Join us in celebrating the virtual launch of Digital Carnival Z with a traditional welcome from Elder Cecilia Point and a live performance by Montreal-based creative coder, engineer, thinker, poet, and performer Kofi Oduro (Illestpreacha).

Cinevolution’s annual flagship event, Digital Carnival is a festival of cutting-edge media art for community and artistic audiences of all ages. This year's theme of Z references the gender-neutral pronoun ‘zie,’ the emergent generation-Z, and the possibilities for moving beyond the XX/XY binary.

Headlined by UNION by Featured Artists Nancy Lee 李南屏 and Kiran Bhumber ਕਿਰਨਦੀਪ ਕੌਰ ਭੰਬਰ, the festival highlights 16 boundary-defying artists who are exploring different ways of understanding the relationship between bodies, gestures, culture and society.

Setting the stage for the festival, Illestpreacha's performance is part of "Digital Exploration of the Expansion," a work of speculative fiction presented through live coding, creative coding, and other mediums that explore how the body can be reimagined.

From April 21 - June 5, Digital Carnival Z will feature art, performances and talks by Natasha “Courage” Bacchus, Kiran Bhumber ਕਿਰਨਦੀਪ ਕੌਰ ਭੰਬਰ, Lena Chen, Margaret Dragu and Justine A. Chambers, Mallory Donen, Robin Gaudreau/Rye, Gina Goico, Romi Kim/Skim, Nancy Lee 李南屏, Danielle Mackenzie Long, Mickey L.D. Morgan, Kofi Oduro (Illestpreacha), Cecilia Point, Angelic Proof, Juli Saragosa, and Sarah Shamash.

Come to the festival launch for a chance to meet the artists and join us in raising a glass to these bold voices #BeyondtheBinaries.

For more information, or to explore the festival, visit www.DigitalCarnival.ca.

[Image Description: A stylized collage characterized by the interplay of light and shadows, and symbolic motifs: candles, crows, the crook of an elbow, a hand lighting a candle, hands raised as if in prayer, a woman with a walker moving down a long lonely hallway. Two women, one Black, one White, facing one another, their bodies taut with tension. Most of the images are shadowy and indistinct. Central to the collage are two overlapping images of two femme presenting individuals. On the left, they are leaning towards one another with downcast eyes. On the right, one figure is nestled against the other, eyes closed as if in repose. Only their faces are visible.]

About the Artists

A member of the Musqueam Nation, Cecilia Point is a political activist who stood for 200 plus days protecting her nation’s ancestral burial site from development in 2012. Since then she has taken part in countless political actions advocating for human rights and the environment. Cecilia has also dedicated many years to cultural preservation in the field of Aboriginal cultural and eco tourism. She currently holds the position of Director of Finance and Administration for the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada. She is a facilitator for reconciliation workshops with the Bright New Day organization, and has been designated a public speaker for her nation. She holds a Certificate in Business from UBC, supplemented with courses in First Nations studies, including hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ (the Musqueam language).

Kofi Oduro (Illestpreacha) is a creative coder, creative engineer, thinker, poet, and performer based in Montreal. Kofi describes his art practices as "an observation of the world around us that I then put into artworks for others to relate to or disagree with. Through Videography, Poetry and Creative Coding, I try to highlight the realms of the human performance and the human mind in different scenarios. These situations which we face in our everyday lives can be described as social, internal, or even biological. Adding music and visuals often helps to perceive one's own feelings, and to highlight the different subtleties that make us human. With a dose of technology, there is an endless range of progress in the human creative endeavours.”

Accessibility

ASL interpretation, descriptive language, and automated captions in English will be provided throughout the event. The event will be recorded, and an English transcript will be made available with the recording after the event.

Cinevolution understands that access needs are different for everyone and that these needs can also change every day. We will do our best to accommodate your needs before you even attend our programming. However, if there are additional accessibility needs, we will try our best to accommodate.

For more information or specific requests, or to register for the event by email or phone, please contact Regan Shrumm, our Accessibility Coordinator, at 250-896-8266 or regan@cinevolutionmedia.com.

Team Credits

Festival Team: Deanne Achong, Yun-Jou Chang, Lynn Chen, I-Chen Hsu, Gunwoo Kim, Minah Lee, Wynne Palmer, Tyler Russell, Regan Shrumm, Iver Smith, Jian Ping Su, Jenniffer Tai, Ying Wang, Melody Wise

Consultants: Carmen Papalia, Ladan Sahraei

Access Partners: ASL Interpretation Inc., Kudoz, Island Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Superior Description Services, VocalEye, Wavefront Centre for Accessible Communications

Acknowledgements

Digital Carnival Z is made possible with generous support from the Government of Canada, Canada Media Fund, TD Ready Commitment, BC Arts Council, the City of Richmond, and the City of Vancouver.

Richmond Art Gallery is the Exhibition Partner for the Featured Artist Exhibition, UNION by Nancy Lee 李南屏 and Kiran Bhumber ਕਿਰਨਦੀਪ ਕੌਰ ਭੰਬਰ.