Author: Victoria Stanton

Hey V

the skyline will reappear!
they’ll build bigger towers behind the condos.
still i may join the elegy.

***
This was my friend Jhave’s response after I sent out the invitation to come collectively mourn the disappearing skyline (see previous post). Which – ironically enough – ended up being quoted in Le Devoir, when I decided to share the anecdote with journalist Jérôme Delgado. Jh’s reflection (translated into French) was incorporated into a rather thoughtful piece exploring the parallels between the skyline ‘non-action’ and an installation in Quebec City created by an Italian collective on the benefits of slowing down.

You can read the article here:
http://www.ledevoir.com/culture/actualites-culturelles/492496/ne-rien-faire-a-l-affiche

***

But this, in turn, spurred a fun (and somewhat evocative) little correspondence between Jh & I, the contents of which I also wish to share here:

Jh: I cycled down to join your event today but I was a little late and then didn’t find you, so a bit cold and buffered by rain, I end up (o so ironically) going inside the canal.ca condo showroom where they are selling phase 4 of skyline eroding development homes. Looks pretty pretty nice actually, a bit expensive, but genuinely comfortable.

V: Oh no!!! I’m sorry we missed you and you missed us. But that is a very interesting find and thank you for this little piece of future-looking documentation.

The line from your previous email ended up making it into the article that came out in the Le Devoir this past Friday (I mentioned it in passing anecdotally to the journalist who saw fit to quote you. lol!!!)

Jh: Your event sounds lovely.

And I didn’t know whether what I wrote (in my previous email) was almost dismissive or defensive or concerned or apathetic or wise or simply casual … But it made me laugh to realize it made it into le Devoir: S had told me about that article, and I’d told her I was going to the performance. What I didn’t anticipate was the bike paths covered in ice and snow along the canal. That paused me in my capacity to find you because I was wearing running shoes… As it turned out I felt as if was part of the vigil, albeit in a different context.

V: I think it was a bit of all of the above… as is (often) your way…!!

The paths are pretty treacherous this time of year, for sure. I am impressed that you braved the trip down by bike!!

And interestingly, it’s not the first time that someone (or small group) has come looking for me/us and not found me/us and then had their own ‘nothing’ experience nonetheless. Which is to say, the person in question, like you telling me here now, had an awareness of having been part of something (a consciousness of their participation) even if it wasn’t in direct contact with me.

Which, to my mind, is just as valid (and exciting.)

Jh: Nice and wonderful.

I agree about the parallel events as part of the experience. That’s why I respect your work.

***

So, clearly, the complexity of ‘gentrification’ – well beyond the scope of the Nothing project – could not not be addressed, even if in a cursory way. That the title of the whole project (Sanctimonious Sect…) takes on another kind of resonance this time around, as the city decides that Nothing is indeed sacred. The view of the (current) skyline included. However, it goes even further… these changes are afoot but what I have done to try to stop them? Nothing. Instead I (we) stop at the site of construction, and do nothing. Which is to say, not do anything about these developments that seem to be hurtling forward and coming right at us. One brick at a time.

I (we) do nothing as an act of mourning & contemplation.

And I do nothing about this ‘problem.’ (Maybe I, too, am part of the problem?)

So when is Doing Nothing a form of resistance? When is Doing Nothing a form of apathy? Who gets to decide?

…These are just some things I am left thinking about at this juncture…

“Doing Nothing” continues to boggle my mind.

As a resident of the Southwest in Montreal, I often take the bike path along the Lachine Canal to get to several points across the city both east and north. In the short six years I’ve been living down here, with each new condo development going up, the cityscape – a once prominent and attractive feature of this path – has been basically vanishing.

In what I think is probably my most despairing of non-actions in the collected moments of Doing Nothing, you are invited to come to the Canal and stand with me, as we collectively watch (and mourn) the disappearing skyline.

When: Friday, Feb. 24, 2017 at 3pm
Where: Meet at Metro Georges Vanier (2040, rue St-Antoine Ouest, H3J 1A6), we will walk over together from there. If you arrive late, come to the canal off Rue des Seigneurs and walk eastward (without crossing the bridge) till you find us. If you want to make sure to find us, please arrive on time at the metro.
Important: Wear warm clothes and good winter/walking boots

> http://www.dare-dare.org/en/events/victoria-stanton
> http://www.dare-dare.org/en/events/watching-the-montreal-skyline-disappear

***

En tant que résidente du sud-ouest de Montréal, j’emprunte souvent la piste cyclable qui borde le canal Lachine pour me rendre en plusieurs points de la ville, à la fois à l’est et au nord. Durant les six dernières années, j’ai vu rapidement le paysage urbain se transformer, un condo à la fois. La vue sur l’horizon de la ville – autrefois une particularité attrayante de ce parcours – est en train de disparaitre.

Dans ce qui est probablement la ‘non-action’ la plus désespérée de la série Ne Rien Faire, vous êtes invités à vous rassembler avec moi près du Canal, pour regarder ensemble (et faire le deuil) de la disparition de la silhouette de la ville.

Quand : le vendredi 24 février 2017 à 15 h
Où : Rendez-vous à la station de métro Georges-Vanier pour faire la marche ensemble (2040, rue St-Antoine Ouest, H3J 1A6). Si vous arrivez en retard, rejoignez-nous par la Rue des Seigneurs, puis longez le canal vers l’est (sans traverser le pont). Assurez-vous d’être à l’heure au point de rencontre si vous ne voulez pas manquer le groupe.
Important : Portez des vêtements chauds et des bottes d’hiver.

> http://dare-dare.org/fr/evenements/victoria-stanton
> http://dare-dare.org/fr/evenements/regarder-la-ligne-dhorizon-de-montreal-disparaitre

Toronto-based performance artist Johannes Zits wrote to me recently about a new project he’s doing. Apparently, Nothing is contagious. Here is what he had to say:

Over the past few weeks I have been developing a score for a performance with the working title of “Getting Into Nothing.” The performance is centered around what I am calling a Nothing Shuffle; maybe not a great name for this action but for now, it will do.  For me, this action is one “without direction” but it goes beyond that. After reading articles on the blog, and through moving my body in the studio, I have come to realize that if I have time to process an action or allow myself to think about what to do next, it then starts to become something, even if it is on a very simple level. For example, moving towards the ground is significant if it is done as a conscious act. If it happens randomly and is followed by another unrelated movement, it avoids intention.

I celebrated my mmblmbrmbth birthday this past weekend (apologies, my pronunciation’s not so good these days) and received this most lovely gift from my dear friend & colleague Julie which I wanted to share here:

Chère Victoria,
je tiens à te souhaiter un bel anniversaire et je te souhaite rien du tout.
Imagine une boîte bien emballée comme un cadeau avec du papier rayé gris et vert.
Je te la donne.
Tu la déballes et tu l’ouvres.
Dedans il n’y a rien.
Bonne fête.
Je t’aime,

Julie

***

(Translation for my non-French-speaking readers)

Dear Victoria,
I wish you a happy birthday, and I wish you nothing at all.
Imagine a beautifully wrapped gift box in striped gray and green paper.
I’m giving this to you.
You unwrap it, and you open it.
Inside, there is nothing.
Happy birthday.
I love you,

Julie

A glorious day ushered in the new year, and taking advantage of slightly warmer temperatures, I hustled my behind back to the river to smile at the sky and take in the incredible view.

This day’s walk turned out to be magical too; people and animals were particularly friendly with everything sparkling under the brilliant sun.

Although I try to do this walk daily, making it out here with that kind of regularity is a challenge. But as 2017 slowly begins, I resolve to keep trying to find that time – to make that time – to zone out, wind down, contemplate, and daydream along the water… in sunshine, grey skies, snow and yes, even rain.

…Well, that’s not exactly true. Depending on what your definition of Nothing is (which, as this project keeps pointing out, is an ever-shifting and debatable matter).

I’ll actually be spending it with Quakers. And New Years day with Buddhists. Now these people know how to Do Nothing! (More on that in a future post).

For now, I wish to pass on some thoughts that were shared with me, while at the round-table discussion with DARE-DARE a few weeks ago. During my presentation I handed out blank cards and asked our guests to complete the following sentence:
“When I do nothing I ___________.”
“Quand je ne fais rien je ___________.”

Here are some of the responses:

…And how about you?

…On that note, wishing one and all a peaceful and hope-filled 2017.
May you Do Nothing as often as you need, in whatever frame of mind you find yourself to be, with as much joy and kindness as you can offer to yourself.

Although The Sanctimonious Sect of Nothing Is Sacred continues on (in an official capacity) with DARE-DARE till next spring, the year-end wrap-up of the centre’s programming for the 2016-2017 season takes place this Saturday Dec. 10, 2016, a time when their invited artists come together to discuss findings with a guest moderator.

DARE-DARE proposed to focus its 2016-17 season around the notions of the collective and the Common, with Rendez-Vous Society as a title. They invited artists to base their interventions on common, day-to-day realities and intervene in the social environment through projects that generate meetings and which address the concepts of exchanges, transmission and sharing.

Sylvaine Chassay, Maggy Flynn, Roberto Santaguida, the trio formed of Ilya Krouglikov, Sarah Dell’Ava and Wolfram Sander and yours truly are the artists of this ongoing programming. To discuss our respective projects, they invited the philosopher Erik Bordeleau who will act as moderator and theorist on the issues encountered during the last year.

Round table and open discussion
Saturday Dec. 10, 2016, 3pm-5pm
Les Ateliers Jean Brillant
3520 St-Jacques, Montreal

*

Pour sa programmation 2016-2017, DARE-DARE a proposé un cadre de travail autour des notions du collectif et de la communauté, sous le titre La Société des Rendez-vous. Ils ont fait appel aux artistes pour inscrire l’art dans le quotidien et s’immiscer dans l’environnement social à travers des projets qui génèrent des rencontres et qui abordent les notions d’échanges, de transmission et de partage.

Sylvaine Chassay, Maggy Flynn, Roberto Santaguida, le trio formé d’Ilya Krouglikov, Sarah Dell’Ava et Wolfram Sander, et moi même, sont les artistes de cette programmation 2016-2017. Pour discuter de nos pratiques respectives, ils ont invité le philosophe Erik Bordeleau qui agira comme modérateur et théoricien des enjeux rencontrés durant la dernière année.

Retrouvons-nous aux Ateliers Jean Brillant à 15h, pour deux heures de table-ronde ouverte à la discussion et au partage des expériences.

… Or so says the article of this same title above in a recent blog posting in BIO à la une.

Author Elodie Sillaro goes on to say: “Alors que tout va plus vite dans nos sociétés modernes, on manque cruellement de temps et on est en proie à ce sentiment d’urgence permanent. Souvent mal vu, le fait de ne rien faire nous est pourtant vital ! Et, ce sont les scientifiques qui le disent.”

She continues by also asserting how important it is for our brain to regenerate itself and that this can only happen when we manage to tear ourselves away from our cell phones, tablets, etc., and stop always trying to make ourselves busy.

I know that at this point I’m repeating myself (because at this point you’ve heard/read me say similar things in previous postings) but I feel as though I/we can’t repeat it enough. Clearly, I’m a convert. Or at least still struggling with the same issues that this author is mentioning in her treatise.

– read more here –

Le Collectif Vierge (Mathilde Rohr and Gabrielle Desrosiers) brought us on a mini trajectory in the area around the DARE-DARE trailer and Atwater Market. Starting seated and serene at the busy intersection in front of DARE-DARE, the “Something” they brought “To Do Nothing,” came in the form of their wooden rocking chairs – a device-as-object that for them has come to represent a moment of pause (in all kinds of situations and contexts).

After lolling about at their first stop, we made our way to the overpass of the Atwater Tunnel, during which time Le Collectif decided to stop and, this time standing on their chairs, observe oncoming traffic. To our surprise, a young boy passing by with his mom insisted that he too get to see what the two ladies were looking at. The mom, suddenly confused, turned to me and asked: “What’s going on?” “Not a whole lot,” I answered. “But, it’s nice to sometimes take the time to notice what you don’t usually bother to stop and see.” … That seemed to satisfy her and she hoisted the kid up to the same height as the railing so he too, could look at nothing with us. After a few moments he seemed sated so off they went, continuing on their way…

At the same spot, just as the two were dismounting their chairs (only a few moments after the boy and his mom left) a man suddenly fell, tripping on something on the sidewalk – a sight that startled all of us. He smoothly rolled into the fall and just as elegantly stood himself upright. We offered that he sit in one of the chairs in case he was shaken but he kindly declined. “My shoulder hurts a bit, but I just left the house to go for my walk. Sitting would kind of defeat the purpose…” And although his fall was apparently caused by the unusual sight of the two on their chairs (so he said), clearly his pause was about being in movement, fall or no fall. Happily he didn’t seem offended (for this action kind of instigated his mini accident) but more bemused. Fortunately he didn’t sustain any injuries.

The trajectory then brought us over to the canal with stops at various sites along the water and the train tracks. Graced with a beautiful sunset, families of ducks and passing trains in the distance, this moment of collective downtime brought yet another element to light: as Soufïa, a participant in the conversation that followed said, “Avec le rien faire, il y a le ‘être avec’.” This “being with” (quiet, curiosity, even small accidents) could then occur (and be welcomed) with a plenitude of time, presence, and gracious acceptance.

Le Collectif Vierge’s “Bring Something To Do Nothing,” the next presentation in the Public Forum About Nothing, has been rescheduled to Sunday December 4, 2016, still at 3pm. Hope to see you there!