Share your experiences and stories of Lake Superior and become part of our lake’s unfolding collective story! Participate in the Tied By Water art project, an interdisciplinary work-in-progress.

Poet, performance artist, and Joyce Foundation Fellow, Moheb Soliman (Egypt/Minneapolis), is tracing the entire Great Lakes coastline by land for four months—due in Thunder Bay, June 8th and 9th at DefSup. Come for a meet-and-greet, participate in the creative protocols he’s enacting region-wide, or just contribute your own view of our corner of the Great Lakes to this unique work-in-progress.

At the meet-and-greet on June 8th, Moheb will share some of his Great Lakes work through a sort of mock talk, where the subjective stands in for the objective in a overlays of images, language, and gesture. The talk will be presented in the context of a low-fi installation with which visitors can interact, involving a tent, an overhead projector, artifacts and materials accumulating in his travel.

He’ll also discuss his on-going project circling the Great Lakes, hoping for an exchange with our locality in exploring the place of nature and the sublime in modernity and identity, the differing narratives of belonging in the region, and the extent to which the wild, populous Great Lakes borderland has a coherent culture rooted in geography, history and economy.

Schedule:

Monday June 8, 5:30-7:30pm

Meet-and-Greet: enjoy Moheb’s presentation, installation and video, wine/snacks, and maybe a walk to the lakeshore to end the evening. No need to pre-register.

Monday, June 8 & Tuesday, June 9, noon / 2pm / 8pm slots (both days)

Artistic Protocols: Get involved in an more in-depth creative experience with the Tied by Water art project, by signing up through DefSup for one-on-one or small-group excursions* to participate with Moheb in one of his artistic protocols, such as:

  • Feeled trips: Go feel out a stretch of the lakeshore through inhabiting a favourite place, taking a walk in water, capturing a conversation or interaction through audio/video
  • Poem of sublime proportions: help with an on-going epic poem being written into/erased by the entire Great Lakes shoreline.
  • Tidings: help with an on-going performance/installation piece where natural and cultural materials and excess from other Great Lakes locations “wash up” here temporarily through your placement, and collect others on-site for tidings in Moheb’s future destinations.

Have another idea for what to do or where to go? Boating? Fishing? He’d love to hear it. And he’ll be developing other ideas too to pitch as options.

*Excursions start/end at DefSup. Lake excursions may involve getting a lil wet.

To sign up: email reneedefsup@tbaytel.net; phone 807-344-3814 during gallery hours: Tuesday-Saturday/12-6pm; or private msg the gallery via Facebook. When you sign up, please let the gallery know which of the above noted activities you would like to participate in, and if you have any questions.

Both activities take place at DefSup, located on the lower level of 250 Park Avenue in Thunder Bay. All ages are welcome.
For more event information, please visit DefSup’s website or find them on Facebook. | Questions? Please call 807-344-3814.

The Tied by Water art project is supported by the Joyce Foundation and Mizna and proudly sponsored by The Walleye.

June 8+9---Moheb Soliman-Walleye (2)