playfully reimagining
a past Kitchener happening
In 1925, Kitchener was emerging as a city ‘renewed’, still trying on its new identity, a new name, not yet a decade old. The whole world was also tentatively emerging from a pandemic, and the local citizens decided it was time for a ‘reunion’, a party, a carnival, an excuse to get together for no specific reason. In 1925 people gathered for a three-day extravaganza of parades, air shows, dances, food, pageants, carnival games and fun.
Taking inspiration from the 1925 festival, deSpectacle is a series of playful performative art actions including an environmentally conscious aeroplane show, a beauty pageant for monsters, a gossipy dialogue performance, a humorous frisbee toss game, and a wandering soft sculpture concession stand.
Join us at Schneider Haus National Historic Site!
September 6, 2025: 12:30-6pm
Low Carbon Air Show
Welcome to the Low Carbon Air Show. What’s that? You heard correctly—it’s an environmentally conscious aeroplane extravaganza! This show boasts bipedal-powered planes constructed using mostly recycled materials. They’re so awesome, we’ll even let you fly them. With this top-shelf hysterical aircraft display, you’ll get right in the action—it’s just like the real thing, but better!
Created by:
Loosey Goose
Loosey Goose is a new collective made of old pals. Lacy and Brenda Mabel Reid have been collaborating informally for over a decade and are now formally coming together to explore joy and play through art.
Monster Pageant
Stephanie Florence
Created by:
The “Monster Pageant” is a project in development and envisioned by artist Stephanie Florence. This humorous “pageant” will pit the current Monsters of our time—Billionaires, Climate Crises, Fast Fashion, and Petrochemical Products—against each other in competitive performance duels. The narrative or concept of these performances is to find humour and healing in times when Monsters are oppressing resilience, laughter, and beauty.
We also need YOUR HELP!
These monsters are in development, and we need the community's help to apply hair to both the Musk and the Zuck. Don’t let our local Monstrillionaires lose face without their full head of hair! Come support the inflated egos while we give them a much-needed hair transplant.
Stephanie Florence (they/them) is a neurodiverse non-binary interdisciplinary artist and curator supported by O:se Kenhionhata:tie—Willow River Creek watershed. Florence was awarded SSHRC funding during the completion of their MFA at the University of Waterloo in 2023. Their artwork has travelled to 11 Canadian cities, and they led 2 dynamic years of curation for Edmonton’s SkirtsAfire Festival; where the production of a short film inspired their collaborative publication of an anthology with poetry, art, stories, interviews, and creative writing from Edmontontians during COVID. PRAKSIS a longterm collaborator—and Norwegian transnational NGO—of Florence’s, has asked them to be one of the lead artists in project addressing over tourism across 4 continents, with a residency in Bali, Indonesia and Lofoten, Norway that culminates in a solo exhibition in Oslo, Norway in 2026. Florence is also working closely with Inter Arts Matrix, CAFKA, and Pat the Dog Theatre Creation to produce their collaborative project, Monster Pageant (funded by the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund). In 2024, Florence co-founded the national interdisciplinary arts collective CARBON, and received a grant and private support to produce Solo-pollinator Homes—with the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery and rare Charitable Research Reserve.
Monster Pageant has recieved additional support from the
Region of Waterloo Arts Fund
Scuttlebutt
A hyper-local, hyper-positive, analog news feed - performed live and on the move! We have our ear to the ground to find out what's cookin' around town and all the news, big and small, will be shared with the rest of the community the old fashioned way - loud, good-spirited, bantery gossip in a public space!
Want to share your news?
- Are you adopting a puppy?
- Did you get a promotion at work?
- Is there a massive pool party that you are planning?
- Did you finally pass your driving test?
Click here to share with us and the town!
This news can be big or small, public or private. You can tell us who you are, or stay anonymous!
Maria Colonescu
Created and Performed by:
Maria Colonescu is a Romanian theatre-maker; internationally produced, award-winning playwright, director, actor, and everything in between. She holds an MFA in Advanced Theatre Practice from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (University of London); is the founding artistic director of Aequilux Productions; former vice-president of the Alberta Playwrights’ Network; and Director’s Lab North alumna. Since moving to the Region of Waterloo in 2022, Maria has curated, produced, and directed a radio-drama series for Midtown Radio (2023); co-wrote and directed an immersive art-heist theatrical experience for the KW Art Gallery (2024); co-founded the Treading Theatre Festival (2025); and premiered 10 original plays.
Performed by:
Ben Gorodetsky
Ben Gorodetsky is a Ukrainian-Canadian artist, producer and writer. Their work has been presented by Art Gallery of Ontario, CAFKA, Tank NYC, LUMEN, Open Ears, Movement Research at Judson Church, and In/On/Out Interarts. Ben is the curator-host of Pinch Cabaret, artistic director of Pinch Arts, past artist-in-residence with Guelph Dance Fest, recipient of the Anna Pidruchney Young Writers Award, and nominee for a Canadian Comedy Award and a Waterloo Region Arts Award. They’re the creator and executive producer of "MY PET ATE WHAT!?" a docuseries for CTV Wild, and the director of multiple independent documentary and experimental films. Ben holds an MFA from Brooklyn College-CUNY and a BFA from the University of Alberta.
Soft Drinks
A performance with no defined beginning and end, Soft Drinks is a costume and persona worn by visual artist and performer Julie Hall for deSpectacle. Inspired by the hawking cart, Soft Drinks features soft sculpture of ballpark snacks and refreshments, inviting conversation around when and how communities celebrate, gather, and replenish. Soft Drinks also acts as a mobile information booth, handing out festival brochures, and offering an expressed invitation to curious publics to engage in deSpectacle.
Created by:
Julie Hall
Julie Hall (they/she) is an arts administrator and visual artist working in soft sculpture, video, and performance. They have an eleven-year-long co-creative practice with their partner, Jacob Irish, producing large-scale, interactive installation, showing at the Anna Leonowens Gallery, Centre Bang!, the Art Gallery of Guelph, Hamilton Artists Inc., and the University of Waterloo Art Gallery featuring their collaborative MFA thesis exhibition, borrowers and bullies (2022). Julie thrives in uncertainty and is calm in chaos, a skillset well-match to working in arts non-profit and cultivated in restaurant kitchens and their blue-collar upbringing near Kjipuktuk/Halifax, Nova Scotia.
HOPES and DREAMS
“Step right up! All ages, all sizes—everyone has a chance to dream!”
HOPES and DREAMS is a participatory carnival-style art installation where the Artists take on the roles of concession caller and assistant, rallying the passer by to join the game.
Each player will be given three frisbees, three chances at their hopes and dreams. Asked to assign each shot with a thought and give it flight. Aim for the cloud-shaped targets to the right. Some may soar with ease, some may get caught in a breeze. The caller will cheer you on with both tips and teasing and double crossed fingers despite the reasoning. Hit or miss, everyone walks away with a token prize for their attempt, skill, sheer luck or will!
“Don’t walk away from your hopes—take the shot!”
The installation follows a loosely designed script creating playful optimism and uncertainty while also reflecting on the futility that can accompany the game. But above all, players are reminded to never stop hoping... and never stop dreaming... for humanity is in need of both.
Created by:
TIMEANDDESIRE
St Marie φ Walker are collaborative Artist-researchers. Their collective work is founded on debate and dialogue within a multidisciplinary practice. They often rethink, reconstruct or reflect on built environments and authoritative influences. Together they question the terms and conditions of human understanding by assessing how belief systems and value structures manifest. St Marie φ Walker use art as a conduit to explore cognitive states. Doing so by exploring various realities through play, the absurd and relational experiences.
They have displayed work in both in galleries and outdoor festivals including: Malaspina Printmakers Vancouver, Kunsttempel Germany, SNAP in Edmonton, Hamilton Supercrawl, CAFKA Kitchener, LUMEN Waterloo, University of Waterloo Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Windsor, Art Gallery of Mississauga, Thames Art Gallery, Markham Museum, Latcham Art Centre, Art Mûr, Art Souterrain Montreal and Scotiabank Nuit Blanche Toronto.
St Marie φ Walker both hold an MFA and were individually honoured with a Governor General's Academic Gold Medal from the University of Waterloo. In 2018 Manchester Metropolitan University, UK interviewed them for an international research project looking at various Artists working in New Genre Public Art.
