AT KOLAJ FEST NEW ORLEANS
Collage & Performance
Collage (and related forms) have shaped the creation of Mia van Leeuwen’s performance works since 2002. During this two part workshop at Kolaj Fest New Orleans, Mia van Leeuwen will present her work and how she brings collage into performance.
In part one, altering perspective, baring process, combining different forms, questioning representation, making strange, expressing the ineffable, fragmenting time, and juxtaposing imagery are principles that have informed the making of various projects. Van Leeuwen will share a slide presentation of her performance, Destroy She Said, and other performance works and discuss how they are shaped by collage. Her approach to research, dramaturgy and scenography will also be discussed. The presentation will be delivered in a collage fashion; combining performance, textual assemblage, imagery, video and sound. The artist will then lead participants in a series of exercises that are designed to use collage-based approaches to devise material for theatre or performance.
In part two, van Leeuwen will work with participants to create performances. THINGS-SPEAK is a process of improvisation grounded in free association, stream of consciousness techniques combined with movement and objects as a catalyst for creation. Performers, actors, dancers, movers, visual artists, musicians, writers or anyone interested in exploring creative acts are welcome. Participants will need to wear clothing they can move freely in and bring to the workshop a writing device, and a minimum of three found objects. Past object participants include: a yellow rubber glove, a box of cereal, a framed photograph, an umbrella, a pipe, a pair of bowling shoes, a tea-cup, a chess-set, a wig, a bust of Shakespeare, a bag of feathers. Participants who are interested are invited to reprise their improvisational performance at The Surrealist Salon on Saturday.
About Kolaj Fest New Orleans
Kolaj Fest New Orleans is a multi-day festival and symposium about contemporary collage and its role in art, culture, and society, July 10-14, 2019. Visit the website to learn more, see an overview of the program, and register to attend. Kolaj Fest New Orleans would not be possible without the support of Press Street, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, LeMieux Galleries, Mystic Krewe of Scissors and Glue, Antenna Gallery, Kolaj Magazine and Kasini House. Kolaj Fest New Orleans is made possible through a generous gift from Laurie and Doug Kanyer. WEBSITE
About Mia van Leeuwen
Collage (and related forms) have shaped the creation of Mia van Leeuwen’s performance works since 2002. Altering perspective, baring process, combining different forms, questioning representation, making strange, expressing the ineffable, fragmenting time, and juxtaposing imagery are principles that have informed the making of various projects; most recently Sapientia (Montreal 2019, Lethbridge 2018), Destroy She Said (Winnipeg 2018, Edmonton 2014), Postcolonial Postcards (Dalnavert Museum, Winnipeg 2017), and White Bread (Edmonton 2016, European Tour: Antwerp, Munich, Belgrade, Innsbruck 2014). Mia is also the co-artistic director of the Winnipeg-based devising company out of line theatre (founded in 2003) alongside Ian Mozdzen. Currently she is an Assistant Professor specializing in Movement and Devised Theatre in the Drama Department at the University of Lethbridge. Learn more about van Leeuwen on her website.
Photos by Leif Norman