RE:Cover Versions

The following text is by SCA student Caroline Chernega about her experience in the SCA course CA 269/369: Methods and Concepts, which ran in the summer term of 2024. Lead by the SCA's Kathy Slade and visiting artist Ming Wong, who was the 2023 Fall Audain Visual Artist in Residence at the SCA, CA 269/369: Methods and Concepts, presented with the course title Re:Cover Versions, explored "reenactment as a mode to re-examine how art and forms of popular culture are intrinsically linked with wider historical and global events." As Chernega describes, the key departure for the course was "the cultural phenomenon known as Cantopop," with students producing a series of karaoke videos, installation works, and performances, all of which were presented on August 1 to conclude the term. The coursework by the students will contribute to the research and development of a new multimedia installation by Wong for "exhibition at the Chinese Canadian Museum in 2025."

Read on ~

By Caroline Chernega

In the studio, the production is happening: people in costumes, a retro flickering tv, a checkered rug, fake grass, green screen, blue eyeshadow, red lipstick on a wall. By using reenactment as both a tool and a form, this class created a space to experience and consider how reenactment and performance exist in the context of visual art.

On the first day of class, everyone was asked to perform a karaoke song and choose other videos or images to show alongside their performance. What does this juxtaposition create? For me, the class allowed me to think about reenactment as a form that is accessible to interpretation. An archive can be accessed and reinterpreted and reenacted by considering media and pop-culture as part of an even vaster archive – a space of common reference from which we can pull, reprocess, compose, decompose. Through re-enactment, we can experience being both a performer and a researcher. Karaoke, as a unique form of reenactment, can bring forth collective participation in a performance.

Next, we were asked to look back at our own past and the stories of our parents. How can reenactment create relationships between then and now? Listening to our class’s collective sharing of stories allowed us to enter the time-space of memory and was warming and inspirational. This collective sharing was complimented by research into the pop culture of the 1980s, the time of our parents’ youth and a time when Cantopop was at its most popular. These stories and their accompanying aesthetics served as a base for the class’ collaborative work. We considered the nature of memory and the role of media in shaping perception. Our research continued with a visit to the Chinese Canadian Museum. We learned of the histories of Chinatown and its local community. This further informed our research of the context of Cantopop and how it became a symbol for changing political and societal landscape.

In the karaoke club, the lights go down and you see the mic, the screen. The words roll across, a video of the Empire State Building floats softly in the background as the song begins. The bathroom becomes our backstage and is crowded with changing alter egos emerging from the 80s. Flung over the bathroom stall is gold, silver, a red frilly dress. How does it feel to embody a different character, to step into a new enactment of yourself? The class created a new perspective for me on what performance can be for visual art. It was such a pleasure learning and collaborating with our professor Kathy Slade and visiting artist Ming Wong. I enjoyed learning about Ming’s work, especially his recreation and performance of Bülent Ersoy, as well as his video work, Life of Imitation. I also really enjoyed learning about Kathy and Brady Cranfield’s collaborative works 12 Sun Songs and 10 Riot Songs. In the context of reenactment, it is interesting to consider the process of engaging with the archive and all the forms that that can take.

Through looking at the work of various artists we considered how reenactment bridges the past and present. Through collaborative work we brainstormed and created together as a group, tying in collective research and familial and societal stories. The class culminated in an immersive exhibition of video works, performance, installation, photography, stand-up comedy, and karaoke videos, which considered how moments in pop culture and personal histories can be revisited, reenacted, and reimagined in the context of today.