Tag: Archer Pechawis

LAB #1: We Could Break Performance
A podcast by Vanessa Godden and James Knott

We Could Break Performance is a podcast hosted by artists Vanessa Godden and James Knott investigating the question: “How do we evaluate the substance of tropes enacted in performance art?”

Each episode of will We Could Break Performance will feature a local performance artist and ourselves in conversation, to help us tackle our dilemma and provide perspective on the values of performance art tropes that we may share or disagree on. Does performance go harder if the performer gets harmed? Or is that negligence in disguise. Is endurance awe-worthy? Or is it sometimes used to unpoetic ends? Does nudity really bare all? Perhaps by the end this series’ run, we could break performance.

Episode 1: Francisco-Fernando Granados
Episode 2: Archer Pechawis
Episode 3: Erika DeFreitas
Episode 4: Mikiki
Episode 5: Kiera Boult
Episode 6: James Knott & Vanessa Godden with Jordan Beley, Shalon Webber-Heffernan

Canada
https://apxo.net/

Archer Pechawis was born in Alert Bay, BC. He has been a practicing artist since 1984 with particular interest in the intersection of Plains Cree culture and digital technology, merging “traditional” objects such as hand drums with digital video and audio sampling. His work has been exhibited across Canada, internationally in Paris and Moscow, and featured in publications such as Fuse Magazine and Canadian Theatre Review. Archer has been the recipient of many Canada Council, BC Arts Council and Ontario Arts Council awards, and won the Best New Media Award at the 2007 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival and Best Experimental Short at imagineNATIVE in 2009.

Archer has worked extensively with Native youth since the start of his art practice, originally teaching juggling and theatre, and now digital media and performance. He is an Assistant Professor of Indigenous Performance at York University and a member of Mistawasis Nêhiyawak, Saskatchewan.

© Archer Pechawis, Memory_V2, 2010.

FADO is proud to present Talking to my Horse, a new performance by Vancouver-based First Nations artist Archer Pechawis. This work is presented as part of FADO’s ongoing Public Spaces / Private Places series.

Talking to my Horse is a meditation on two images: a wire service photo of American soldiers on horseback in Afghanistan, and a scene from Thomas Berger’s book, Little Big Man. In the book, Little Big Man’s horse tells him (in Cheyenne) of an imminent attack by General Custer. In this performance the Afghan horses speak to the American soldiers.

Pechawis writes generally of his work:

“My current fascination is what I call ‘transitional Cree culture’, the place where Cree culture meets the onrush of millennial technology. I explore this fascination in performance. Using digital technologies I attempt to locate and query this meeting place, however fleeting. My work is a temporary roadmap. These maps are signposts of the moment, which I create to share.”

In addition to the performance, FADO will host an artist talk on April 6 at 2:30pm in which Pechawis will discuss his work as well as providing information on current First Nations performance art practice in western Canada.

© Archer Pechawis, Talking to my Horse, 2002. Video still.