directives
Type_Artist Residency
Host_Plug In ICA: Summer Institute II
Year_2019
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an international post-graduate artist research program for professional artists and thinkers working in all disciplines and media
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focus on Indigenous architectures with intensive knowledge sharing through lecture programming and a week of production
"Uncle Doug's Fishing Shack"
Joar Nango in collaboration with Douglas Thomas and the 2019 Summer Institute.
Participants; Lorraine Albert, Carrie Allison, Albyn Carias, Julie Gendron, Alicia Marie Lawrence, David Peters, and Evan Taylor
Norwegian- Sámi artist/architect, Joar Nango, was the lead faculty and facilitator for the second intensive session of the Summer Institute. Nango focused on "Indigenous architectures" with a week of intensive knowledge sharing through a series of lecture programming followed by a week of production. Foregrounding Indigenous approaches to design and alternative models of social space, Nango led participants through a series of texts, discussions, guest lectures, workshops, and studio time for the first week, engaging local, Winnipeg-based, Indigenous architects and thinkers.
(text from Plug In ICA website)
Evan's participation in the program was graciously supported by a travel grant awarded by the Canada Council for the Arts.
"Every time I arrive here, Winnipeg always feels so restless."
"That's because this was once the bottom of the sea."
The Summer Institute program became a culmination of a number of collective ideas, questions and themes centred around the title of "Indigenous architectures." What is Indigenous space? How is/was it sourced, created, and inhabited? What drives its creation? How are the concepts of regional and cultural space making different (or similar) around the world?
Participants opted to work collaboratively with Joar to create a series of site specific constructions and installations. Using donated objects and materials found near the site as a point of departure, these creations included a mobile ice fishing shack, a gathering space with a fire pit, benches, a table, a hammock, and a light and sound installation. The site was adjacent to Fort Gibraltar in St. Boniface, Winnipeg, a re-built colonial trading fort.
