Curated by Asinabka Festival
Featuring:
Colin Van Loon
Meagan Byrne (Achimostawinan Games)
Hiona Henare
Pōhaikealoha / Craig Commanda / H3xtacy / Justin Gerona
Steven Paul Judd
Welcome to “Power-Up” an immersive exhibit that considers how Indigenous artists employ cutting-edge technologies, such as virtual reality, video, video games, and digital art, to connect with cultural heritage and expose the hidden histories of colonial violence.
In the world of video games, powering-up means your avatar regains their strength, their energy, their health, their ability to keep going, their ability to survive, and their ability to eventually win the game. Similarly, this Art Exhibit titled “Power-Up”, features 5 Indigenous artists that use technology based-mediums to tell stories of survival and connection, and stories that reclaim our power and agency as Indigenous peoples to survive, thrive, exist, and even win within systems not designed for us.
Colin Van Loon’s cinematic VR experience “This is not a ceremony” shares stories from Indigenous people about the darker side of living life in Canada, challenging the viewer to act and to make things better. “Hill Agency: PURITYdecay” from Indigenous owned and operated studio Achimostawinan Games, is a cyber-noir detective mystery game set in the year 2762 where you play a tough-as-nails Indigenous P.I. to solve petty crimes, murder, and global conspiracies. Māori artist Hiona Henare spent time in the Amazon jungle in June of 2022 and collaborated with award-winning filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasathakul, where she produced her stunning and immersive 3-Channel video installation “Purple Flame”. Pōhaikealoha's “Seasons of Life”, is a point-and-click game that features gorgeous glitch photography, custom music, ambient nature sounds, vocal poetry, and combines four views from four indigenous artists on the varying seasons we each experience; while Steven Paul Judd’s playful mashups of historical photographs with pop-culture imagery, nudge us to view the world from alternative perspectives.
Power-up, land back, and enjoy!