The Hibernation Project

Winter is hard, especially in northern countries. While our hometown is not especially far north for Canada, many still suffer from the compound physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual effects of darkness + cold in Calgary.

*DREAMS OF WE WHO WAKE TO SLEEP, a project manifesto*

Hibernating is not the same as sleeping. It’s more akin to falling into a coma. Scientists speculate that many animals who hibernate must raise their heart rate and body temperature (coming out of hibernation) to sleep, to rest.

The Hibernation Project was a 12-week domestic intervention occurring every weekend from January – March 2019. A tool for embracing (or combating) Winter in Calgary, the project was intended as a gratifying, productive, and immediate experience for artists, free from bureaucracy and the pressure of perfection – a gestation period for ideas, for workshopping concepts, for the dreams of we who wake to sleep.

While we identified the themes for each week and provided space in our house and yard, The Hibernation Project formed democratically. There was no curatorial role – each artist volunteered their efforts, collaborated to build the ideal site and circumstance for their work within our domestic context, and self-determined the amount of effort and intention to bring to each artwork. While the project was a productive situation for developing ideas, it was guided by tenants of friendship and togetherness, more valuable than gold during winter months in Calgary. Thank you to everyone who hibernated with us ❤

If you want to read or see more, visit the The Hibernation Project blog.

Week 1: DREAMS OF WE WHO WAKE TO SLEEP

ARTISTS | Caitlind r.c. Brown & Wayne Garrett

Week 2: MIRRORING | things that reflect or repeat

ARTISTS | Caitlind r.c. Brown, Joe Kelly, Nikki Martens, and Wayne Garrett

Week 3: LEVITATION | things that rise, float, or fly

ARTISTS | Caitlind r.c. Brown & Wayne Garrett)

Week 4: INCONSEQUENTIAL CONJURING | regular stuffs, magicked

ARTISTS | Lane Shordee, Matthew Kennedy & Mark Erickson, Caitlind r.c. Brown & Wayne Garrett

Week 5: FEASTING | a potluck for voracious mouths + minds, with an unexpected ending

ARTISTS + PARTICIPANTS | Alia Shahab, Breann Christie, Caitlind Brown & Wayne Garrett, Daniel Barossa, Elyse Bouvier, Eric Heitmann, Joanne MacDonald, Karolina Gawejska, Tom Brown & Others

Week 6: THE DARK THAT EATS ITSELF | the dark arts, art in the dark

ARTISTS | Eric Heitmann, Sage Wheeler & Sarah van Sloten, Caitlind r.c. Brown & Wayne Garrett

Week 7: INVISIBLE OBJECTS | non-physical art, sound, smells, readings, actions, and ideas

ARTISTS | Caitlind r.c. Brown, Jordan Baylon, Nikki Martens, Wayne Garrett, and Xstine Cook

Week 8: MULTI-EXPOSURE | pairs, twins, and seeing double

ARTISTS | Caitlind r.c. Brown & Wayne Garrett, Logan Lape, Noel Begin

Week 9: ISOLATION/INSULATION | things we make when we’re alone, warm, and separate

ARTISTS | Caitlind r.c. Brown & Wayne Garrett, Rikia Novotny

Week 10: DISILLUSIONING | shadows, light, disguises, and optical trickery

ARTISTS | Alia Shahab, Caitlind r.c. Brown, and Wayne Garrett

Week 11: COLOUR CODING | all the colours in the visible spectrum – and beyond!

ARTISTS | Elyse Bouvier, Caitlind r.c. Brown, Wayne Garrett, and Studio North, Jennifer Crighton, Kenzie Housego, and Leslie Bell

Week 12: FIRE GATHERING | sculptures made from wooden pallets + intended to burn burn burn and ring in the spring (with Matt in mind)

ARTISTS + PARTICIPANTS | Angela Dione, Breann Christie & Daniel Barossa, Caitlind r.c. Brown & Wayne Garrett, Christopher Polancec, Lane Shordee, Logan Lape (with help from Svea Ferguson), Matthew Kennedy & Mark Erickson, NASARIMBA (Mikhail Miller & Rachel Ziriada), and Tom Brown