A-maze-ing art

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This article was published 25/09/2024 (695 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Partygoers will be able to wander through a glowing maze of Winnipeg this Saturday during the 14th annual local Nuit Blanche celebration.

Located in Stephen Juba Park at the foot of the Provencher Bridge, Open-Air Corridors is an immersive audio-visual installation featuring projections and soundscapes by local musicians. The project is the brainchild of Franco-Manitoban artist Rayannah, created in response to a call for artwork inspired by the City of Winnipeg’s 150th anniversary.

“When I saw the call-out, I thought it was a really beautiful opportunity to showcase new creations by folks that are of the city and whose work spans a really wide space in terms of creative output,” she says.

While traversing the labyrinth of translucent panels laid out in the shape of the city’s borders, visitors will hear atmospheric music by Rayannah and collaborators Marisolle Negash, Daniel Péloquin-Hopfner, Félixe Sturk Lussier and Fabbeeo. The sound will be paired with trippy digital artwork from Saskatoon-based artist Stephanie Kuse projected on the walls of the maze.

The funding brief from the city was broad, but asked artists to consider the anniversary’s thematic tagline: “Our shared Stories. Our shared futures.”

In creating the soundtrack for Open-Air Corridors, Rayannah invited her fellow musicians into the studio for an improvised jam session and conversation about their lives and creative work.

“It was a no-strings-attached session,” she says. “We got together to talk about our paths that brought us here and reflect on where they meet, where they don’t.

“The idea was just to follow that momentum and create something completely new without any preparation — the outcome is really exciting.”

Open-Air Corridors is a satellite site for the HYPERART festival happening Saturday night at 340 Provencher Blvd. The one-night-only festival is presented by Centre culturel franco-manitobain and Théâtre Cercle Molière and features a dozen installations, activities and live theatre, music and drag performances.

Rayannah is executive and artistic director of the event, which has been running during Nuit Blanche since 2022.

“We always try to present work where artists get to step a little bit outside of what they normally do,” she says. “Which I feel like Nuit Blanche is, this permission to do something you’ve always wanted to try but haven’t had the space to.”

This year’s Nuit Blanche party will include more than 80 free events taking place across the Exchange District, Downtown, St. Boniface and The Forks. Organizers expect 30,000 people to attend

While most of the artwork and events are independently curated, six Illuminate the Night activations are commissioned annually by Nuit Blanche Winnipeg and the Winnipeg Arts Council.

“There’s some outstanding projects,” says Kurt Tittlemier, general manager of Culture Days Manitoba, which oversees the Nuit Blanche festivities. “The applications were quite high — big stack of applications, small stack of grants, unfortunately — but we had a big roster to choose from.”

The pieces include a roving troupe of stilt-dancers, a colourful concert, a ghostly dance performance, an introspective light sculpture, a nostalgic film screening and an attempt to break the record for Canada’s longest continuous drag show. Much of the work is immersive, which speaks to a wider trend among this year’s event lineup.

“I would say we have more interactive events,” Tittlemier says, adding immersion is an effective way to endear a general audience to contemporary art. “Sometimes people have a preconceived notion of what it is … but after people attend they’re like, ‘Hey, I really liked that, it was accessible.’

“And I think those interactive pieces that people can participate in help them feel included.”

Partygoers are encouraged to walk, bike and use public transportation to travel between venues. The Winnipeg Trolley Company will be offering free rides between the Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq, the Exchange and St. Boniface. Free river boat trips will also be available courtesy of Winnipeg Waterways.

Visit nuitblanchewinnipeg.ca for more information and a full list of events.

eva.wasney@winnipegfreepress.com

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