Debaser's PIQUE Returns for a Winter Edition at Arts Court and Ottawa Art Gallery

PIQUE poster by @mouthoftiger, original wordmark typeface created by Moritz Esch

Here to heat up December’s frost is PIQUE – back once again at Arts Court and the Ottawa Art Gallery.

The winter edition of PIQUE, a forward-thinking artist-driven music and multimedia arts event series produced by Debaser, offers live performances, in-person and online screenings, movement, installations and performance art. The multi-level building-wide arts event and digital program takes place December 4th, 2021 in-person in and around the Arts Court and Ottawa Art Gallery.

PIQUE’s third edition will feature live music performances and DJ sets, sound art installations, an in-person and online screening program of audio-visual works curated by cross-country co-presenters, performance art and original movement. PIQUE is produced by Debaser, Ottawa’s leading independent and underground music presenter.

PIQUE poster by @mouthoftiger, original wordmark typeface created by Moritz Esch

PIQUE is experimental in form and content. Its third edition features:

Photo courtesy of Debaser

Immersive sonic and visual live experience with Jerusalem in my Heart; a forging of modern experimental Arabic music wed to hand-made visuals using analog 16mm film

Photo courtesy of Ayla Hibri

Live performance by experimental Egyptian vocalist, producer and sound artist Nadah El Shazly, with visuals by Pansee Atta (visuals curated by Amin Alsaden)

Photo courtesy of Paddington Scott

Photo courtesy of Debaser

Live modular synth performance by Tkarón:to-via-Seoul based producer and DJ Korea Town Acid, with visuals by local psychedelic analog artist Hard Science

Photo courtesy of Debaser

Live performance by Tkarón:to-based psychedelic rock band Mother Tongues

Photo courtesy of Debaser

Live performance by Tkarón:to-based queer Black electronic producer & singer-songwriter shn shn

Photo courtesy of Debaser

Photo courtesy of Debaser

‘dahan, dahan’ – a meditative sound installation created by discs of ice melting onto amplified metal sculptures by multimedia artist April Aliermo (PHÈDRE) in collaboration with Kat Estacio (Pantayo) and Kristina Guison

Photo courtesy of Debaser

A danceable, beat driven live electronic performance by Tkarón:to-based act PHÈDRE, with visuals by local psychedelic analog artist Hard Science

Photo courtesy of Debaser

The first live performance in four years by local art-pop band Pony Girl

Photo courtesy of Debaser

Live performance by Tkarón:to-based pianist, composer, and singer Morgan-Paige, whose work blends contemporary, lo-fi genres with western-romanticism musical nuances, spoken word, vocals and projected visuals

Photo courtesy of Debaser

Live improvised set by experimental electronic musician Liliane Chlela

Photo courtesy of Debaser

Live ambient electronic drone performance by Kat Estacio (Pantayo)

Photo courtesy of Debaser

Live music and performance art by local pianist Stephen Eckert, performing with piano prepared with electronics

Photo courtesy of Debaser

Live set by local electro pop producer and singer-songwriter ISØBEL

Photo courtesy of Debaser

DJ mix by local free-form DJ and producer Osita

Photo courtesy of Debaser

Movement by contemporary dancer and surreal ‘mad artist’ amelia rose griffin in collaboration with Ottawa Dance Directive (ODD).

Photo courtesy of Gary Franks

Guest curation by Amin Alsaden (DARC), a curator, scholar, and educator whose work envisions novel spatial responses to questions of displacement, exile, and belonging, and whose research explores modern and contemporary art and architecture in the Global South

Photo courtesy of Debaser

Light and projection installation “Bathed in that twilight gold” and performance by Nigerian-Canadian visual artist Kosisochukwu Nnebe (curated by Amin Alsaden)

Photo courtesy of Kamryn Cusumano

Jude Abu Zaineh explores the soft power of food for diasporic communities with a precarious connection to ancestral homelands with Ingesting Home. Comprising a performance, screening, and dinner gathering hosted by the artist, Ingesting Home convenes guests around Palestinian food, poetry, and folk stories (Ccrated by Amin Alsaden)

Photo courtesy of Katherine Takpannie

Photo courtesy of Claudia Mock

Photo courtesy of Debaser

The event also features in-person and online screenings of audio-visual works curated from the 2021 programs of co-presenters: EVERYSEEKER, Suoni Per Il Popolo, Sled Island, Long Winter, and from Debaser’s own archives:

• Silla and Rise live from Club SAW for the Many Moons Concert Series (Debaser)

• KMRU (Suoni Per Il Popolo)

• Amy Nelson live at the Central United Church (Sled Island)

PIQUE is produced in partnership with SAW, Ottawa Art Gallery, Wall Sound, Artengine, DAÏMÔN, Digital Arts Resource Centre, Firegrove Studio, Le Seltzer, Dominion City Brewing Co, Also Cool, Ottawa Fringe, Ottawa Dance Directive, CKCU FM, CHUO FM, Apt613, EVERYSEEKER, Suoni Per Il Popolo, Long Winter, and Sled Island, and is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Canadian Heritage, City of Ottawa, SOCAN Foundation, and FACTOR.

Tickets are pay-what-you-can, with a suggested donation of $30-$50. Tickets are on sale now on Eventbrite.

Information on COVID-19 policy, accessibility and more is available at the Eventbrite link above. For all other inquiries, please contact Rachel Weldon at hello@debaser.ca. For participating artists’ images and biographies, visit here.

Check out the full schedule for PIQUE’s winter edition below!

Debaser

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Related Articles

LSD: Montreal's Intersectional Lesbian Speed Dating Event

Poster by Char Bataille

Carmen Colas (they/them) is the founder of LSD, Montreal's Lesbian Speed Dating event series. LSD is in its third year now, and while previous events have been held at NDQ, this edition will be held online on August 28th.

Carmen is a 30-year-old, mixed-race (White/Black/Indigenous), DJ, musician, event promoter, radio host, and writer. They are a self-described, "Chronically ill, trauma baby, and quintuple Cancer/Leo cusp." Carmen strives to promote healing and space for the people who have struggled to exist within the lesbian community. We caught up with them to chat about lesbian and queer culture, and connecting with community.

CW: Trauma related to homophobia

Poster by Char Bataille

Malaika for Also Cool: How did LSD start? What inspired you, and what do you hope the event offers the community?

Carmen: Lesbian Speed Dating came from a very charged momentum, which is more relevant than ever in these current pandemic times and social justice evolution climate.

How does one respect the legacy of history and individual identity while welcoming change, struggle, fluidity and room for exploration? How does one expand on the narrative that has been very one-dimensional and reductive for many, without erasing a very valid and singular experience? How do you create a lesbian space that goes beyond the white cis golden star narrative? How do you create a lesbian space with room for those who have no experience, or who have been confused/rejected/unsafe to come out or insecure and struggling to embody their truth?

How do you create space for trans women attempting to exist in lesbian spaces for the first time, and who come accompanied by a myriad of valid and complex fears? How do you create a lesbian space that acknowledges that many trans men have held a deep connection to lesbian spaces for many years, but who no longer feel relevant or welcome in these spaces now? How do you create a lesbian space that acknowledges that lesbians from previous generations don’t have anywhere to go to meet people and feel too old and too dated to exist in current lesbian spaces? How do you create a space for older lesbians who spent many years existing in lesbian bars and now struggle to find platforms to exist in, now that lesbian bars have become obsolete? Especially since some don’t necessarily have the knowledge and tools to comprehend the concept of trans and non-binary identity.

How do you create a lesbian space while acknowledging the disposability culture and compulsory hyper-sexualization of our community? How do you create a lesbian space while acknowledging fatphobia, ableism without having experienced these issues yourself?

These were all important questions that existed within me for many years. My experience with coming to terms with my identity was very non-linear. It was laced with racial, gender, sexual, emotional, and physical traumas.

Being able to fully embody your identity comes with a lot of barriers and challenges. Whether there are cultural barriers, like coming from a culture that does not accept homosexuality and remaining closeted to save your own life. It can be societal where you are born into a society that does not teach you that being gay, non-binary, and/or trans are real options for you. Or when your gender and sexuality are not yours to have, that an agenda is expected from you.

Rejecting people who have been through some heavy stuff to get to a point where they can be their best / full / honest selves — is violent. The whole purpose of this event is to make room for this journey that most of us go through as queers. The gruelling moment when you realize that society was not made for you and does not think about you when it embodies its structures. The feeling that certain labels don’t serve you and instead conditioning you to feeling inadequate, ostracized and imperfect.

I fought very hard to say the word lesbian out loud while talking about myself. I’ve been attacked, rejected from my family, have suffered gay interventions at school or via my parents, ridiculed, shamed for my compulsory heterosexuality, sexually assaulted by cis men and called a tease. I've been very depressed from not satisfying my true needs and identities. I've been punished by lesbian spaces for not having had the luxury of being a lesbian at a very young age, and for not having the experiences that many lesbians have until much later in life.

If we’re going to grow as a community, we need to acknowledge the global lesbian experience. We need to acknowledge heteronormativity, the patriarchy, violence, transphobia, homophobia, and cisnormativity. We need to acknowledge white supremacy, xenophobia, white privilege. We need to acknowledge fatphobia, ableism, ageism and this permeating fear of fluidity and non-linear experience.

LESBIAN is a valid identity, and I do not wish to take this away from its history and general interpretation. I just think that a lot of us have suffered trying to exist within this community without feeling like a failure. This is where my motivation came from. If I had the opportunity to exist in a platform like this one, I could have thrived as a teenager. I might even be a gold star lesbian, who knows. But circumstance is a thing. Privilege is a thing. Timing is a thing. Fear for your life and wellbeing is a thing, and so are non-binary and trans lesbians!

As a human and a host, I have struggled with imposter syndrome due to my experiences and realities. This event has been healing for me in a big way. It hasn't always been a perfect journey, but I think there should be room for mistakes, growth, healing and coming to terms with a peculiar form of grief. Grief that comes from all those years you spent struggling and denying yourself from being your fullest, truest and best self.

Also Cool: What have your events been like in the past, and how are you adapting to this new age of digital event production? What can we expect from this online edition of LSD?

Carmen: In the past, the platform was in physical form, so it was very different indeed! Not for the faint of heart, people would have up to 20-50 dates in one night, of about 3-4 minutes long each. Sometimes the event was so crowded that we couldn’t get everyone to meet everyone, but it was a great excuse to fill up the queer bar with the right kinda people.

It has been an absolute chaotic joy to witness the variety of people coming through, and the variety of social skills, flirting approaches and styles. It has also been an immense pleasure to help out the shy lesbians who are terrified of existing in lesbian spaces. It has been one of my most rewarding experiences. Since the beginning of this event, there have been three weddings and proposals, which is also amazing to witness.

The adjustment to transitioning online has been weird and labour intensive. Trying to figure out and adjust to what people’s needs are in a pandemic setting, while trying to unpack our community’s traumas. I decided to use Facebook as a platform because it was the most “accessible,” in my mind. (As far as visually being able to adjust font sizes, being familiar with the format, being able to use it on a computer or phone, and preserving anonymity.)

My take was trying to offer ambiguous results without the shallow scope of disposability/vapidity and projections. What happens when you can’t judge a book by its cover, and can’t project what someone looks like because all you have is their mind? An interesting concept to attempt, in my opinion. We’ll just have to wait and see what it creates.

Poster by Sultana Bambino

AC: What would your advice be to the baby queers, who are too shy to go to LSD for the first time, but really want to try?

Carmen: This particular event is PERFECT for shy people since you are anonymous and hidden. The online messaging format is great for going over your words, thinking about your answers, taking in all the emotions in privacy without the pressure of immediacy or someone staring at you. You can experiment with your desires and feelings without the anxiety of bumping into them IRL, having mutual friends, or projecting insecurities about yourself onto someone else because you’re nervous.

This is your chance to just be yourself and pick brains with someone else in an anonymous, ambiguous and no-pressure way. Revealing yourself is your own choice, at your own pace, and within the realms of your consent.

AC: How is LSD breaking down negative stereotypes and behaviours within the lesbian community?

Carmen: Honestly, I’m just trying to offer a lesbian space that acknowledges non-linear journeys, struggles, and barriers. I want to promote the notion that you can be a lesbian with no experience at any age. That you can struggle to reach a point where you feel safe and good about being a lesbian. That you can be non-binary and be a lesbian, you can be trans and be a lesbian. That European standards of beauty do not define what being a lesbian looks like, and that being a lesbian is more than just being “femme” or “butch” That being a lesbian can mean being aromantic/asexual. That being a lesbian can be difficult as much as it can be easy. That lesbians can be disabled, fat, chronically ill, neurodivergent, immunocompromised, healing from trauma, grieving…

There are so many different types of people with different realities, perspectives, backgrounds, and journeys, who can be and are lesbians. There needs to be room for that. There needs to be dialogue around this as a community, so that we stop policing each other into shame and ostracizing each other. It's a very touchy, messy, complicated and layered work to do. I’ve learned a lot over these past three years. It hasn't always been perfect, but it's been extremely eye-opening and rewarding.

ALSO it would be RUDE and messed up to not acknowledge the work being done by so many platforms, festivals, and event series in Montreal alongside this event. Many people are doing this work as well, and I am not the first, last or only one doing it.

AC: What’s the best way to support LSD right now?

Carmen: The only support this event needs is community presence. I’ve always maintained this project with the hopes that it helps people connect. Whether that's falling in love, exploring their sexuality, making friends, finding community, or healing from their individual journeys that led them to take up space here and now.

An important step to upholding the values I seek to instil in this event, is to donate money to the LSD Night Blind Date Bonanza Fundraiser. The fundraiser will be redirected to Taking What We Need about a week after the event is over. You can make a personal donation or participate in this event, and your cover charge will be used as a donation. You can also purchase some pre-sale LSD Night Blind Date Bonanza tote bags and t-shirts (sizes small to XXXL)

LSD

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