Conversations with Landscapes
Stage postdoctoral réalisé en 2020 sous la supervision de Sofian Audry (École des médias)
Lenka Novakova est une artiste canadienne d’origine tchèque dont le travail rayonne à l’international. En tant que chercheure-créatrice, elle explore les frontières entre le théâtre et les arts visuels à travers des installations à grande échelle, des environnements immersifs et participatifs, des paysages audiovisuels et une écriture critique. Elle détient un doctorat en Humanities/Fine Arts du Centre of Interdisciplinary Studies in Society and Culture (Université Concordia) et une maîtrise en Studio arts de l’Université Concordia. Ses recherches-créations ont été financées par le Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture (FRQSC), par le Conseil des arts du Canada et par le Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec. Son projet postdoctoral, Conversations with Landscapes, a été soutenu par le FRQSC (2018-2020).
Conversations with Landscapes explored the performance of landscape and investigated how immersive and participatory environments can engage science and technology in the articulation of the pressing issues of the environment and climate change. Thematically, the focus of this particular project was on the ocean, the atmosphere and the weather. It explored how local communities respond to climatic changes and attempts to recreate these experiences within the context of immersive environments and performance. Field research took place on both Pacific and Atlantic coasts, and the project was hosted by the University of Maine in the USA and the University of Victoria in BC. One phase of this research project was a fieldwork on Long Beach in Tofino, BC, where Lenka Novakova worked with surfers and explored how weather conditions, currently and over the years, formed their relationships with the coastal landscape. The outcomes have been presented at Research-Creation Methods Symposium at the University of Antwerp in Belgium, and the work from each exploration was disseminated by Two Rivers Gallery at Saint George in BC in 2020.