Tag Archives: haus of dada
March 29, 2019 Spoonie in The Haus
I haven’t written much lately, mostly because I’ve been in an Ehlers-Danlos Sydrome flare up that is using all my physical emotional and spiritual energy for the basics of living. The spoon theory is that folx with certain illness have a finite amount of spoonfuls of energy in a day. I feel like right now I might have ten spoonfuls in a day. One is used for getting up, three to shower, two to dress and two preparing a beverage. Then I have two left for the day. And that is a hard boundary. There are no reserves at all. Most days that means forfeiting the shower or the fresh clothes so I can type some information or do a few minutes of creative work. Or if I am able to eat solid food, to prepare some cereal or toast. My executive functioning is very low so I can’t execute things with any steps. I get lost in the steps and often get overwhelmed which leads to system panic or overload which includes being unable to stand with incredible nausea. This state of being is so challenging: I am often struggling for breath, my large muscles will start to spasm, my throat seizes up and then I can’t quite remember who I am or what I am doing. I basically sit or lie and wait for friends to come in and help out. Luckily I can still make stuff. Gifs instead of short films, or photos instead of videos.
I started teaching my Performance Art Salon via video conferencing and shooting from the floor. Anything to keep creative work flowing with the very limited amount of bandwidth available. I have been able to leave the house about twice a month with the help of a buddy. I look forward to this changing soon.
This flare up will flare down and I will have more spoons and energy available. I just wanted to say there is a Spoonie at the Haus of Dada. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoon_theory
Lisa is pictured posing with bracing, compression and other items that help in a flare-up.
Tags: canadianartist, EDS, ehlers danlos syndrome, haus of dada, lisaanitawegner, spoons
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- Posted under art therapy, Canadian Art, Spoonie
September 1, 2016 Canadian Performer Refuses To Show Face
In Toronto Canada, an arrogant performance artist declares themself amazing while refusing to show any facial expression.
When we reached out to the haus of dada for comment we received the following message in German via telegraph from curator Fritz Snitz. “Thin(k) Blank Human only does private performances for close friends, artists and cherished audience members and is not interested in speaking with you peoples.” -Ritzy Fritzy
Artist Would Rather Give Ownership of Her Work to Those Who Inspire, Than Those Who Can Pay.
Performance Artist’s Perceived Gender Affects Audience Reaction
Tags: art installation, art therapy, Canadian Art, dada, haus of dada, performance art, performance artist, Toronto, trauma therapy
August 12, 2016 we weren’t complete yet
Akhilanda Collaborative is a new creative collective based in Toronto Canada. It began with a circus and film collaboration for MASHUP, a Hercinia Arts Collective Event curated by Kirsten Leila Edwards. Click the link to read the story of how “the way back home” came together and who is involved.
Read about the original collaboration for a Hercinia Art Party
Here is a teaser of “the way back home” Day of Delight performance shot and edited by Tarquin Richards.
“the way back home” at Dufferin Grove Day of Delight 2016 from Lisa Anita Wegner on Vimeo.
I felt a deep therapeutic need to continue to collaborate with this group. We truly are more than the sum of our parts. When we decided to move ahead we were stuck for an organization name. It was because we were missing someone. As well as Ashley Hurlock, Tamara Arenovich, Lisa Anita Wegner and Ray Cammaert we added Mary-Margaret Scrimger. Here she is below.
And then we were complete. We immediately started a steady stream of creative projects. Live performances, large scale art installations and films. For me this is the ideal addition to my therapeutic art practise. A group who is creatively open, nurturing and understands the emotional landscape. This is work that heals me.
portrait of mary-margaret from Lisa Anita Wegner on Vimeo.
I wanted to post some teaser images and a video study from our blue screen shoot of the other day. Projects will be announced here and on our Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/AkhilandaCollaborative/?fref=ts
the universe in her underpants from Lisa Anita Wegner on Vimeo.
I’ll write more soon and share more about our process. I’ll also write a little about the Goddess Akhilanda. Here are a few more images of what we are up to.
Lisa Anita Wegner
Akhilanda Collaborative
Mighty Brave Productions
haus of dada.
Tags: akhilanda, art, art therapy, Canadian Art, collaborative, creative organizations, dada, haus of dada, lisa anita wegner, performance art, performance artist, ptsd, Toronto, trauma therapy
September 29, 2015 BEING: inside the glacier. Performing GLACIOLOGY with Anandam Dance Theatre
Using the movement of glaciers across landscapes as an entry point, this piece explores states of density, collaboration, collapse, overpopulation, relocation, disruption, environmental tipping points, disappeared people, mass graves, icebergs, and melting ice caps. Glaciology combines site specific performance with human sculpture and choreographic installation to create a surreal, constantly shifting image of bodies as landscape and simultaneously as capsules of history and memory; both human and geological.
http://www.scotiabanknuitblanche.ca/project.html?project_id=1568
Choreography: Brandy Leary
Sonic Designer/Composition: James Bunton
Tags: anandam dance theatre, art installation, brandy leary, Canadian Art, canadian artist, christine shaw, glaciology, haus of dada, human glacier, human sculpture, jen goodwin, lisa anita wegner, performance art, public art event, Scotiabank Nuit Blanche
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- Posted under art installation ideas, art therapy
April 16, 2015 An Open Letter to Lady Gaga: from my haus to yours
Lisa Anita Wegner
Dear Gaga,
My name is Lisa and I am a filmmaker, performance artist, curator, storyteller, light bender and space/time traveller. You inspire me tremendously, and I am writing to express my appreciation for what you have sparked in my work, beginning with Queen of the Parade, my first large-scale performance/fashion/video installation and the work that put me on the map as an artist.
Rise and Fall of The Queen of Jupiter 2016
In 2008, I had hit hard times – I lost my film production company, all my savings, my heart and my mind. I collapsed getting to the Cannes Film Festival in 2008 and spent the next two years largely unable to function. In the Trauma Therapy Department of Women’s College Hospital, I found art therapy. I started a daily art-making practice that saved my life. I had gone offline and expressing myself in art and video was my lifeline, my communication with the outside world.
I remember the exact moment the idea for Queen of the Parade was born: I was walking my dogs and listening to “Marry The Night” after I had been binging on the BBC Series My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. (I am obsessed with the gloriousness of Gypsy Fashion.)
That night, hearing your lyrics, “I won’t give up on my life/I’m a soldier to my own emptiness/I’m a winner,” affected me profoundly, and set something inside me aflame. In a flash, I pictured myself as an enormous woman in a huge dress with a video screen on the front, with your song resounding in my head. I rushed home and wrote everything down in a crazy, inspired burst. This was the first step toward the 26-foot installation that was part of Toronto’s Nuit Blanche in 2013; during the event itself, I listened to “Marry The Night” on repeat with ear buds while I was twenty feet in the air.
This led to my first commission by Partners in Art, who commissioned a gallery-sized 10-foot Queen. This was a terrific experience that enabled to connect more directly with the audience, and I didn’t want the performance to ever end.
Something was awakened in me and this led to a whole body of work of experimenting on and off the space/ time continuum and speeding up and stretching out moments. I could finally breathe; I felt like I had come alive.
My new performing persona Think(k) Blank Human was born the following Nuit Blanche in Toronto as part of my installation TRIANGLE. I found comfort in her skin, and really came out of myself as a performer.
In 2016, I will be creating The Fall and Rise of The Queen of Jupiter, which feels like the natural progression of my work. This time, I will be kicking off my high heels and putting on Thin(k) Blank Human’s space boots, and I shall rise from a pile of fabric into a 40 foot Alien Queen. Instead of strutting, I will run and dance.
This performance piece will run 33 minutes and I would love permission to use extended versions of “Marry The Night,” “ARTPOP” and “Applause” as the soundtrack for the ascension.
I am approaching Thelma Madine, the Gypsy dressmaker from the series, to design the Queen of Jupiter’s Gown, and I would love to have permission to use those three songs.
This is my story of re-invention, and I feel like this is the first piece I’m presenting that is truly me. I’ve been searching for authenticity through artifice and I finally have landed on something. I feel extremely compelled toward this project. For women who have crashed and burned and for those of us who have gotten up, I feel it is our job to inspire others to get up and stand as tall as we can. You preach this every day, and this is one of the many reasons for my unbridled admiration.
Please let me know your thoughts me using your music for The Fall and Rise of The Queen of Jupiter in 2016.
An ocean of appreciation from my Haus to yours,
Lisa
Mighty Brave + Haus of Dada, Toronto
bosslady@mightybraveproductions.com
p.s. Thin(k) Blank Human did many a cover of Marry the Night, she was so inspired.
Tags: appreciation, art installation, haus of dada, haus of gaga, inspiration, lady gaga, lisa anita wegner, marry the night, mother monster, queen of jupiter, Queen of the Parade, thelma madine, thin(k) blank human, trauma therapy
January 17, 2015 Toronto Artist Shocked When Asked to Prepare Stadium Performance by Mentor.
Lisa Anita Wegner is a filmmaker, producer, curator and performer who is accustomed to working in small local art galleries and screening venues in Toronto Canada. Working with established curator Patrick MacCauley, Wegner got a taste of working large-scale when she was the 26 foot tall Queen of the Parade in front of an enormous audience for Scotiabank’s 2013 Nuit Blanche.
This led to several seasons working with performance in multi media environments, exploring soundscapes as well as video. In 2014 Wegner played a lead role in a scripted film, her first in six years, acting as the Caucasian Agent in Will Kwan’s http://www.reelasian.com/festival-events/if-all-you-have-is-a-hammer-everything-looks-like-a-nail/ commissioned by Reel Asian International Film Festival. She brought her team back to create a Ten Foot Queen of the Parade the Partners in Art Annual Fundraiser, which Wegner says felt like her coming out party, meeting the Toronto Art World.
“Follow that swagger and dream a breakout show. I can see a collaboration. There might be an opportunity soon, and I’d work with to bring it to life.”
Wegner and her team are currently preparing to lift the curtain and to prepare the world to meet Thin(k) Blank Human Faceless RockStar. Lisa Anita Wegner wants to make her mentor proud.
-Fritz Snitz for Haus of Dada *The Fictitious History of the Haus of Dada* 2015
Another project from the Haus : Lisa Anita Wegner collaborating with a five year old artist on TARGET:
Tags: art gallery, artrageous in motion, Gallery1313, haus of dada, large scale art installation, lisa anita wegner, mentorship, partners in art, patrick maccauley, performance art, Queen of the Parade, reel asian film festival, the black cat, therapy art, thin(k) blank human, think blank human, Toronto Canada, Trauma Therapy Art, will kwan
November 13, 2014 (We Could Belong Together: Looking for) Tiny Art and A Tall Thin Man.
Call for Submissions: GALLERY1313 (http://g1313.org)
Lisa Anita Wegner, who has always loved unexpected sizing, is looking for extremely small art of any medium for TINY: a group exhibit which will on display for a month entirely in the Windowbox at 1313 Queen Street West. Please submit a jpeg with dimensions or the existing or proposed pieces.Call for Performance Artists HAUS OF DADA: (www.mightybraveproductions.com)
Looking for a tall (6’2”+) slim male performer to perform with Thin Blank Human. Send us a picture, your height and performing experience.
http://lisaismightybrave.com/2014/10/31/performance-artists-perceived-gender-affects-audience-reaction/
Please contact Matthew or Patrick at hausofdadatoronto@gmail.com with TINY or THIN BLANK HUMAN as the subject line.
Tags: curator, gallery 1313, haus of dada, lisa anita wegner, small, tall thin man, tiny art, unexpected
