Pebbled is just rolling along
An art project can have a life of its own, especially when Elif is behind it.
Two years ago, when Martha and I were marooned in Whitby, Elif called me and said, “Matt, we’re doing something for the Station Gallery.” Out of nowhere, Elif approached the head of the gallery and said that she was a dancer and she and her writer friend were wondering if their were any opportunities for performing at the gallery. The director said we could perform as part of the gallery’s anniversary festivities.
“So, Matt. Are you in?”
From there we developed a performance-art piece called Suburban Metre and Motion, which involved the reading of a long poem by yours truly combined with dancing/movement by Elif. It all went rather well in such a parochial little place.
From that one performance, Elif has been expanding the piece. Last autumn, Mike and I were recruited as cameramen for the film version of the piece. Afterwards, Elif found an editor and composer and then she had a four minute movie. The film, called Pebbled, not only draws on the same themes as the performance piece, but remains just as edgy. I’m not the only one who sees its merit either. Yesterday, DC Shorts, a short-film festival in Washington DC, announced that Pebbled will be a part of this year’s line-up.
Here in Toronto, Elif and Kat have been busy preparing Pebbled for performance at the fringe Festival of Independent Dance Artists (fFIDA) in August. This version is not going to feature Elif or me. Instead, Elif plans to have five dancers and video projection. I’m very excited.
In honour of all this activity and in order to make sure Pebbled gets the attention it deserves, I’ve created a new category here at Pióro. It’s called The Hype. More shall come.