Bang Goes the Cosmic Canoe! 

Join us for a Live Performance and Multimedia art installation by the LA LA Art Collective (Tina Lam and Mark Andrews).

Tina and Mark have been Nonesuch Artists in Residence since late July 2022 and will be sharing their work with the public on 3 September, 2022 from 6 – 8pm in the Main & Station secondfloor Gallery at 168 Main St, Parrsboro (the old Post Office).

Reception: Saturday, 3 September, 2022 from 6-8 PM

Bang Goes the Cosmic Canoe! explores spiritual and mythic instances of celestial navigation in the Universe and the challenge to physical and philosophical Cosmology in grappling with what “happens” or what “is” as time is extrapolated backwards to zero. “Bang” refers to the Big Bang Theory, popularized in the Nobel Prize-winning work of Wilson and Penzias, and satirized in the long-running television sit-com, The Big Bang Theory.

Tina sediments the instance of the Cosmic Canoe in her sculptural work. The Canoe comes to Earth among two large multimedia works by Mark. He will read from his inaugural prose-poem one-act play, which is the title of the exhibition and performance. Listeners will be treated to a spiritual smorgasbord of “paddler god” scenes (stories) that begin with a poetic narration of the geological origins of the Minas Basin and the launching of “three old canoes” into the Fundy waters. Many of the scenes will be accompanied by human-audible sounds of the Universe and a selection of planets, moons and extraterrestrial objects. The sounds are courtesy of the European Space Agency and NASA. Tina will interpret Bang Goes the Cosmic Canoe! as a live performance.

Mark Andrews is an artist, scientist and writer who lives in Montreal. He creates large scale multi media works exclusively on paper. His works often concern the evanescence of voice, the transformation of Place and the mutability of identity. These subjects are resolved in transcultural Place-Naming stories, burial mounds, geoglyphs, mourning rituals, star maps, documentation of archaeological sites, skeletal remains of spirit creatures, and illustrations derived from origin stories.

Tina Lam is an artist-scientist-wanderer who creates sculptures, land-art interventions and multimedia installations. Growing up culturally uprooted, she has been pondering about what it means to exist, to belong, in a universe teaming with primordial, interconnected forces. Her work explores notions of transformation – both physical and metaphorical – and cosmology through the relationship between the human and the beyond-human; the melding of the personal with the scientific, the industrial with the natural, the mind with the body.

SCROLL DOWN or SEE HERE https://hmsnonesuch.com/papier-mache-workshop-create-a-spirit-mask-to-accompany-the-cosmic-canoe/ to find out how your work could be part of this show!

Papier-Mache workshop: Create a spirit mask to accompany the Cosmic Canoe

WHEN: Saturday, 27 August, 10am – 12 pm 

WHERE: The Nonesuch Centre (the former United Church), 171 Queen Street, Parrsboro 

COURSE FEE: By Donation

REGISTRATION: To sign up email [email protected]

As far back as 200 BCE in China, human beings have been creating sculptural objects through the technique of papier-mache. That technique of using simple means – paper, fabric or fibers mixed into glue, flour or rice paste – has endured throughout history, from across continents in Eurasia to South America, and continues today to be used to create art and craft objects.

A common thread that unites human beings across civilizations is the creation of ceremonial masks for special occasions and celebrations. Human beings have mused about the afterlife and a desire to commune with the realm of spirits since time immemorial. In some cultures, ceremonial masks are believed to act as mediators between the human and the spiritual world.

In this workshop, you will learn how to create a mask made using the traditional technique of papier-mache and common household objects.

More specifically, in anticipation of the upcoming collaborative art exhibition, Bang Goes the Cosmic Canoe! by LA LA Art (Tina Lam and Mark Andrews), you will have the chance to donate a “spirit mask” of your creation to be integrated into a larger sculptural installation on view starting September 3rd, 2022.

The installation will be held at the Main and Station secondfloor Gallery (2nd Floor of the old Customs and Post Office Building). An opening reception with live performance will take place from 6-8PM, Saturday September 3rd in presence of the artists. See here for more information…https://hmsnonesuch.com/2022/08/24/bang-goes-the-cosmic-canoe/