Artists and audiences joined together to celebrate art and promote prison abolition and climate activism at the winter edition of Pique Festival on Dec. 9.
In the festival’s 11th edition, non-profit arts collective Debaser continued the legacy of producing events highlighting sociopolitical consciousness, bringing together Ottawa’s multidisciplinary arts community.
To Debaser founder and creative director Rachel Weldon, art and social justice have been “comrades” for decades.
“Art and music have been a vehicle to inspire and engage. It’s an incredibly powerful way to reach people and tell stories,” Weldon said. “As event organizers […] we also have a responsibility toward seeing justice for those people who are equity deserving and/or oppressed.”
The Carleton County Courthouse’s dark past and deep connections with the Ottawa arts community inspired multidisciplinary artist 4theworld to create his interactive art piece “Beyond Prettier Cages: Where Are The Dreamers?”
The exhibition brought Pique attendees into the Arts Court decommissioned jail cells to witness the experiences of incarcerated people. As one of the first jails in Ottawa, the Carleton County Courthouse’s conditions were so inhabitable that the city decided to build a new prison not long after its construction.
For Pique, 4theworld added original art and journals by prisoners, a mini library of resources and a microphone to record attendees’ dreams of a world without cages. He said his exhibit aimed to challenge systems caging humans and discuss alternatives to imprisonment.
“Art and music has this countercultural space. It’s this way we can describe the world that we’re in but also resist things, whether it’s abuse of power or these larger systems [we can] stand up against them,” he said.
Co-curator and founder of The Framework Kingsley Swim said she wanted to focus her Pique curation around the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. The artists featured on Swim’s hip-hop bill included DJ Kookum, Naïka Champaïgne and Eazy Finesse.
Swim said hip hop has always been about storytelling and often reflects personal experiences, whether of struggle or resiliency.
“[Hip-hop] takes so many different forms too. The role of DJs and producers are just as integral as the front-facing artists,” Swim said.
The Pique hip-hop performances demonstrated how the genre uses lyricism and storytelling to share knowledge and push for social change, whether rapping about microaggressions or singing about power divides.
Piano and percussion duo SHHH!! Ensemble, in collaboration with composer Frank Horvat, presented an immersive audio experience and paired talk of their album An Auditory Survey of the Last Days of the Holocene at Pique.
SHHH!! Ensemble percussionist Zac Pulak said the duo is very passionate about the environment.
“In the last couple of years, we felt at odds with our passion for the environment and what we do for our job. In a lot of ways, we felt like the problem because we had to tour to make a living,” Pulak said. “We wanted to use a piece of music to reflect in a meaningful way about what our place in the world is as far as the climate crisis is concerned.”
The sonically brilliant album focuses on different parts of climate change, varying from ecological destruction to how humans impact the cause. Their accessible classical music provided a space for attendees to think critically about the climate crisis.
Pique attendee Mika Argyle said their favourite part of the festival was seeing critical activism through an artistic medium.
“My favourite part of Pique is always observing how artistic activism can shine in such a safe, supportive environment,” Argyle said. “The artists and curators take care to foster an event that evokes such meaningful thoughts and conversations.”
Featured image provided by Tafari Hall/Pique.
