Anthea Foyer Portfolio

The Weight of Love and Loss is an overhead projector performance. It is a story about love and death. It is a mildly participative experience where the audience is invited to share losses and loves prior to the performance and this information is integrated into the story.

2015

Story, Creative Direction, Performer: Anthea Foyer

Astrological Signs of Fahrasat

There were rumours in Fahrasat about an ancient text containing a variant astrology. During a routine dig for a new subway line this text was discovered by a member of the construction crew. Below is the translation*:

As Above So Below. Every cell of the human body, every star in the sky contain the history of the universe. We are guided by the minute and the infinite, every decision originating from the weight of our history and the weightlessness of the future, each decision adding to the harmonics of space and time. If we listen closely, if we look carefully, if we feel the movement of our atoms, we can learn from our past to guide our present and future.

We are guided by six energies that are guided by the stars, the moon and other celestial forces.  

* dates have been roughly translated into our western calendar of dates. They should be relatively accurate. 

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The full astrology website can be found at http://www.farhasat-astrology.com

It was created as part of The Anthropologists Story World.

2014 Anthea Foyer

At The True Love Cafe is a new work exploring the depths of love and desire through dance. Featuring the indominatable Chrissie Leporidae, this story is told through a series of five vingnettes, each exploring a diffferent experience of human desire.

Withholding captures the effort it takes to contain the flame within Fighting between the sheer inner force and an outwardly stoic exterior, Chrissie  holds her centre and regains her control over her natural desire. 

In Pleasure & Pain Chrissie explosively, violently erupts with the duality of pleasure and pain combining into a twinned force. She exudes strength and power as she wriths in pleasure and pain all the while inviting you in to experience it with her. 

Memories of Desire reaches into those places of memory - our loves and lovers in our past. In this vignette, Chrissie accssess the core of our memory beyond words and into pure physical experience and emotion.

Chrissie's Sensuality seeps out of her pores in this dance. The raw movement and direct gaze bring the viewer into the dance with her. 

Like a Whirling Dervish, or anyone caught up in religious fevour, in Spiritual Ecstasy  Chrissie loses herself in the flow of a sensuous experience until her body and soul split apart with built up energy produced through this energetic dance. 

This series of 7 dance videos is part of The Anthropologists Story World.

(videos are in production)

2013- present

Creative Director, Sets, Costumes, Video Editing: Anthea Foyer

Dancer, Choreographer: Meagan O'Shea

Videography: Linnea Swan, Shawn Bailey

The Anthropologists blend seamlessly into our everyday environment. There is no beginning or end to their stories as they push and pull, delve into and out of relationships all the while meticulously documenting and examining the complex human connections that comprise family, community and, in particular, love and belonging.

So how did they get here you ask? Well, 5 years ago another world collided with Earth and some of its inhabitants were knocked over to Earth, where they remain to this day. Once a year they gather and remember their old world and old ways, they reminisce, celebrate and enjoy each others company. They have also discovered that on this one day, for reasons unknown, they can connect and send messages to their old planet. We Belong Together is their annual party and their opportunity to connect with their past.

Last February this gathering of 50 Anthropologists was hosted in secret on Toronto Island. TThey ate beautiful food from La Palette cooked overa roaring campfire. They kept warm with mulled wine, Polish vodka and runnig around on the beach and through the woods. They spent time with old friends, made new ones and sent messages back to their home planet by performing a variety of rituals - song dance, chanting and face marking - and the culminating ritual of fire. By combining forces and burning the sacred vessel their messages were transmitted to their loved ones on their home planet.

(the photos were taken by Yvonne Bambrick and Anthea Foyer)

This immersive play is part of The Anthropologists Story World.

2015

Ward's Beach, Toronto Island

Anthea Foyer: Creative Director, Director, Writer, Experience Designer

Actors: Chriz Miller, Christina Kozak, Amos Shaw, Ceda Verbakel, Nate Gerber, Vanessa Shaver

Costumes / Sets:

Adrienne Ball, Sarah Couture McPhail, Christine Kozak, Vanessa Shaver, Anthea Foyer

Musician (Hang drum): Gary Diggins

Event Organizer: Rafi Ghanaghounian

Photography: Yvonne Bambrick, Anthea Foyer

This is a story about love. This is a story about Loss. It is a dark fairytale for adults. It is part of The Anthropologists storyworld. It has a few incarnations including on iPad, in digital prints and as an overhead projector performance.

2014 - present

Creative Director, Story, Visuals, Costumes, iPad Build: Anthea Foyer

Model, Photographer: Jackie Brown

Additional iPad Programming: Ken Leung

I have dreamt about creating the world's tiniest music festival for a few years. This year we made it happen. 6 bands. 4 art installations. 2 art vendors. 1 merch specialist. 1 food station. 1 selfie station. 1 glittery sign. hand drawn maps of the venue. festival posters. wristbands with heartbeats. all in one tiny venue. it was a magical event and we will definitely make this an annual event.

Curator: Anthea Foyer

Music Bookers: Shannon Martin, Rich Taylor

The Anthropologists arrived five years ago. A tremor shook the earth and these vistors from an (almost) parallel planet landed here. They have no idea why they are here and no idea when they will leave. So while they are here they are exploring the human condition – love, death, sex, sensuality, friendship, belonging and memory are all being explored.

They meet yearly when they have discover, through a series of rituals, that they can send messages to their loved ones back home. The Anthropologists is a universal story of immigrants searching to fit in while always longing for home.

Some unexpected consequences of this planetary shift were that animals around the world turned a beautiful shade of white and the stars shifted, ever so slightly.

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The Anthropologists is a multiplatform story. Each part of the story can be experienced on its own or the reader can sift through and build the experience of the world for themselves. The story is told through a variety of methods:

The Empyrean Chronicle is the spine of the project. It is the one place where all of the stories connect. It will be updated throughout the project and let readers know the breadth of the project.

 Hunt & Gather: We Belong Together  Hunt and Gather is a one-day outdoor event that focuses on site-specific performances by participants. Hunt and Gather produce a scenario based on timeless themes and guide participants to create a new perspective through interpretation. Provided with the natural and challenging outdoor beauty of Wards Island, participants use the elements as a backdrop for performances.

Farhasat Astrology  When the world’s collided the stars changed. This site is a fictional astrology based on the new alignment of the stars.

This Is A Story About Love & Death (due March 2015) This is an iPad book that follows the character Lottie as she explores her experience of losing someone.

The True Love Cafe (due March / April 2015) This is a series of interactive dance videos that follow the character Chrissie as she explores human sexuality.

The Albino Graffiti Blog A bit of an easter egg. It is the secret blog of wheat paste albino animal graffiti that are appearing around the world in reaction to all of the animals in the world turning white.

This project would not have been possible without the incredible creativity, generosity and support of the team that are helping me to assemble this project:

Immersive Play: Chriztopher North (actor, fire specialist; costumes); Amos Shaw (actor); Christina Kozak (actor, costumes); Ceda Verbakel (actor); Nate Gerber (actor); Adrienne Ball (costumes, props, sets; actor); Sarah Couture McPhail (costumes, props, sets, studio space, actor); Rafi Ghanaghounian (organization); Vanessa Shaver (actor); Gary Diggins (musician); Rob Cruickshank (programming; electronics); Tara Schorr (electronics); Shannon Martin (costumes);(Yvonne Bambrick (photography); La Pallette (food)

Dance Videos: Meagan O’Shea (dancer, choreographer); Linnea Swan (videographer); Shawn Bailey (videographer, studio space); Faustine Faubert (animation); Nick Storring (musical score)

iPad Book: Ken Leung (programming); Jackie Brown (photography, model)

Astrology Website: Amos Shaw (copy / image editing)

Online Newspaper: jon page (copy editing); Lia Rogers (copy editing); Kevin O’Byrne (copy editing)

2014 - present

This project is currently being developed. It includes the following, an orphan, ancient maritime signals, narwhals, icebergs, a myriad of emotions, and a fortune teller.

2016 -

We know you love to talk about Love. So do we. The Conversation asks big questions. About Love, Relationships, Fidelity, Heartache.

The Conversation About Love is an interactive art project and experimental marketing campaign presented by Take This Waltz, directed and written by Sarah Polley. It is based on the themes and ideas in the film and is intended to be a companion piece to the movie. We hope that it will inspire people to see the film and continue a creative conversation about love on and off line. The conversation lives on several platforms including: a website, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, at live events with our Love Photo Booth, and, hopefully for your mobile devices as well.

Take This Waltz is the latest film from renowned Director Sarah Polley. It will launch as a Gala presentation at TIFF 2011. It was the basis for this project and we hope you will take the opportunity to see the film at the festival or on its release in 2012. We will keep you updated about screenings, openings and other fun film related stuff.

So what is it about? Well, when Margot (Michelle Williams), 28, meets Daniel (Luke Kirby), their chemistry is intense and immediate. But Margot suppresses her sudden attraction; she is happily married to Lou (Seth Rogen), a cookbook writer. When Margot learns that Daniel lives across the street from them, the certainty about her domestic life shatters. She and Daniel steal moments throughout the steaming Toronto summer, their eroticism heightened by their restraint. Swelteringly hot, bright and colorful like a bowl of fruit, TAKE THIS WALTZ leads us, laughing, through the familiar, but uncharted question of what long-term relationships do to love, sex, and our images of ourselves.

A funny, bittersweet and heart-wrenching story about a woman struggling to choose between two different types of love.

This interactive narrative takes the audience on a suspenseful journey through the internet looking for a lost explorer. Built on top of the Web, and using a variety of preexisting email, blogs, websites and other devices, the plot is driven using live sites for clues and also to direct the story. Gradually the audience becomes the author as the story is given over to them to write about their journey as they search for Arachne. This project was built in 2005.

technology + art + love = ? leads us into the spaces that explore what it is to express love, longing, lust. New innovations in technology both enhance communication and, some argue, isolate us further, yet in the midst of our crazy complicated busy lives we still create room for communicating love and lust, for touching and being touched, for being present and together. The emotions that make us so strongly human drive the need for our connection and mutual recognition and new forms can amplify old emotions in surprising ways.

2009

Co-Curated by:

Anthea Foyer & Siobhan O'Flynn

Artists / Projects

MY DOKI DOKI
James Milward, Jonathan Resnick and Trevor Shaikin

SMOKs |SMOKs, an XS Labs project by Joanna Berzowska, with Marcelo Coelho, Ali Gorji, Vahid Giahi, Hanna Söder, Sarah-Anne Fork, Shirley Kwok-Choon, Marguerite Bromley, and Shermine Sawalha.

FROM ME TO YOU | Matt Gorbet > Susan Gorbet > Rob Gorbet

WONDER BIKES | David McCallum

MAPPING NATURAL AND UNNATURAL DISASTERS | The Notary Public (Erika Hennebury and Laura Nanni)

I LOVE IT WHEN YOU… | Anthea Foyer > Rob King

Between You and I* was an exhibit, event and participatory marketing experience. I was the curator for the exhibit and co-designed and implemented the marketing strategy with Rachel Noonan.

CURATORIAL STATEMENT: Between you and I we create connections, pathways, rabbit holes, traces and leads. We tell each other stories that lead us together, tear us apart, recreate and retell our histories. It is how we find out who we were, who we are and, most importantly who we will be. Through a variety of technologies, twelve remarkable storytellers, producers, creators, and technological wizards weave together the lines that are constantly emerging Between You And I.

EVENT EXPERIENCE: Between You and I is an exhibit that leads people together, pulls them apart, recreates and retells our histories.  We will bring together – and to the gallery on this premise.

CFC Media Lab Final Exhibit | Lennox Contemporary: Five thoughtful contemporary projects will be exhibited that have been created by twelve remarkable storytellers, producers, creators, and technological wizards. The space encourages thoughtful interactions and intriguing possibilities.

Tentacle | Grafitti Research Lab | CFC Media Lab: Tentacle was projected onto the front of the Lennox Gallery so that people could interact and play together.

MARKETING CAMPAIGN: Along with the traditional marketing of postcards, web banners and posters I developed, along with Rachel Noonan, a participatory marketing campaign. Goals of this campaign included drawing people into the gallery space, extending the exhibit beyond the walls and into all zones of Nuit Blanche.

Street teams: Bottles of branded bubbles were sent out with street teams on bicycle. Each of these bottles said:

“Between you and I we create connections, pathways, rabbit holes, traces and leads. We tell each other stories that lead us together, tear us apart, recreate and retell our histories…. Come explore the possibilities…. CFC Media Lab at Lennox Contemporary. 21 Ossington”

As well they all had stickers attached that were a series of random words. Participants were encouraged to come by the gallery to use these words to create a larger story.

In the gallery there was a large wall with instructions for participants to create their own narrative using the stickers – much like magnetic fridge poetry. By the end of the night the whole board was filled and the story of the night was created.

The street teams had covered their bikes in lights making them distinctive and playful. They were instructed to engage in conversation with the people they were giving bubbles to to talk about the exhibit. These street teams also made videos of their experiences that continued to spread the experience online after the event.

Work in images by Ken Leung

This installation consisted of tow cosy living rooms which provided a space for participants to voice things left unsaid. Connected telephones in each room linked anonymous strangers. It provided an opportunity to say things they had always meant to say, to rights wrongs, confess sins or get the last word in.

2010: Nuit Blanche

2011: Festivals

Hidden Toronto was a fictional tour company created to help people see their cities differently. The Intimate Walking Tours were intended to help see all the layers of people that live in any given neighbourhood and was, essentially, a documentary of Parkdale; while the Curious Walking Tours were very imagination based and were intended to give the audience a new perspective on places that they inhabit everyday.

Nuit Blanche: 2006

Queen West Art Crawl: 2008

Hidden Toronto: Intimate Walking Tours. Creative Director, Producer, Tour Guide. Twelve guided tours by myself and others creative types who I asked to reinvent the city by giving fictional city tours. We had line ups all night and had to restrict the tours to 40 people at a time.

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Hidden Toronto: Curious Walking Tours Creative Director. Producer. Tour Guide. Each neighbourhood has layers of people who may never meet each other. For this series of tours I interviewed and gave tours of people in the Parkdale neighbourhood. This included: a 6 year old girl, a formerly homeless man with addiction issues, the owner of a successful Ethiopian restaurant, an artist.

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Manifestations of Manifestations [Hidden Toronto: Secrets of the City]. Co-creator, Producer & Writer with Brenda Goldstein. This was the tour I gave myself. We reinvented a stretch of the city from OCAD U to Kensington Market which culminated in an installation in an alleyway.

Patrick Dinnen & Anthea Foyer were hired by the Centre for Faculty Development {CFD}, University of Toronto at St Michael’s Hospital to create an interactive infographic to celebrate their 10th Anniversary. 

'We believe that a little conversation, a little understanding, and a little sharing can go a long way. We would like to provide an opportunity for you to leave a message for a new friend on Bay Street / Moss Park'

We left this message in two Bell phone booths in two very different neighbourhoods. The idea was to connect communities through this now old fashioned, but public method of communication.

This project was part of the TelTalk series, a juried selection of artist designed phone booths across the city of Toronto.

Co-created by:

Anthea Foyer & Rob King

This audio installation invited users to leave love messages. Each message was added to the next and listeners could hear a steady stream of loving messages online for the duration of the project.

Co created by:

Anthea Foyer & Rob King