Bringing home hardware

Exhibition examines the bonds we make with humanoid objects

For the past few years, Winnipeg visual artist Emilie St-Hilaire has been fascinated by the way humans relate to artificial bodies — dolls, robots, mannequins — through play, care and connection, and how those synthetic relationships can produce very real emotions in humans.

Objects of Fidelity: Barbies, bots, bébés, her solo exhibition on view now at La Maison des artistes visuels francophones, explores this space between object and companion. It’s what she calls the “visual culmination” of work that began with her 2024 PhD dissertation at Concordia University in Montreal, which examined Reborn Dolls — hyper-realistic art dolls that resemble newborns — from a feminist perspective.

But when a robot included in the exhibition started malfunctioning and giving signs that it was at the end of its life, St-Hilaire was given a new question to puzzle: what does it mean for a robot, or any other artificial body, to “die”?

To understand that, one must first understand how these human attachments to humanlike objects form in the first place.

Banjo Bowl a big deal for new and returning faces

Kenneth Womack never doubted this day would come.

For all of the twists and turns along this journey, Womack believed in himself and the work he’s been putting in on the road to becoming a professional football player.

So, as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers receiver gets set to make his CFL on Saturday afternoon against the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Banjo Bowl, you can be sure he’s going to take a moment to savour the experience while doing his best to make it feel like any other game he’s played previously.

“Once I run out the tunnel, it’s all going to sink in,” Womack said after Friday’s walkthrough.

The plane truth about a dangerous president

U.S. President Donald Trump has crossed firmly into cutting-off-your-nose-to-spite-your-face territory.

U of M students call for ban on far-right group

Some University of Manitoba students are calling on their school to ban a far-right group from campus after posters promoting mass deportations were found during the summer break.

More than 50 people rallied on Wednesday, the first day of classes, to make known their concerns about a group called the Dominion Society of Canada.

The protest was organized after a supporter of the self-described nationalist group posted a video over the Labour Day weekend that shows him putting up flyers in Fort Garry.

“Canada is a really beautiful country and I have been welcomed here by a lot of beautiful people and it’s been amazing, but when I see harmful rhetoric online and now, on campus, it gives me a lot of anxiety,” said Ela Ancheta, an arts major at U of M.

‘Dynacare sucks’: premier muses about bringing lab services back into public system

Premier Wab Kinew says Manitoba may bring Dynacare’s diagnostic lab services back into the public system rather than continue to sign contracts with the for-profit company.

“Dynacare sucks. They’ve made an absolute mess of this situation,” the premier said Wednesday, the day the company’s 350 employees reported back to work after the labour board halted their strike after just one day.

Kinew first made the remark about Dynacare in a CBC radio interview Wednesday morning and added he is “not happy with them.”

Dynacare performs the majority of non-emergency blood and urine tests in the province.

Ferraro, Skinner getting lay of the land before training camp starts

They’ve both been around the NHL block a bit, but make no mistake, Stuart Skinner and Mario Ferraro are experiencing some “new kid at school” type jitters this week.

The pair were prized July 1 free agent signings by the Winnipeg Jets and are now quickly trying to get the lay of the land — from teammates and systems and structure to restaurants, schools and the best routes to the rink — in what is a frantic time on both a professional and personal level.

“It’s a big change, right?” Ferraro said Wednesday following a pre-training camp skate at the Hockey For All Centre.

“Like moving cities, getting settled somewhere else, with my family, my wife, my daughter, our two dogs. But I think it’s gone really well and smooth. We found a great place here, and we’re really happy with where we’re living.”