Join us for a free multi-disciplinary art event on Wednesday, August 7th, 6:00 pm-8:30 pm. This three-part evening of hyperlocal programming features an aerial performance by Erika Lui, a community mural unveiling by Jackie Bradshaw and Nadine Badran, and a documentary film screening by Ben Gorodetsky.
We will begin the evening at Inter Arts Matrix (Globe Studios, 141 Whitney Place, Kitchener) at 6:00 p.m. and move as a group to Erika Lui’s performance, Refractions, located next to Schneider Creek. Following the performance, Jackie Bradshaw and Nadine Badran will formally unveil The Creek Collective Community Mural and invite attendees to look closely. As a group, we will return to Inter Arts Matrix for the second-ever screening of Ben Gorodetsky’s documentary, A Hole in the Ground. The film screening will be a hybrid event; you can join us at our studio or online.
Event Registration: seating is limited for the in-person portion of the film screening, please register in advance.
This event is presented in collaboration with the Creek Collective.
Refractions is a devised aerial performance piece by Erika Liu that animates the words and reflections captured in Geoff Martin’s surface/tension audio-walk about Schneider Creek. ‘Refraction’ is the shift in the pathway of light as it travels through a medium. Refractions seeks to explore and embody, from the perspective of the creek, the shifting feelings of tension, entanglement, compression and release that follow the history of the creek and the life flows through it.
ERIKA LUI (she/they) is an emerging aerialist, acrobatic movement artist and scientist currently based within the Haldimand Tract in Kitchener, Ontario. After completing a full-time training program at Aloft Circus Arts in Chicago, Erika began exploring movement through a lyrical, yet dynamic lens by combining aerial and acrobatic arts on aerial silks, in duo partner trapeze, and partner hand acrobatics, and on wall trampoline. They are interested in exploring how to manipulate different aerial apparatuses to create impactful visual effects for performative storytelling.
A Hole in the Ground is a documentary film set during the A Hole in the Ground Residency.
While the artists were responding to a 6’ deep, 3’ wide and 7’ long hole in Sandhills Park, Inter Arts Matrix invited filmmaker, Ben Gorodetsky to respond to the artists. Ben visited each artist on-site during their residencies, documenting their work, as well as their understanding of their work in the context of the larger "A Hole in the Ground" project. First screened in May 2024, we will now be screening Ben's documentary for the second time during this event.
BEN GORODETSKY (he/they) is a performance artist, improviser, filmmaker, storyteller, producer, writer, and arts educator based in Kitchener, ON. Originally from Vancouver, Ben began his improvised theatre work there in 2004 under the guidance of mentor Alistair Cook, and has since performed, directed, and taught improvisation in Toronto, Edmonton, Stratford, Vancouver, Montreal, LA, Austin, Detroit, Atlanta, NYC, Austria, Slovenia and the French island of Reunion (near Madagascar!). In 2010 Ben moved to Edmonton to pursue a BFA in Acting at the University of Alberta, where he also joined Rapid Fire Theatre. It was in Edmonton where Ben created his comedy duo Folk Lordz with Todd Houseman, and they've been delighting audiences with their mix of physical comedy and folk storytelling all over the world. Folk Lordz has also recently grown into an absurd, political, digital sketch series created with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, out now on YouTube.
The Creek Collective Community Mural is ready to be installed! Come see the two mural panels in their new home next to Schneider Creek. This community artwork was facilitated by Jackie Bradshaw and Nadine Badran.
JACKIE BRADSHAW (she/her) is a neurodivergent, multidisciplinary folk artist based on the Haldimand tract in downtown Kitchener. Her paintings emphasize the importance of nature preservation and rewilding with a mystical, anthropomorphic, animacy spin. They are colourful ways of communicating important topics while trying to bring joy to those who see them. She was part of the David Suzuki Art for Climate Justice program and has created a prolific amount of paintings which she travels vicariously through all over the world as she prefers to stay close to home.
NADINE BADRAN has been working in the arts in Waterloo region for over fifteen years. After studying Fine Arts at Concordia University, Nadine returned to the region and began working in public programming in galleries and museums. In 2010 Nadine helped found the KW chapter of Cinema Politica at the University of Waterloo, a non-profit initiative that aims to screen independent films that explore under-represented stories and characters. She also worked with the Brain Injury Association Waterloo-Wellington to launch Brain Art, a website that celebrates the art created by individuals living with brain injuries. Accessibility to the arts is of great importance to Nadine, and alongside Sheila McMath and Michael Ambedian, she is a founding member of Tri-City Stopgap, an artist collective that creates exhibition opportunities for emerging artists in transitional and marginal spaces.
