down time this month, please come join me!

To note: both instances involve moving around; comfortable walking shoes recommended!

Presented by DARE-DARE as part of the project the Sanctimonious Sect of Nothing is Sacred

*

Septembre est déjà terminé !!! INCROYABLE
Voilà ce qui arrive quand on est trop occupé.e !!
Le signal est clair, il faut ralentir et se détendre
Profitons des belles couleurs de l’automne pour le faire MAINTENANT

Je vous invite donc à deux réunions en octobre pour: Ne rien faire ensemble

1.
Alibi : Les érables majestueux du Mont-Royal
Où : Rendez-vous point de départ à la statue de l’Ange
(monument George- Étienne Cartier)
Quand : Jeudi le 13 octobre à 16h00
https://goo.gl/maps/wGF4AdwrHVU2

2.
Alibi : Observation d’oiseaux au Refuge d’oiseaux migrateurs du Parc des Rapides
Quand : Dimanche le 30 octobre à 15h00
Où : Rendez-vous sur la 6ième avenue, au coin du boulevard LaSalle à LaSalle [devant l’entrée du stationnement]
(De là, on se rendra au Refuge d’oiseaux migrateurs)
https://goo.gl/maps/5NQMq2oksuM2

Dans l’espoir que nous pourrons partager un peu de temps ensemble ce mois-ci, joignez-vous à moi -si ça vous dit !

À noter : les deux rendez-vous impliquent une promenade; des chaussures de marche confortables sont recommandées !

Présenté par DARE-DARE dans le cadre du projet : L’Édifiante secte de rien (n’)est sacré

From Bodies of Water, Spring 2014, photo: Eric Mattson

The next installment in the year-long project The Sanctimonious Sect of Nothing Is Sacred (after a month-long hiatus from everyday life post-surgery) is taking place this and next week!

I’m back on my feet and summer is not over yet!
And because I haven’t had my full fix of quiet times by the water
I plan to hang out on the dock and do nothing.
Feel free to join me:

When: Aug. 24 and Aug. 29 at 3pm
(the second date will be on Aug. 30, if rain).
Come just the one time or both, as you like***

Where: on the dock on the river in Verdun. Which one? If coming off of LaSalle boul. It’s between Richard and Brault streets (Verdun metro)

***2 options: Come meet us by the water (at 3pm)
or come accompany me on my daily walk.
If the latter, let’s meet at 2:20pm at de l’Église metro, Wellington exit, upstairs outside (corner Wellington and Galt)

*

Pour célébrer
la fin de l’été
Avant la rentrée
Rendons-nous au quai!

Pour quoi faire? Pour rien faire!
Rassemblons-nous pour se reposer ensemble…

Quand : le 24 août à 15h et le 29 août à 15h
(ce dernier remis au 30 août, en cas de pluie).
Venez une fois ou les deux, à votre goût***

Où : le quai sur le fleuve à Verdun. En descendant de boul. LaSalle, ce sera entre rue Richard et rue Brault (métro Verdun)

***2 options : Venez nous rencontrer sur le quai (15h)
ou bien, marchez avec moi sur mon parcours quotidien. RDV à 14h20 métro de l’Église, sortie Wellington, sur la rue (coin Wellington et Galt)

http://nothingissacred.ca

Call for Participants – Performance Art Workshop Intensive this Fall in Montreal:
Between Intimacy and Architecture: Subtle and Relational Performance in Public Space

Montreal, Apr. 2015

Sept. 12-16, 2016 – 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (Mon-Fri)
$100
Open to artists of all disciplines / Bilingual teacher
Registration: info@studio303.ca / (514) 393-3771

How do we listen to each other? How do we interact? How do we respond to the landscape around us? How do we engage with time and space? Cultivating attentive awareness, empathetic presence and peripheral vision, through exercises and constructed situations / performance presentations, this performance art workshop will explore the multiple and very personalized ways in which we experience and foster intimacy and connection – in ourselves, towards others, and in relation to place. We will explore the ways in which a “non-productive” use of time, as carried out in public (place) activates a space as well as looking at how notions of “in-between,” (the spaces between thought and action, between actions, between each other, between ourselves and the spaces around us) can become material that feeds performative action/presence.

Since 2001 Victoria Stanton has been developing an expanded performance art practice combining public intervention and transactional/relational processes within a variety of communities and contexts across Canada and internationally. She has facilitated several workshops with TouVA (a collective comprised of Stanton, Sylvie Tourangeau and Anne Bérubé) and been developing a pedagogy via the exploration of human geography, architecture and the body as well as the micro-event – elements that have become fundamental to her workshops. She has previously given classes in Montreal (RAIQ, SKOL, Studio 303, Concordia University) Durham (Words Aloud Festival), Toronto (Hub 14, Artscape Gibraltar Point, Artscape Youngplace), Sudbury (Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario), Mexico (Centre FRONDA), and Melbourne (Overload Festival).

– More info about the workshop –

*

12-16 sept. 2016 – 9 h 30 à 12 h 30 (lun-ven)
100$
Ouvert aux artistes des toutes disciplines / Professeur bilingue
Inscriptions : info@studio303.ca / (514) 393-3771

Comment intéragissons-nous? Comment réagissons-nous aux environnements intérieurs et extérieurs? Comment percevons-nous le temps et l’espace? Cultivant la conscience attentive, la présence empathique et la vision périphérique, cet atelier explore les multiples voies à travers lesquelles nous expérimentons l’intimité et les connexions entre soi et l’autre, entre soi et l’espace, entre soi et les éléments qui nous entourent. Les entre-espaces font également partie des expérimentations…

Depuis 2001, Victoria Stanton développe une large pratique en performance, combinant intervention publique. pratiques et processus transactionnels et relationnels auprès de diverses communautés et dans de multiples contextes au Canada et à l’international. Elle a animé plusieurs ateliers avec TouVA (un collectif composé d’elle-même, Sylvie Tourangeau et Anne Bérubé), et dévelloppe une pédagogie via l’exploration de la géographie, de l’architecture et du corps, ainsi que le microévénement. Ces éléments sont devenus fondamentaux pour ses ateliers. Elle a enseigné à Montréal (RAIQ, SKOL, Studio 303, Université de Concordia), à Durham (Words Aloud Festival), à Toronto (Hub 14, Artscape Gibraltar Point, Artscape Youngplace), à Sudbury (Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario), à Mexico (Centre FRONDA) et à Melbourne (Overload Festival).

– Plus d’informations sur l’atelier –

The next non-event as part of the year-long project The Sanctimonious Sect of Nothing Is Sacred is scheduled to take place on June 20, in honour of the Summer Solstice. Participants from the Boundaries of the Body intensive performance art workshop (Gabrielle Desrosiers, Maro Goranitis, Koby Rogers Hall, Mathilde Rohr, and Tim Schauer) will lead this non-active action starting at 8pm. All are invited to attend. Please come with Open Hearts and, if possible, No Expectations. Not sure exactly what will happen, but I think it will be Real.

Where: In front of the Chalet of the Lac des Castors – Mont-Royal
When: June 20, 2016 starting at 8pm

-Read more about Nothing here-

There are still some spots left for the intensive performance art workshop I am giving this June in Montreal, Boundaries of the Body. The dates have also changed (as has the fee), in an attempt to make the opportunity more accessible to more people. See the Facebook link for full details (or posting here below)

https://www.facebook.com/events/1707891499428760/

For all the latest news specific to my new project, The Sanctimonious Sect of Nothing Is Sacred (upcoming non-events; links to like-minded projects, etc) please check out my new blog: nothingissacred.ca.

Looking forward to doing nothing with you.