Launching a series of Art Educator Exchanges, this first fall session brings art educators together with art collective PA System who collaborate with youth in Kinngait in the ongoing collective project Embassy of Imagination. Through discussion around the group’s installation in the Biennial, the session traces collaborative learning methodologies as the collective shifts between urban and remote contexts. Participants are invited to engage directly with PA System’s exercises and processes to interrogate the role of collective artistic approaches in place-making, challenging expectations of youth-engaged art.
Image Credit: Embassy of Imagination, “Sinaaqpagiaqtuut/The Long-Cut,” 2019. Contributors: Embassy of Imagination 2019 participants, PA System, Ooloosie Ashevak, Mathew Nuqingaq, Jamasee Pitseolak, Pitseolak Pootoogook, Evie Kelly, Leah Mersky, Moises Frank, Brandon Webster, Parr Josephee, Cie Taqiasuk, Iqaluk Ainalik, Saaki Nuna, Moe Kelly, David Pudlat, Annie Oshutsiaq, Christine Adamie, Janine Manning, Kunu Pudlat, Aggiu Ashevak, Kevin Allooloo, Salomonie Ashoona, Natalie Baird x Jonny Lush and the Pang Photo Club. Photo: PA System.
Bio
Visual artists Alexa Hatanaka (born and lives in Toronto, ON, Canada) and Patrick Thompson (born in Chelsea, QC, Canada; lives in Toronto, ON, Canada) work under the collective name PA System. They exhibit their artwork in institutions worldwide, such as the Royal Ontario Museum, the Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona, the Canada House in London and the Art Gallery of Ontario. They have created public artwork across Canada and around the world. Leaders of Embassy of Imagination, Hatanaka and Thompson have worked on several visual art projects in the arctic for ten years. They have created well-loved murals in the hamlets of Igloolik, Cape Dorset, Iqaluit, and Hall Beach, as well as in the Northern Quebec towns of Kangiqsujuaq, Kuujjuaq and Inukjuak. They have facilitated youth projects at York University, the Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health, and the National Gallery.