Craftsmanship

Nov 20, 2025
Field:

Rehearsal, Workshop

 Location:

Grand Luxe Hall, Western Front

 Time:

7:30 p.m.

Description:

Participating students and recent alumni from Emily Carr University of Art + Design shared insights developed in collaboration with visiting artist Itziar Okariz through Craftsmanship, a pair of workshops investigating performance both in its specificity and at the limits that define it.

Drawing from Okariz’s performance Dream Diary, which uses dreams as a score, the workshops combined practical exercises that explored the body as a sign and language in its positional and performative dimensions, alongside new proposals developed collaboratively. 

The participants were Parnian Anaa, Carol Diaz, Shelly Kositsky, Hyein Lee, Erin McCluskey, Luigi Puildo, Jude Zuniga Rodgers, Mathilde Rohr, and Kristy Zhou.

The open rehearsal revealed experiments, fragments, and performative sketches that offered a glimpse into the ideas and processes emerging from the workshops.

Presented in partnership with Libby Leshgold Gallery and Emily Carr University of Art + Design. This project was funded in part by the Government of Canada.

Seated among the audience, the performer Parnian Anaa flips and reads a page from her written dreams. She has her wavy hair styled in a bun, together with a purple sweater and skirt. As she reads, the audience's gaze is focused on different parts of the performance.
Four performers are carrying out different actions from the audience's perspective. At the center stands a performer, blindfolded by a colourful scarf. Her arms are stretched forty-five degrees forward. On the further side to the right, two of the performers sleep, mirroring each other. At the back, on the left side, one of the performers is side-sitting while her hand searches the ground.
Two performers are on the floor while the audience attentively watches. The blond performer, who’s wearing a beige outfit, is kneeling. Their hand rapidly moves to search for words that are written on thinly cut pieces of beige paper, scattered on the carpeted floor. Behind them lies the other performer, blindfolded and in a fetal position. Further back are the sound engineer, a camera operator, and two audience members watching the performance from an open door.
There are three performers behind cut pieces of beige paper that are scattered on the carpeted floor. Two of the performers are sleeping in a fetal position, where they mirror each other. One performer stands behind a microphone and sings, as if it were a lullaby for the sleeping performers. Their voice echoes through the two speakers on base stands that frame them.

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Captions:

Western Front is a non-profit artist-run centre in Vancouver.

We acknowledge the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations as traditional owners of the land upon which Western Front stands.

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