Multitides - a site collaborative tidal walk

Multitides - a site collaborative tidal walk
Thursday, August 15, 2024
8:50 am

A site collaborative tidal walk at the šxʷsyiΦǝm (Musqueam) / Ḵweḵw7úpay̓ (Squamish) intertidal zone, also known as Spanish Banks.

The main choreographers of the tides are celestial bodies. The Pacific Ocean’s natural period of oscillation is close to 24 hours. Just as our own circadian rhythms are affected by influences outside ourselves, the tidal waters act in response to 400 celestial constituents, shifts in local weather patterns and ocean floor topography. How do you open your awareness to these cycles that are in our bodies and on our doorsteps?

The tidal walk begins at a site-responsive installation, where participants receive a guidebook leading them into the intertidal zone - a frontier emerging and disappearing between the urban and the natural world.

Whether walking alone or in the company of others, you are free to choose the duration of your stay within the timeframe of the performance installation.

This project is an excerpt of accumulated and ongoing research by Paula Viitanen (she/her) in collaboration with mechatronics engineer Juan Aldazosa, visual designer Liz Wurzinger and composer Elliot Vaughan.

We acknowledge that our work takes place in the stolen, unceded, ancestral and traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

Colonial and imperial powers are committing an ongoing genocide, we acknowledge that these are not matters of the past, instead the painful reality of today. We stand in solidarity with people around the world gathering, marching, working and striking towards collective liberation. We call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Palestine and an end to the occupation.