Presented as part of the Nuit blanche à Montréal, The Left Space is a performance took place at the PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art, both in person and virtually. The Left Space was originally conceived as a commission for Toronto’s Art Gallery of Ontario, and premiered online in 2020. This marks the first time that The Left Space is performed in front of a physical audience.
Developed and choreographed for webcam and the grid formation of Zoom, The Left Space includes custom backdrops by graphic designer Jerome Harris, in front of which multiple choreographed sequences are performed by a group of dancers. Their movements are simultaneously conceived to be seen online, via livestream, and onsite at the PHI Foundation. Reaching out and signaling to one another through choreography, and engaging with protest slogans that are incorporated into each other’s changing backgrounds, the performers and audience question the potential of online platforms to re-create the social solidarity experienced at physical gatherings.
The custom backdrops use historically significant patterns to tell stories of power, camouflage, and resistance. Evoking a sense of urgency and emergency, “dazzle” patterns, which were painted on warships to intercept their target, are coupled with purple and magenta plaid, which at once symbolizes British colonial rule in Kenya, a warning to predators in the wild, and the flashing of police lights.
CREDITS
Originally commissioned by the Art Gallery of Ontario
Choreography in collaboration with Hit & Run Dance Productions
Sound by DJ Karsten Sollors
Graphic design in collaboration with Jerome Harris
Dancers
Justin de Luna
Jennifer Nichols
Sophie Qin
Kunal Ranchod
Anisa Tejpar