A walking sound journey through Montreal
Infinite queue on the web
Coming out story written live
Virtual roundtables
May 22-32, 2020
LA SERRE – living arts is happy to unveil the first projects of the 14th edition of OFFTA, a festival of live arts, which will be held from 22 to 32 May 2020 in a reinvented version. Revisiting their practice in light of the present pandemic, the artists will present performances in the form of a sound journey to be made in his neighborhood, a story of a trans person’s coming out written and unveiled live, the story of an infinite queue, a tale to discover on the web and via virtual roundtables, with the goal of reinventing links, embracing the unknown and outwiting distance.
The public is invited to purchase in advance at the offta.com/billetterie one of three passes giving access to the festival’s various performances. With the desire to make this edition the most affordable at all, a $0 package is offered, as well as solidarity passes at $25 and $50, all offering full access to the programming of the 14th edition of OFFTA.
L’incroyable histoire de la file infinie
Penelope and Chloe – Simon Thomas
Originally conceived as an installation in a public space, the collaborative project created by Montreal visual artists Penelope and Chloo and the Brussels director Simon Thomas, now offers an online variation. L’incroyable histoire de la file infinie tells, unsurprisingly, the seemingly incredible story of the creation of the queue by Jean File himself. A tale for all.
805-4821
Davis Plett + Gislina Patterson
We Quit Theatre
805-4821 is the story of a trans person’s coming out reconstructed from other stories: a dialogue from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, a few snippets of memories from a swimming class and a Facebook correspondence of some 80,000 words.
Originally designed for a modified overhead projector, We Quit Theatre offers a never-before version in the form of a virtual live writing performance. 805-4821 explores notions of memory, identity and love in an apocalyptic era.
Errances
Melanie Binette
Milieu of Nulle Part
On December 12, 2002, a man died of a heart attack in front of the interior forecourt of the Théâtre Maisonneuve in Place des Arts. 17 years later, his daughter created a walk at the site of her father’s death, for one person at a time, whom she held by the hand.
Due to the pandemic, the performance is now in the hands of the participants, who will have to practice wandering solo from their neighborhood, thanks to a soundtrack, directions and, for some, a telephone conversation. How can the story of this singular mourning inform the collective mourning we have been facing for several weeks? Faced with the impossibility of holding hands, the deep desire for tactile intimacy comes to haunt this experience.
Vulnerable Paradoxes | Vulnerable Paradoxes
PME-ART
Vulnerable Paradoxes is a series of five artist-led roundtables that provides an open space for discussions that we rarely have the opportunity to experience. How and why do we do performance today? What makes our artistic wills political? What do we expect from the public and what do they expect from us? How does performance differ from other practices? Conversations that aim to better understand what we do and why we do it. Five virtual appointments during the day.
#offta2020
