SkaWeNNaTI Teiakwanahstahsontéhrha -We extend the rafters
September 28, 2023 to January 7, 2024
EXHIBITION PRODUCED AND CIRCULATED BY VOX, CENTER DE L’IMAGE CONTEMPORAINE.
The Peacemaker Returns, 2017. Courtesy of the artist.
This exhibition, whose central element is the machinima — an animated video created on the virtual reality platform Second Life — was created especially for children from 5 to 11 years old and invites visitors of all ages to (re)discover traditions transformed and brought up to date by the artist Skawennati in her “museum of the future.”
A guided tour and an original workshop in the form of a group board game encourages youngsters and grown-ups to explore history from an Indigenous perspective and to imagine how all peoples can contribute to the world of tomorrow, reminding us that history, like any other story, is a construction defined by the person telling it.
Born in Kahnawà:ke Mohawk Territory, just South of the Island of Montreal, Skawennati holds a BFA from Concordia University in Montreal, where she is based. She is Co-Director of Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace (AbTeC), a research network on Indigenous virtual environments. Skawennati makes art that addresses history, the future, and change. Her pioneering new media projects include the online gallery/chat-space and mixed-reality event, CyberPowWow (1997-2004); a paper doll/time-travel journal, Imagining Indians in the 25th Century (2001); and TimeTraveller™ (2008-2013), a multi-platform project featuring nine machinima episodes. These have been presented in New Zealand, Hawaii, Ireland and across North America. Skawennati is represented by ELLEPHANT and her award-winning work is included in both public and private collections.
This exhibition has benefited from the financial support of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Quebec Ministry of Culture and Communications and the City of Montreal under the Agreement on the Cultural Development of Montreal. This initiative was made possible by the Community Fund for Canada’s 150th, a collaboration between Canada’s community foundations, Foundation of Greater Montréal, the Government of Canada, and extraordinary leaders from coast to coast to coast.
