Être créatif, c’est tu aussi s’éloigner du monde, pure à la source tel qu’il est, plutôt que de juste accepter aussi qu’on bien petit et on devrait revenir à l’essentiel? Je ne sais pas si l’art nous ramène à l’essentiel versus nous ramène à dériver complètement. Peut-être que la créativité ou la création, ça nous amène tellement loin qu’on s’imagine vivre sur Mars dans un espèce de plateforme pas d’allure dénuée, ou est-ce qu’on n’aura plus besoin des oiseaux, puis des tempêtes, puis des ci et des ça. On va avoir recréé un univers de toutes pièces où est-ce qu’il fait dont bon vivre. Ça pourrait être ça, l’apport de l’art. Moi, je ne l’aime pas trop cet art-là .
annie roy, balado conscient, 16 juin 2921, montréal
Annie Roy, se lance en 1998 avec Pierre Allard (décédé le 25 novembre 2018) dans la création d’un organisme à but non lucratif appelé ATSA, pour « Action Terroriste Socialement Acceptable » (maintenant nommé ATSA, Quand l’art passe à l’Action) en réaction aux abus sociaux, environnementaux et patrimoniaux dont ils sont témoins. Elle cesse ainsi son activité de danseuse et chorégraphe professionnelle pour se consacrer uniquement à l’élaboration et à la réalisation des projets de l’ATSA dont est de créer dans l’espace public des œuvres multidisciplinaires sous forme d’interventions, d’installations, de performances ou de mises en scène, afin d’interpeller la population envers des causes cruciales et préoccupantes liées au développement durable.
Je connais Annie Roy depuis 1999 lorsque ATSA a été une des premières compagnies à recevoir du financement du Bureau Inter-arts au Conseil des arts du Canada, dont j’étais le gestionnaire. Depuis, nous avons parlé régulièrement d’art engagé, d’environnement et de l’évolution de nos familles respectives. J’ai toujours apprécié sa vision sociale, sa générosité, son audace et son savoir-faire.
Nous avons eu une conversation engagée sur le Mont-Royal le 17 juin, accompagné de son chien Babine. Comme je l’ai toujours connue, Annie pousse les limites et pose des questions fondamentales.
Voici deux citations qui m’ont touché profondément :
Ouvrir des consciences
Si on est dans le réelle et puis qu’on se dit dans le monde actuel, il faut que cela vienne insuffler du désir, de la puissance vers un avenir meilleur. Mais ce n’est pas l’artiste qui va décider et puis ça me dérange. Ça me dérange d’avoir un poids sur les épaules, de changer le monde tout en n’ayant pas le pouvoir de le faire, réel. Le pouvoir que j’ai, c’est d’ouvrir des consciences, de voir du rêve dans l’esprit des autres et d’insuffler des graines de possibles d’un avenir.
Sur le dos de l’art
L’artiste est un être qui vit dans sa contemporanéité, qui absorbe le ‘caca’ à tout ce qui se passe et qui essaie de le transformer en quelque chose de beau, puis de puissant pour un tremplin pour aller vers mieux. Mais on pourrait en rester là , dans le sens que les gens, comment ils utilisent l’art dans leur vie? L’artiste a peut-être toutes ses volontés, mais c’est quoi la place de l’art qu’on fait dans nos vies? Parce qu’ils sont entre quatre murs, dans un musée ou dans des lieux super spécifiques. Ce n’est pas toujours intégré dans le flux de la journée comme quelque chose de super naturel. C’est un moment bien cadré qu’on donne comme on consomme n’importe quoi d’autre. Puis, si on consomme de l’art comme n’importe quoi d’autre, comme on va au spa ou comme on va magasiner et puis qu’on s’achète un nouveau pantalon, puis que ça fait du bien d’être allé voir une pièce de théâtre, n’était-ce pas bon? Ouais, c’est cool mais ça n’ira pas plus loin que n’importe quoi d’autre qu’une belle émotion qui va durer deux ou trois heures et puis tu vas prendre ton Hummer pour retourner chez toi pareil. Je trouve que c’est mettre beaucoup sur le dos de l’art.
Je remercie Annie d’avoir pris le temps d’échanger avec moi, pour son engagement social continue, sa vision du rôle des arts, son amour de la nature et son sens du ‘on est capable’.
Vous trouverez de plus amples informations sur le travail d’Annie à https://atsa.qc.ca/
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(translation)
Is being creative also about getting away from the world, pure to the source as it is, rather than just accepting that we’re small and we should go back to the basics? I don’t know if art brings us back to the essential versus brings us back to drifting completely. Maybe creativity or creation takes us so far away that we imagine ourselves living on Mars in a kind of platform that doesn’t look like anything, or we won’t need the birds, then the storms, then the this and that. We will have recreated a universe from scratch where it is good to live. That could be the contribution of art. I don’t like this art too much.
annie roy, balado conscient, 16 juin 2921, montréal
Annie Roy, launched in 1998 with Pierre Allard (deceased November 25, 2018) in the creation of a non-profit organization called ATSA, for “Action Terroriste Socialement Acceptable†(now called ATSA, Quand l’art passe à l’Action) in reaction to the social, environmental and patrimonial abuses they witness. She ceased her activity as a professional dancer and choreographer to devote herself solely to the elaboration and realization of ATSA’s projects, which include the creation of multidisciplinary works in the public space in the form of interventions, installations, performances or stagings, in order to call out to the population towards crucial and preoccupying causes related to sustainable development.
I have known Annie Roy since 1999 when ATSA was one of the first companies to receive funding from the Inter-Arts Office at the Canada Council for the Arts, which I managed. Since then, we have talked regularly about engaged art, the environment, and the evolution of our respective families. I have always appreciated her social vision, her generosity, her fearlessness and her expertise.
We had an engaging conversation on Mount Royal on June 17th, accompanied by her dog Babine. As I have always known her, Annie pushes limits and asks fundamental questions.
Here are two quotes that touched me deeply:
Opening consciousness
If we are in reality and then we say to ourselves in the current world, it is necessary that it insufflate desire and power towards a better future. But it is not the artist who is going to decide and then that disturbs me. It bothers me to have a weight on my shoulders, to change the world while not having the power to do it, real. The power I have is to open consciousness, to see dreams in the minds of others and to instill seeds of possibility for a future.
On the back of art
The artist is a being who lives in his contemporaneity, who absorbs the ‘poop’ in everything that happens and tries to transform it into something beautiful, then powerful for a springboard to go towards better. But we could leave it at that, in the sense that people, how do they use art in their lives? The artist may have all his wills, but what is the place of the art that we make in our lives? Because they are between four walls, in a museum or in very specific places. It’s not always integrated into the flow of the day as something supernatural. It’s a framed moment that we give away like we consume anything else. Then, if you consume art like anything else, like you go to the spa or you go shopping and then you buy a new pair of pants and then it feels good to have gone to a play. Wasn’t that good? Yeah, it’s cool but it’s not going to go any further than anything other than a nice thrill that’s going to last two or three hours and then you’re going to get in your Hummer and go home all the same. I think that’s putting a lot on the back of art.
I thank Annie for taking the time to talk with me, for her ongoing social engagement, her vision of the role of the arts, her love of nature and her sense of ‘we can do it’.
You can find more information about Annie’s work at https://atsa.qc.ca/
The post é57 roy – ouvrir des consciences appeared first on conscient podcast / balado conscient. conscient is a bilingual blog and podcast (French or English) by audio artist Claude Schryer that explores how arts and culture contribute to environmental awareness and action.
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About the Concient Podcast from Claude Schryer
The conscient podcast / balado conscient is a series of conversations about art, conscience and the ecological crisis. This podcast is bilingual (in either English or French). The language of the guest determines the language of the podcast. Episode notes are translated but not individual interviews.
I started the conscient project in 2020 as a personal learning journey and knowledge sharing exercise. It has been rewarding, and sometimes surprising.
The term ‘conscient’ is defined as ‘being aware of one’s surroundings, thoughts and motivations’. My touchstone for the podcast is episode 1, e01 terrified, based on an essay I wrote in May 2019, where I share my anxiety about the climate crisis and my belief that arts and culture can play a critical role in raising public awareness about environmental issues. The conscient podcast / balado conscient follows up on my http://simplesoundscapes.ca (2016–2019) project: 175, 3-minute audio and video field recordings that explore mindful listening.
Season 1 (May to October 2020) explored how the arts contribute to environmental awareness and action. I produced 3 episodes in French and 15 in English. The episodes cover a wide range of content, including activism, impact measurement, gaming, arts funding, cross-sectoral collaborations, social justice, artistic practices, etc. Episodes 8 to 17 were recorded while I was at the Creative Climate Leadership USA course in Arizona in March 2020 (led by Julie’s Bicycle). Episode 18 is a compilation of highlights from these conversations.
Season 2 (March 2021 – ) explores the concept of reality and is about accepting reality, working through ecological grief and charting a path forward. The first episode of season 2 (e19 reality) mixes quotations from 28 authors with field recordings from simplesoundscapes and from my 1998 soundscape composition, Au dernier vivant les biens. One of my findings from this episode is that ‘I now see, and more importantly, I now feel in my bones, ‘the state of things as they actually exist’, without social filters or unsustainable stories blocking the way’. e19 reality touches upon 7 topics: our perception of reality, the possibility of human extinction, ecological anxiety and ecological grief, hope, arts, storytelling and the wisdom of indigenous cultures. The rest of season 2 features interviews with thought leaders about their responses and reactions to e19 reality.
my professional services
I’ve been retired from the Canada Council for the Arts since September 15, 2020 where I served as a senior strategic advisor in arts granting (2016-2020) and manager of the Inter-Arts Office (1999-2015). My focus in (quasi) retirement is environmental issues within my area of expertise in arts and culture, in particular in acoustic ecology. I’m open to become involved in projects that align with my values and that move forward environmental concerns. Feel free to email me for a conversation : claude@conscient.ca
acknowledgement of eco-responsibility
I acknowledge that the production of the conscient podcast / balado conscient produces carbon. I try to minimize this carbon footprint by being as efficient as possible, including using GreenGeeks as my web server and acquiring carbon offsets for my equipment and travel activities from BullFrog Power and Less.
a word about privilege and bias
While recording episode 19 ‘reality’, I heard elements of ‘privilege’ in my voice that I had not noticed before. It sounded a bit like ‘ecological mansplaining’. I realize that, in spite of good intentions, I need to work my way through issues of privilege (of all kinds) and unconscious bias the way I did through ecological anxiety and grief during the fall of 2020. My re-education is ongoing.
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