ALTER/EGO

Nerd subcultures, avatar creations, ghostwriters, role-playing games, dating sites, social media accounts, trans cultures, monsters, political protest movements, wrestlers, drag artists, actors, sex workers and superhero legends - all embrace and exploit the notion of the ALTER EGO. Emerging from two intense pandemic years where many have moved to living a constructed life online and outside the IRL, we gather to contemplate the power of the alter ego to express and transform our inner selves and the communities we live and love in.

This one-day event is a collaboration between students in the Concordia Department of Art History and students from the Theatre Department, led by Instructors Alex Tigchelaar (aka Sasha), and Stephen Lawson (aka Gigi). In response to the theme of ALTER/EGO, research creation works will be presented by students from PERC 322 Gender and Sexuality in Performance, and scholarly papers will be presented by students from ARTH 392 Gender Issues in Art And Art History: Queer Methods, Themes And Materials In Canadian Art From The 1960s To Present.

There will be two guest presentations during the day, Siksika (Blackfoot) Nation artist Adrian Stimson (aka Buffalo Boy), and Tio’Tia:Ke/Montreal artist Lenore Claire Herrem (aka Sandy Bridges.)

How can you participate? Attend the discussion in person (note, there is a maximum of 25 audience members permitted in the space) or online by registering for the Zoom meeting or watching live on 4th Space's YouTube channel.

Have questions? Send them to info.4@concordia

Guest Speakers

10:00am - 11:00am

Interdisciplinary artist Adrian Stimson (Siksika -Blackfoot- Nation) aka Buffalo Boy will be the key-note speaker at ALTER/EGO. Exhibiting internationally, his imagined chimerical, haunting landscapes and hybridised personae performances evoke “ideas of cultural fragility, resilience and nostalgia” while deeply engaging with the themes of dispossession, genocide, and endurance. Their work has been acquired by the British Museum North American Indigenous collection, the First Nations University of Canada, and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (among many others) and they are the recipient of several awards including the Governor General Award for Visual and Media Arts in 2018 and the REVEAL Indigenous Arts Award – Hnatyshyn Foundation in 2017.

1:40pm – 2:30pm

In the afternoon, our guest workshop leader will be Lenore Claire Herrem, aka Sandy Bridges, a multi-disciplinary artist from Saskatoon based in Tio’Tia:Ke/Montreal. Lenore will discuss her process and philosophy on creating a performance alter ego and being a one-person-show. This workshop will cover embodying multiplicities, maintaining structure and confidence, and the importance of keeping things fun.

Schedule

Opening and keynote: 10:00am to 11:00am

Student Presentation Session #1: 11:00am to 12:00pm

Break: 12:00pm to 12:20pm

Student Presentation Session #2: 12:20pm to 1:00pm

Lunch: 1:00pm to 1:40pm

Workshop: 1:40pm to 2:30pm

Student Presentation Session #3: 2:30pm to 3:50pm

Break: 3:50pm to 4:00pm

Student Presentation Session #4 and closing remarks: 4:00pm to 5:00pm