Advancing Research Capacity

Mentoring Innovation

This month was the first iteration of our new Advancing Research Capacity (ARC) Residency, which offered studio time at Left of Main and mentorship from the Core Artists to tackle a pressing technical challenge in a work-in-progress.

Often times in theatre, there’s a huge separation between creation and tech. Artists rarely get a chance to deal with technical elements early in a process, which means they don’t get enough time to really dig into the creative and dramaturgical potential because logistics eat up all their time. 

The ARC Residency offers artists studio time and mentorship to dig into a technical element with a focus on artistic rather than only practical considerations. With a long history of groundbreaking technical achievements, our Core Artists know firsthand how these kinds of work processes make true innovation possible. The first of two artists to take part in the ARC Residency was Alexandra Caprara, developing her piece gently divine, violently disorienting (GDVD). It was a pleasure to work with Alex and we can’t wait to see where the work goes next! Read more about Alex, her work and next steps for the project, below. And stay tuned for more ARC activities throughout our seasons!

Stay Electric! ⚡

About the Artist

Alexandra is a queer interdisciplinary artist whose practice is grounded in performance making and design. With a focus on creating new movement based works that feature integrated design, she has worked internationally as a director, performer, and designer for lighting and video, and has presented her work across Canada alongside companies such as WorkMan Arts, Factory Theatre, Theatre Replacement, and GoodWoman Dance. She is a recent MFA graduate from SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts, where her research centered around design lead creation processes, real time composition, and integrating lighting and video design as collaborators within performance.

About the Work

“I used my time to research and experiment with the technical setup for my upcoming project, “gently divine, violently disorienting” (GDVD). This piece explores the collaboration between technology and performers as co-authors, and examines the ways queer individuals can utilize technology and online spaces as a tool for imagining our own ideas becoming. Using a live feed video projection and digital video “loop- pedal” I’ve created, the performers create compositions using their bodies in real time, in an attempt to introduce new versions of themselves that exist in a digital reality. I spent this time working solo to experiment with some composition ideas using this set up. Working in Left of Main allowed me to incorporate lighting effects, multi-channel video, and sound into these experiments, which allowed me to both discover how these elements interact together, and explore new ways of abstracting the body on stage using light and video.”

What’s Next

“I’ll be partaking in a month-long residency with Woodland Farms AiR on Salt Spring Island this May to further develop the project, and collaborating with New Works Dance throughout the year to offer studio visits and artist talks about the show as it develops, leading up to a presentation of the project this fall! Myself and my team of collaborators (Jami Reimer, Sarah Finn, Avideh Saadatpajouh, and Kira Radosevic) are also in the middle of applying for Canada Council funding to support this phase of research and creation.”

Check out the footage from one of Alexandra’s experiments below.

PLEASE NOTE: the clip contains strobe lighting effects that may affect photosensitive viewers