Natalie Doonan
VerdunReality : Riparian play
TOPO is pleased to support VerdunReality by Natalie Doonan, to be discovered under July’s sun. This 90 minutes multimedia performance was designed to for the St. Lawrence waterfront in Montreal’s Southwest borough of Verdun.
VerdunReality: Riparian Play is a journey along the St. Lawrence waterfront in Montreal’s Southwest borough of Verdun, taking the form of a guided tour punctuated by four stops. This multimedia performance, which can be presented in both French and in English, is designed for groups of six to eight participants at a time. Each participant is paired with a guide who cares for their individual needs throughout the tour.
During the 90-minute trajectory, participants drink goldenrod tea, thus imbibing a taste of place in a convivial park setting that is conducive to discussion. At two other locations, they are invited to play games on VR headsets, where they find themselves inside simulations of the actual locations in which they are situated. The games are designed to teach participants about the local flora and fauna. For example, in the first game players embody a monarch butterfly, and their objective is to identify as many milkweed plants as possible in the environment, since this plant is crucial to the survival of monarch butterflies and their caterpillars. After removing the headsets, play continues In Real Life (irl), with other participants. This is a site-specific piece that responds to the unique features of the shoreline in Verdun.
Petitioned by engaged citizens of the borough, the municipality agreed to create dozens of “re-naturalized” spaces throughout the waterfront park. In these areas, the borough has simply stopped mowing the lawn, allowing for the (re)emergence of diverse plants. Many residents see these spots as unsightly and unkempt, interpreting the plants as “weeds” that interfere with an otherwise well-groomed lawn. VerdunReality tries to re-orient this perception, allowing participants to see that, from the perspective of a pollinator, a mowed lawn is a food desert.
TOPO – Digital creation center supports Natalie Doonan in the dissemination of this project, which reflects some of our objectives as an artist-run center: to encourage citizen participation using digital tools, and to reflect on environmental issues.
Thursday, July 20 at 4pm
Friday, July 21 at 1pm and 4 pm
Saturday, July 22 at 1pm and 4 pm
Sunday, July 23 at 1pm and 4 pm
Price: 10$
(reduced price of 5$ for minors accompanied by an adult)
Practical information
MEETING SPOT
We meet in the park, beside the Lachine Rapids, at these GPS coordinates: 45°26’08.1 “N 73°35’01.8 “W / 45.435583, -73.583833
The group will be under a tree, on a picnic mat, at the end of Fayolle Street.
SPECIAL NEEDS
Please contact us if you have reduced mobility or special needs. We are happy to modify the route accordingly but will need advance notice.
AGE
Ages 10 and up.
Children 10-18 must be accompanied by an adult, and benefit from a reduced price ($5).
Credits
Script, all recordings, project and concept: Natalie Doonan.
Trailer: Kevin Nicolas
Pictures: Ambre Marionneau
CREDITS – VR GAMES
- Mélanie Binette, french narration, translation
- Joëlle Bond, translation
- Clara Daeninck, video editing
- Natalie Doonan, english narration, interviews, sound editing, translation, video editing, FX
- Florian Grond, sound engineering consulting
- Jonathan Hardy, Unity design
- Rasoul Morteza, original music, sound design
- Sophie Valiergue, translation
- Gaëlle Issa, 3D animation
- Clémentine Brochet, interactive elements
CREDITS – PERFORMING
- Erik De Leon, project title
- Interpreters (guides): Dylan Le Pors, Ambre Marionneau, Christopher Ravenelle, Sophie Valiergue
- Sophie Valiergue, set design
Natalie Doonan
Natalie has taught Audiovisual and Contemporary Art courses at Sheridan College, the University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia and Emily Carr University of Art and Design. She is now Assistant Professor of digital creation in the Department of Communication at the University of Montreal.
Natalie’s work has been shown in exhibitions and festivals across Canada and internationally, such as: the Cultural Olympiad for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the LIVE Performance Art Biennale, the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, Montréal’s Elektra Festival and BIAN, Nuit Blanche and Art Souterrain, and the Tunisian Pavilion of the Venice Biennale, 2017. Her writing has appeared in professional and peer reviewed art and food culture publications such as: Canadian Theatre Review, Theatre Research in Canada, Public Art Dialogue, Canadian Food Studies, Gastronomica, the Senses & Society, and Performance Research.
Natalie loves eating and walking and has led more than 30 public tours and tastings in and around Montreal since 2011. Her award-winning art and writing explores place through the senses.