THE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF ANIMATED OBJECTS
Runs January 19 to 28
Check listings for venues and dates
Xstine P. Cook is a busy woman. A mother of three, she has performed internationally and has a background in arts administration that lead her to her current position as curator and founder of both CAOS (Calgary Animated Objects Society) and The International Festival of Animated objects. That alone would be enough work for anyone, but Cook also creates masks, puppets, large spectacle figures, films and doubles as a singer, sawplayer, stilt walker, fire dancer and poet. Cook is currently at work co-creating the Giant Buffalo Puppet, a kinetic sculpture designed to be powered by humans and to seat up to six people inside it, as well as curating what promises to be a magical event.
"It’s actually the only festival of its kind, because the animated object part of it leaves us with a really wide interpretation," says Cook, regarding the festival’s title.
"It’s the third one. It’s biannual," she adds, noting her work as a curator sprang from her work with Green Fools Theatre (of which she was also a founder and former co-artistic director). "I toured a lot with the Green Fools back in the day, and we used to go see this amazing work – it would just blow your minds open with what you’d come back home with, and show that to audiences here. That was kind of how it started, was wanting to do that."
Cook saw the festival as an opportunity to continue the sophisticated art of puppetry that has been growing within Calgary.
"There’s such a huge, strong puppet tradition going on here, a fantastic puppet scene going on in this town," she says. "It seemed like a good fit to be able to combine this with international and national artists. Because the greatest festivals give you a chance to mix and trade stories and techniques, how to get gigs and all that kind of stuff. So we’ve really tried to posture that."
This year’s Festival of Animated Objects include diverse and internationally acclaimed performers such as Ronnie Burkett ("He will be reading a new work in progress called Billy Twinkle: Requiem for a Golden Boy"), Mooky Cornish (known best for performance as Cirque du Soleil’s Varekai) and the traditional Gitxsan mask dance troupe ‘Ksan Performing Arts ("They are coming and performing their traditional work. It’s very exciting to bring this troupe that still have this living line back to that history," Cook notes).
"If you think about it, it’s like from the backwoods to Hollywood, and from pre-history to post-nuclear. It’s got a really wide range of stuff happening," Cook says of the lineup.
Another exciting addition to the festival includes a famous group whom audiences may recognize from their work in motion pictures.
"We’ve got the Chiodo Brothers, who are the puppeters for Team America: World Police," says Cook. "They’ve done Thriller, Gremlins, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure and Team America. They’re coming and doing a question and answer and showing some of their work."
Cook also notes the wide range of local artists who are involved with the festival, which also includes the film series Puppets on the Screen.
"We’re excited to have many local artists involved that are doing some form of animated object, not just puppetry. Chad VanGaalen and Kara Keith are coming and performing at the opening Galabash," says Cook. "We’re doing a thing with shadow puppetry, so you go make your own shadow puppet. With a Chad VanGaalen template, you can make your own Chad VanGaalen puppet. And then we’re going to have Kara Keith’s masks that you can cut out and wear, so you can be Kara Keith for the night! So, during her set, she can look out and see a sea of her face! It should be quite hilarious."
Other artists include Rob Faust (of Faustworks), Paul Zaloom, Jerilynn Webster (a hip hop artist, actor and director hailing from the Nuxalk and Cayuaga Nations) and Archer Pechawis (a performance artist who explores possible intersections between the Plains Cree culture and digital technology).
Cook is also studying the arts practices of masks surrounding different cultures, in places ranging from Bali to Paduva, Italy. She sees animated objects as being universal.
"It’s in every culture, if you go back far enough. Mask or puppetry in some form is in every single culture, its way back there somewhere. It speaks to a deep level in us."
For more information, visit www.animatedobjects.ca, or call 221-3708. |
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