05/14/2026
This project has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada. Canada Council for the Arts Ce projet a été rendu possible en partie grâce au gouvernement du Canada.
Confirmed engagements are as follows:
Helsinki, Finland (May 16–21): at Kaapelitehdas
Tallinn, Estonia (May 21–23): public engagement activities
Riga, Latvia (May 24–31): Participation in the Riga Performance Festival Starptelpa, including workshops and artist talks
Buenos Aires, Argentina (June 19–28): Exhibition and public programming at Peras de Olmo – Ars Continua
Curitiba, Brazil (July 1–12): Collaborative performance programming at p.ARTE
The activities focus on site-responsive performance, civic space, and public engagement, and include workshops, lectures, and collaborative actions with local artists and organisations.
This initiative supports international cultural exchange and the presentation of Canadian contemporary performance practices in diverse public and institutional contexts.
From John:
The New Hermit is a site-responsive touring iteration of a performance I first developed and premiered during my 2025 residency at Live Art Ireland. Building on this foundation, performances that reimagines the 18th-century European phenomenon of ornamental hermits through a contemporary lens, intertwining narratives of visibility, exclusion, and the politics of civic and public space. This work stems from my long-standing performance practice rooted in Victoria, BC, where I have investigated themes of labour, embodiment, and the social conditions that shape civic life.
-Who is allowed to be visible in public space and who is rendered invisible?
-Who gets to be seen in public spaces, and who is overlooked?
-What does it mean to “perform” withdrawal in an age of constant exposure?
-The ornamental hermit as a figure of class, spectacle, and containment
-Labouring bodies: endurance, stillness, and time as material
-Hospitality vs. exclusion in civic space
-How does solitude function politically today?
-The body as site: witness, resistance, and occupation
-Who is watching—and why?
-Slowness as refusal within accelerated culture
-What forms of care or neglect are embedded in public encounters
-Repetition, duration, and the ethics of presence
-The artist as both subject and object within institutional frameworks
