Gateshead International
Festival of Theatre
Fri 2 - Sat 3 May | Open within Library Opening Hours | Gateshead Central Library Gallery
IN A STRANGE PLACE
By MIA + ERIC
Place of Origin: Canada
About
​
​In a Strange Place is a meditative 9-channel video installation and social engagement project that delves into the future of our forests and those who care for them. Born out of a multi-year, international research and engagement process with communities, In a Strange Place features 150 foresters, ecologists, activists, conservationists and land keepers from England, Germany, Norway, and Canada performing abstract, slow-motion gestures in the woods. These improvised choreographies are reflections of the participant’s care work, their connection to their local forest, and their role in an uncertain multi-species future.
The aim of In a Strange Place is to translate the complex knowledge and expertise of forest caretakers into emotional and visual gestures for a non-science audience. Showing forest work as an embodied practice, each video—a type of slow portraiture—captures the forest workers waist up and wearing handmade masks of imagined future forest creatures.
Exhibition runs: Sat 26 Apr - Mon 23 Jun
Time: Drop in during building opening hours
Opening event: Sat 3 May | 10.30am - 12 midday
Duration: 2 hours and 4 minutes
Age guidance: 14+
Access Considerations: Wheelchair accessible, relaxed performance
Venue: Gateshead Library, Prince Consort Road,
Gateshead, NE8 4LN
In a Strange Place is a video installation that plays on a continuous loop. Audiences are welcome to come and go at their own pace.
Artist biographies
​
Mia & Eric are an award winning interdisciplinary artist team from Calgary, Canada. They bring together elements of craft, performance, and multi-species ethnography to create site-specific and socially-engaged art works. They have presented works about ecology and biodiversity internationally.
​
Credits
Videographer: Benjamin Hotz
Sound Design: Kris Demeanor
Collaborative Producers: Maíra Wiener, Jenna Winter
Artistic Assistants: Maíra Wiener, Rachel Rose
Indigenous Relations Coordinator: Pam Beebe
Supporters
In a Strange Place was originally commissioned by Matchbox (Germany), Gateshead International Festival of Theatre (England), and Arctic Arts Festival (Norway).
