Concordia opens its doors for a special Joan Jonas performance
EDITOR'S NOTE: Updated on July 5, 2016, with the above video of the May 27 performance by Joan Jonas and Jason Moran.
Multimedia artist Joan Jonas will make a special stop at Concordia on May 27 for a performance lecture with musician Jason Moran, the Kennedy Center’s artistic director for jazz.
Jonas and Moran are coming to the university as part of the Open Doors initiative, a new program created by Rebecca Duclos, dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts.
Barbara Clausen, an art history professor at UQAM, curated the Joan Jonas: From Away retrospective exhibition, the first in Canada devoted to the American multimedia artist. It will be on view at the DHC/ART Foundation for Contemporary Art until September 18.
The exhibition offers insight into Jonas’ work, spanning over five decades, and will include documentation of her early choreographic works and pioneering video performances.
Clausen connected with Duclos because she knew she was interested in contributing to the Affinities series — performances, screenings and conversations running concurrent to Joan Jonas: From Away.
For her part, Duclos says collaborative partnerships with local cultural organizations and curators provide opportunities for the Concordia community to diversify its knowledge base and connect with new networks.
“Open Doors allows us to embrace and create new platforms for working with colleagues inside and outside the university,” she says. “Pathways to knowledge are rarely fixed, modes of communication are multiple, disciplinary expertise is as refined as it is permeable — we want to put these assumptions into practice.”
Joan Jonas with Jason Moran is a lecture performance with live piano and video projections, as well as improvisational actions. Throughout the evening, Jonas and Moran will interact with each other as they demonstrate examples from their 10 years of collaboration. This particular version of the piece has only been shown once before, at Columbia University in November 2015.
Joan Jonas | Photo by Moira Ricci
Jonas’ performances “unfold almost like novels,” says Clausen, explaining that when the pioneering multidisciplinary artist tells a story — even about a political or environmental event, or a gender and identity problem — it’s very visually legible.
Jonas’ practice is rooted in her knowledge and passion for art history, mythology, poetry, literature, history and cinema. She has travelled the world, from Cape Breton to Mexico, and from Japan to Iceland, weaving together a multitude of inspirations and sources.
Although the performance is produced by DHC/ART, the Faculty of Fine Arts is an important partner, Clausen says. In addition to the Jonas/Moran performance, researchers from both Concordia and UQAM will host an event at the PHI Centre on May 26 with all participating Affinities artists.
“Joan Jonas with Jason Moran” takes place on Friday, May 27 at 7 p.m. in the D.B. Clarke Theatre, located in the Henry F. Hall Building. Admission is free of charge and everyone is welcome.
