Premiere: May 9, 2026, The Annex, Vancouver, BC. Presented by Vancouver New Music.
Curatorial Statement
The immersive, collaborative audiovisual performance, A Voynich Manifesto, takes inspiration from a mysterious medieval manuscript, written in an unknown language, describing and visualising plants and star charts unknown to us on Earth. Likely appearing in Europe during the destruction of commons and the establishment of private property, perhaps the manuscript was no longer intelligible within the capitalist order. For the artists of the Manifesto, it acts as a touchstone towards imagining another present and future with forms of communication and relationships long obscured or hardly recognizable.
Creating with me this reenchanted world are four artists whose practice and curiosity seek out as-yet unknown connections. Mind of a Snail (Chloe Ziner & Jessica Gabriel) intricately stitch sounds and handmade projections together to create multilayered stories at the intersection of puppetry, visual arts, clowning & music. Singer and sonic artist SJ Kirsch brings to life socio-politically relevant art song experiences and weaves resonant electroacoustic tapestries. Improvising composer and singer Viviane Houle translates landscapes and life into sound and scores using asemic writing and lyrical tracings.
In unbalanced societies of volatile relations, many long to remember and invoke more compassionate and respectful interactions. Prompted by the magical content and colourful context of the Voynich Manuscript, the artists here bring together snippets from their former works with newly devised scripts, scores and images towards a collaborative dream of more ecstatic relations with other beings, constellations and technologies. The audience will be transported by the fantastical images and imagined translations of the mysterious text of the Voynich Manuscript to a parallel yet strangely familiar land, reminded of deep histories and present dreams of how to relate and connect beyond the fences of self and ownership.
Credits
- Terri Hron: curation, recorders, electronics
- Mind of a Snail (Chloe Ziner & Jessica Gabriel): shadow theatre
- SJ Kirsch & Viviane Houle: voice, electronics
- Peter Hatch: Vancouver New Music curatorial mentor
