Category Archives: art installation ideas
July 13, 2022 Stretching Through Dimensions Like Lions Tied by Spheres
WE are driven to push forwards, innovate, change, contribute to a questioning of old, outworn modes and to bring in new perspectives on the higher levels of consciousness – faze out the systems of separation and work to introduce new, inclusive ways of operating in unity.
As spirit we know that there are no true boundaries between human beings, there is no separation. We all come from the same source, and we have incarnated as any imaginable variation of human being throughout our long existence – we have all been black and white at different times, we have all been women and men – and spirit wants us to remember this. From their perspective war and conflict on earth is due to the illusion of separation – based in the idea of one group of human beings as essentially different from or superior to another. In spirit we are all the same.
Two perfect pieces of the most beautiful creation ever seen – the whole, you together in harmony like up and down, back and front, sky and earth, fire and water.
Stretching through dimensions to each other like lions tied by spheres from star to star. Animalistic yet angel-winged. We come together. Brutal/soft. Hard flying. Comedowns nowhere. We stay up, fly together.
Time means nothing in spirit but I’ve never been the patient type. I am a man/I am a woman/I am spirit/I am time/I am an eternally fading/exploding star. She is herself yet she is me. I am her yet I am myself. We are ancient yet children. Thousands of lives. Always each other.
Tags: haus of dada, lisa anita wegner, performance art, performance artist, Toronto
April 25, 2017 Road to Human Realignment
“I am working on a performance film series called Metamorphosis Human Realignment. This physical stretching practise has changed my life and now through that doorway I am creating a piece in which I tell the truth with my body. I am very excited about this work.”
After speaking at Open Show Toronto about two of my therapy videos I have become even more aware of the clear path my body of work is taking.
I created the Fictitious History of the Haus of Dada as a therapeutic art practise and the bulk of my film and performance work has stemmed from it. After using persona and then the Dada movement as parameters I now feel compelled to strip everything down and tell my story with my body. I’ll talk a bit about that in a moment.
I started here in 2008 when I was still very sick. I made this Eva and Bobby video series in my home with iMovie and started to find my voice
Mama Dada was going to host the installation but that didn’t feel right. Thin(k) Blank Human was born that night.
The work progressed with a library of videos like Marry The Night
A Collaboration with Steve Weiss and Leslie Barton
A solo performance at The Mod Club in Toronto
Thin(k) Blank Human: Metamorphosis is a performance piece by artist Lisa Anita Wegner (haus of dada) and musician Ray Cammaert (Pink Moth). It began as an extension of Wegner’s Trauma Therapy and represents a safe place in the search for one’s self after complete annihilation. It is both a confirmation of vitality and a call to action. The piece explores male and female layers of the neutral self and uses vibration of sound to assist in the expression of terror, hysteria, madness, resilience and joy on the journey to re-birth.
After this metamorphosis I realized that I will always continue to embody Thin(k) Blank Human but as for my personal artistic through line I have come through the structure of relying on artifice to find authenticity. My current work is based in realigning my chronically tight psoas muscles which have caused a leg length discrepancy and making my physical body unstable and chronically crooked. After going to a stretch class of Mary-Margaret Scrimger’s at Pursuit I understood the power of stretching my body and how I felt different immediately. Now every day I stretch for at least 10 minutes, some studio days I stretch up to three hours. In this stretching and realignment I am finding myself and who I really am as an artist without all the performance bombast that I so enjoy.
I am working on a nude performance / film series called Metamorphosis Human Realignment. This physical stretching practise has changed my life and now through that doorway I am creating a performance to tell the truth with my body. I am very excited about this work. It’s also the first time I am not sharing as I go.
LAW
Tags: Canadian Art, canadian artist, dada, lisa anita were, performance art, therapeutic art, therapy art, Toronto Canada, video art
September 1, 2016 Canadian Performer Refuses To Show Face
In Toronto Canada, an arrogant performance artist declares themself amazing while refusing to show any facial expression.
When we reached out to the haus of dada for comment we received the following message in German via telegraph from curator Fritz Snitz. “The Ubermarionette only does private performances for close friends, artists and cherished audience members and is not interested in speaking with you peoples.” -Ritzy Fritzy
Artist Would Rather Give Ownership of Her Work to Those Who Inspire, Than Those Who Can Pay.
Performance Artist’s Perceived Gender Affects Audience Reaction
Tags: art installation, art therapy, Canadian Art, dada, haus of dada, performance art, performance artist, Toronto, trauma therapy
May 9, 2016 GROWTH by Akemi Nishidera
Tags: Book Arts, Japanese Paper Art
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- Posted under art installation ideas, art therapy, Gallery 1313, Love Letters
September 29, 2015 BEING: inside the glacier. Performing GLACIOLOGY with Anandam Dance Theatre
Using the movement of glaciers across landscapes as an entry point, this piece explores states of density, collaboration, collapse, overpopulation, relocation, disruption, environmental tipping points, disappeared people, mass graves, icebergs, and melting ice caps. Glaciology combines site specific performance with human sculpture and choreographic installation to create a surreal, constantly shifting image of bodies as landscape and simultaneously as capsules of history and memory; both human and geological.
http://www.scotiabanknuitblanche.ca/project.html?project_id=1568
Choreography: Brandy Leary
Sonic Designer/Composition: James Bunton
Tags: anandam dance theatre, art installation, brandy leary, Canadian Art, canadian artist, christine shaw, glaciology, haus of dada, human glacier, human sculpture, jen goodwin, lisa anita wegner, performance art, public art event, Scotiabank Nuit Blanche
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August 31, 2015 Reel Fashion – Paula John’s CELLULOID DRESS
“One hundred new revolutionary materials riot in the piazza, demanding to be admitted into the making of womanly clothes.” -Volt, Futurist Manifesto Of Women’s Fashion (1920)
Gallery 1313 is excited to have Paula John’s Celluloid Dress on display in the Windowbox for September 2015.
Celluloid Dress plays with the relationship between two technologies that creator Paula John uses in her art practice – sewing and 16mm celluloid filmmaking. Inspired in part by Volt’s “Futurist Manifesto of Women’s Fashion,” this wearable dress is made from over 250 feet of exposed 16mm film from one of John’s own films and nylon mesh. LEDs stitched into the skirt illuminate individual frames and project the images onto nearby surfaces for a truly stunning effect.
This amazing piece will be on exhibit in the Windowbox for September, during the period when the city’s attention turns to film with the Toronto International Film Festival. Celluloid Dress will provide viewers with an entirely different twist on what film can be, and stimulate their imaginations to consider other uses and convergences for familiar technologies.
Paula John is a multi-disciplinary artist and scholar based in Toronto. She has been exhibiting her work (including photography, film, textiles, installation, and performance) since 2003. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Photography, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Documentary Media from Ryerson University, and a Master of Arts degree in Communication and Culture from York University. Some of the themes explored in her work include, gender, sexuality, feminism, and performance. Paula is currently working towards a Ph.D. in Theatre and Performance Studies at York University.
Paula will be giving an Artist’s Talk at the reception on Sunday, September 13th from 3-5 p.m. This will be an excellent opportunity to meet a unique artist and view one of the results of her creative vision.
-Lisa Anita Wegner, Windowbox co-curator for Gallery 1313
Artist Statement
Celluloid Dress is a performance-based installation that combines the mediums of sewing and 16mm filmmaking to explore the numerous similarities between the two technologies. I was inspired by the early twentieth century Avant-garde art movement Futurism, and in particular the 1920 Futurist Manifesto of Women’s Fashion by Vincenzo Fani (Volt). In it he declares,
Women’s fashion has always been more or less Futurist. Fashion: the female equivalent of Futurism. Speed, novelty, courage of creation… Fashion is an art, like architecture and music…Women’s fashion can never be extravagant enough… The reign of silk in the history of female fashion must come to an end, just as the reign of marble is now finished in architectural constructions. One hundred new revolutionary materials riot in the piazza, demanding to be admitted into the making of womanly clothes. We fling open wide the doors of the fashion ateliers to paper, cardboard, glass, tinfoil, aluminum, ceramic, rubber, fish skin, burlap, oakum, hemp, gas, growing plants, and living animals.[1]
The Futurists valued speed, dynamism and new technologies, and were interested in transforming all sensory aspects of life. This extended to art, literature, music, food, architecture, and even fashion. In the spirit of the Futurists I developed a project in which I could combine two technologies that I use in my art practice: sewing and filmmaking. I merged the two technologies by first sewing a dress out of film. The handmade dress was sewn entirely out of 16mm celluloid film and nylon mesh, using approximately 250 feet of one of my films. I stitched LEDs into the skirt, which illuminate individual frames and project the images onto nearby surfaces. I then physically linked the two technologies in a performance, using a film loop to connect the sewing machine and the projector.
There are a number of similarities between sewing and 16mm film making, the most explicit being that Singer, the leading manufacturer of sewing machines, also made 16mm projectors. There are also parallels between the machines themselves. Both a sewing machine and a projector are threaded; both machines have a spool and a take up; both machines make similar sounds; tension is important; and the presser foot and the film gate serve essentially the same purpose on their respective machines. Even the movements of the machines reflect each other with the spinning of the reels and of the balance wheel. The process of editing a film is also similar to sewing, where shots are stitched together. The type of 16mm filmmaking that I personally engage in shares strong similarities with the act of sewing. Both processes take place within my home at the kitchen table. Both sewing and analog filmmaking are highly tactile and laborious practices where the physicality of the medium is emphasized.
For the performance aspect of the piece I project a copy of that same film through a 16mm projector on a continuous loop. The film loops through the projector and physically moves throughout the space through the use of pulleys attached to the ceiling. Approximately fifteen feet in front of the projector sits a sewing machine, which has been modified to add a film gate, allowing the film to pass through it on its loop. During the performance, I sit at the machine while wearing the film dress and sew the film as the projector drives it forward. The film is projected on both the sewing machine and my body, and as I sew, holes are punctured in the celluloid abstracting the image. Eventually through this process as more and more holes are punctured in the film the filmstrip is completely destroyed and breaks apart.
Bio
Paula John is a multi-disciplinary artist and scholar based in Toronto. She has been exhibiting her work (including photography, film, textiles, installation, and performance) since 2003. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Photography, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Documentary Media from Ryerson University, and a Master of Arts degree in Communication and Culture from York University. Some of the themes explored in her work include, gender, sexuality, feminism, and performance. Paula is currently working towards a Ph.D. in Theatre and Performance Studies at York University.
[1] Volt, . “Futurist Manifesto of Women’s Fashion.” Trans. Array Futurism: An Anthology. . 1st ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009. 253-54. Print.
Tags: art, art exhibition, art gallery, Canadian Art, celluloid, dress, exhibition, fashion, feminist, gallery 1313, lisa anita wegner, paula john, performance, performance art, tiff, Toronto, women filmmakers, Women’s Fashion, York University
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August 1, 2015 Art Saves Lives: Therapy Art by Angela Chao and Lisa Anita Wegner
Art Saves Lives is the first joint exhibition of Angela Chao and Lisa Anita Wegner, two visual artists whose work grew out of brain injuries they had experienced. Angela suffered a concussion at her work on a film set, while Lisa lives with post-traumatic stress disorder. 
They connected over their art being the way out of their personal traumas, allowing them to both function and stay connected to their true selves. They share an understanding of art as something they need on a daily basis to nourish their souls, and are so simpatico on this, that they refer to themselves as each other’s “Brain Buddies.”
Angela and Lisa are eager to share their stories and their art, helping to spread awareness to others that art is a very real therapeutic option.
Come to see their show of paintings, post-production photography and collage now on display at the gallery at Richview Library: and visit their website at artsaveslives.ca.
After a concussion curtailed her first career, ANGELA CHAO discovered cranio-therapy and found herself able to think freely and begin to escape the personality and mental changes, PTSD, depression and anxiety that had plagued her since her accident. Even more exhilarating, she could sit still and accomplish things, an ability that had been taken from her. She started doodling and discovered her hidden artist, and a place where she can leave behind mental challenges and be free to create.
In her new career as an artist, she has already won an award at the Art Square gallery where her work premiered, as well as Flight Centre’s first prize of a trip to New Zealand and Australia in a competition with 1800 artists. She recently competed in Art Battle 2015, and has donated her artwork to an AIDs charity event at TIFF. In addition, her unique story has generated coverage by the Mississauga News, Brain Injury Association and Hospital News. http://mindlessdoodle.ca/
LISA ANITA WEGNER is the creative producer of Mighty Brave Productions, a small award-winning multi-media production company based in Toronto. She has been exploring film, video, post-production photography and performance art for over twenty years, with an emphasis on emotional authenticity, collaboration, and – since experiencing a PTSD-related breakdown, the possibilities of art as therapy. Her work has been shown at the Phoenix Art Museum, the Art Gallery of Ontario, Gallery 1313, Moniker Gallery, Toronto Art Fair, Buddies in Bad Times, The Black Cat Artspace, NXNE Festival, Partners In Art’s ARTrageous In Motion, Scotiabank Nuit Blanche and, most recently, at the RAW Sensory show at Toronto’s Mod Club. www.lisaismightybrave.com
Tags: angela chao, art, brain injury, Canadian Art, Concussion, lisa anita wegner, pan am games, ptsd, RICHVIEW LIBRARY, therapy art, Trauma Therapy Art
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April 16, 2015 An Open Letter to Lady Gaga: from my haus to yours
Lisa Anita Wegner
Dear Gaga,
My name is Lisa and I am a filmmaker, performance artist, curator, storyteller, light bender and space/time traveller. You inspire me tremendously, and I am writing to express my appreciation for what you have sparked in my work, beginning with Queen of the Parade, my first large-scale performance/fashion/video installation and the work that put me on the map as an artist.
Rise and Fall of The Queen of Jupiter 2016
In 2008, I had hit hard times – I lost my film production company, all my savings, my heart and my mind. I collapsed getting to the Cannes Film Festival in 2008 and spent the next two years largely unable to function. In the Trauma Therapy Department of Women’s College Hospital, I found art therapy. I started a daily art-making practice that saved my life. I had gone offline and expressing myself in art and video was my lifeline, my communication with the outside world.
I remember the exact moment the idea for Queen of the Parade was born: I was walking my dogs and listening to “Marry The Night” after I had been binging on the BBC Series My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. (I am obsessed with the gloriousness of Gypsy Fashion.)
That night, hearing your lyrics, “I won’t give up on my life/I’m a soldier to my own emptiness/I’m a winner,” affected me profoundly, and set something inside me aflame. In a flash, I pictured myself as an enormous woman in a huge dress with a video screen on the front, with your song resounding in my head. I rushed home and wrote everything down in a crazy, inspired burst. This was the first step toward the 26-foot installation that was part of Toronto’s Nuit Blanche in 2013; during the event itself, I listened to “Marry The Night” on repeat with ear buds while I was twenty feet in the air.
This led to my first commission by Partners in Art, who commissioned a gallery-sized 10-foot Queen. This was a terrific experience that enabled to connect more directly with the audience, and I didn’t want the performance to ever end.
Something was awakened in me and this led to a whole body of work of experimenting on and off the space/ time continuum and speeding up and stretching out moments. I could finally breathe; I felt like I had come alive.
My new performing persona Think(k) Blank Human was born the following Nuit Blanche in Toronto as part of my installation TRIANGLE. I found comfort in her skin, and really came out of myself as a performer.
In 2016, I will be creating The Fall and Rise of The Queen of Jupiter, which feels like the natural progression of my work. This time, I will be kicking off my high heels and putting on Thin(k) Blank Human’s space boots, and I shall rise from a pile of fabric into a 40 foot Alien Queen. Instead of strutting, I will run and dance.
This performance piece will run 33 minutes and I would love permission to use extended versions of “Marry The Night,” “ARTPOP” and “Applause” as the soundtrack for the ascension.
I am approaching Thelma Madine, the Gypsy dressmaker from the series, to design the Queen of Jupiter’s Gown, and I would love to have permission to use those three songs.
This is my story of re-invention, and I feel like this is the first piece I’m presenting that is truly me. I’ve been searching for authenticity through artifice and I finally have landed on something. I feel extremely compelled toward this project. For women who have crashed and burned and for those of us who have gotten up, I feel it is our job to inspire others to get up and stand as tall as we can. You preach this every day, and this is one of the many reasons for my unbridled admiration.
Please let me know your thoughts me using your music for The Fall and Rise of The Queen of Jupiter in 2016.
An ocean of appreciation from my Haus to yours,
Lisa
Mighty Brave + Haus of Dada, Toronto
bosslady@mightybraveproductions.com
p.s. Thin(k) Blank Human did many a cover of Marry the Night, she was so inspired.
Tags: appreciation, art installation, haus of dada, haus of gaga, inspiration, lady gaga, lisa anita wegner, marry the night, mother monster, queen of jupiter, Queen of the Parade, thelma madine, thin(k) blank human, trauma therapy
February 23, 2015 Canadian Artist Misses her Own Art Opening, Forced into (mī′grān′) Performance.
February 23 2015 Fritz Snitz for the haus of dada
Canadian Filmmaker Performance Artist, Lisa Anita Wegner was curiously missing from the opening party of Phil Anderson’s Sex Show V at Gallery 1313 on Queen Street West.
Still from Eva Gets a Better Job (2008)This group art show includes Eva Gets a Better Job (2008) a short film of Wegner’s. The opening on January 19th was a booming success and it was a shame the artist wasn’t there.
Curator Fritz Snitz announced was forced to perform (mī′grān′) at haus of dada in Toronto and was unable to make the Gallery1313 event. 
The Following day Ms. Wegner performed as The Ubermarionette “Tech Scout for The Fall and Rise if The Queen of Jupiter” at Walker Court at The Art Gallery of Ontario. Afterward she teleported to The Artist Project. Photos by Angela Chao.
The Artist Project with Adrienne Dagg
Coming soon: Thin(k) Blank Human BadAss.
Tags: adrienne Dagg, angela chao, art gallery, art openings, Fritz Snitz, gallery 1313, lisa anita wegner, migraine, performance art, performance artist, phil anderson, queen street west, sex show, the artist project, thin(k) blank human, Toronto
February 20, 2015 Gallery 1313’s March Windowbox looks into lineages in Canadian photographic history
February 20 2015
TINY [a group show] was in the works for six months for the Windowbox at Gallery 1313 and as I was imagining hanging all the glorious miniature work so high and far from viewers eyes, I realized that I was lost in my own cleverness. I decided to take these twelve artists’ amazing work to a new social art space being built now. A Whisky/ Bourbon/ Expresso Bar that I will be curating next season is a good fit where I can hang it in a corner or place it in a nifty cabinet. There it makes sense. Not as clever but so much better.
As if by magic the day the March Windowbox slot was open artist Phuong Nguyen (who seems to know everyone) emailed me and asked if I’d be open to a proposal for that very space. Why yes I would Phuong, yes I would.
I immediately enjoyed artist Greg McCarthy and his work. http://www.gregmccarthy.ca/
His pieces feel free and I resonate with the artiface and playfulness combination. When I saw his set ups, I felt confident that he could craft a great idea into the unusually shaped gallery space for me. When I went to his studio and he showed me his colleagues’s work and his very open and enthusiastic attitude to his art, I knew I made the right decision. A fellow life enthusiast, he is just as stoked about other artist’s work this makes me feel comfortable.
I was tickled when the piece he wanted to bring to Gallery1313, was the very piece that I chose to post for my announcement that I was working with him. Fake snow!
Not having had a great experience in my own artistic education (I am a York Theatre School drop out) it was a breath of fresh air to see the Thesis Studio at OCAD and all the unbridled creativity being fostered in there. 
My last two Windowbox pieces were non-traditional: collaboration with Nolan a five year old child and an Anonymous and an out-patient at Women’s College Trauma Therapy Department. I am happy to present a dyed-in-the-wool artist, Greg McCarthy. I am proud to present his re-imagining of his piece SPECTRE.
Original Piece by GregMcCarthy
The installation Spectre in Gallery 1313’s window space looks into lineages in Canadian photographic history and how they affect the present. By creating collaged and edited versions of William Notman’s original studio setups and presenting them in a way that highlights the artifice of the image, the works look to re-examine the way in which we relate to our own histories, and the role that they play in shaping the present.
Notman’s images and others like them are so ingrained into Canadian culture that I feel as though they are due for a second appraisal, an examination into all that they connote in a contemporary context. From the iconic images of blissful figure skaters to intrepid caribou hunters, these images not only carry with them a romanticized view of a bygone era, but a history of how many Canadians chose to be depicted in the nation’s early years. They speak to the performativity of national identity and an idealization of what it meant at the time to be Canadian.
Spectre takes the provisional quality of Notman’s original setups and takes it to a hyperbolized extreme, the verisimilitude of the original falls away leaving the viewer with a stripped down copy of the original, a failed attempt at recreating the past. As gallery goers pass the figure looking down on them from the window they are asked to consider the history of what they will see inside and to consider what changes will need to be made as we move forward.
Lisa Anita Wegner, curator for Windowbox Gallery1313
Tags: art, canadian photography, Expresso Bar, gallery 1313, greg mccarthy, lisa anita wegner, ocad thesis, photography, phuong nguyen, Windowbox
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January 4, 2015 Knight Nolan hits his Target
Target is a piece by Nolan Georgakopoulos
When I undertook curating a series of installations for Gallery 1313’s Windowbox gallery, I made a conscious decision that I wanted to go off the usual path to find some of my artists.
As with the November Windowbox installation This Is What It Feels Like, Target does not come from a traditional source; rather than work with an established artist, I chose to work with a five-year-old boy who had never done anything for public display before.
I’ve known Nolan since he was a baby, and have always been taken with both the originality and specificity of his artistic ideas – for shapes, and colours, and how things fit together – that made him myfirst choice when I wanted to feature a kid’s art in the Windowbox.
With a collection of found objects that I thought Nolan might find interesting, and free reign to create whatever he wanted, what has emerged in Target is a true reflection of him – a self-portrait in a way, that features King and Queen representations of his parents, as well as himself in a Knight’s role.
What was fascinating to me in working with Nolan to create his piece, is that the process was exactly how I might collaborate and communicate with artists of any age. Target may be his first effort to create something for what he calls an “art stadium,” but it’s clear that he’s already tapped into a universal artistic urge.
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- Posted under art installation ideas, film and art, Gallery 1313
November 13, 2014 (We Could Belong Together: Looking for) Tiny Art and A Tall Thin Man.
Call for Submissions: GALLERY1313 (http://g1313.org)
Lisa Anita Wegner, who has always loved unexpected sizing, is looking for extremely small art of any medium for TINY: a group exhibit which will on display for a month entirely in the Windowbox at 1313 Queen Street West. Please submit a jpeg with dimensions or the existing or proposed pieces.Call for Performance Artists HAUS OF DADA: (www.mightybraveproductions.com)
Looking for a tall (6’2”+) slim male performer to perform with Thin Blank Human. Send us a picture, your height and performing experience.
https://lisaismightybrave.com/2014/10/31/performance-artists-perceived-gender-affects-audience-reaction/
Please contact Matthew or Patrick at hausofdadatoronto@gmail.com with TINY or THIN BLANK HUMAN as the subject line.
Tags: curator, gallery 1313, haus of dada, lisa anita wegner, small, tall thin man, tiny art, unexpected
October 31, 2014 Performance Artist’s Perceived Gender Affects Audience Reaction
Since Nuit Blanche on October 4th 2014, artist Lisa Anita Wegner has been performing as Thin Blank Human with her face and body completely covered in a white spandex suit. She talks about the surprising experiences of her audience interactions these last weeks as she talks to Fritz Snitz.
In the weeks leading up to Lisa’s third and last Nuit Blanche installation TRIANGLE: Ascension into Another Golden Age, Lisa discovered bending light with mirror film, a practise she calls Light Painting. Her mind was blown open so wide from this discovery she never recovered. In the days leading up to the event Lisa was not able to decide on an outfit for Mama Dada/ Space Guide. Several days before Nuit Blanche it all came together when Lisa found a white spandex morph suit and she never looked back.The Thin Blank Human came to life.
Q: On the eve of your Performance/ Projection/ Sculpture installation TRIANGLE: Ascension into Another Golden Age you were interviewed by local news and walked once to The Black Cat as The Think Blank Human, with only a headset and GoPro camera her your head. Tell us about that.
A: My outfit really wasn’t coming together, and when I saw the morph suit I felt like I’d found it and I decided to put my original Space Guide outfit on a mannequin and be The Space Guide’s Soul. This also felt right for the light painting that I was excited to do. I decided I was the spirit of Mama Dada who travels through space and time. In the suit I felt comfortable and free, the only thing is I really can’t see. I had an interview with local news and I wore just the suit, the headphones and a GO Pro on my head.
I noticed during that quick interview that people stepped and leaned away from me when I approached and talked to them. And stared ay me with with open mouths. Someone on Dundas Street said “that’s a dude” as I passed. I walked once to The Black Cat from Haus of Dada and got similar reactions. The wind was cold on my body and I had an impulse to put a dress over the white morph suit for my own warmth and comfort. Without testing it in advance I put a Mama Dada dress over my suit and went back out.
I spent the rest of the night in a performing in a white morph suit and a dress and more obviously a woman I got friendly reactions and TRIANGLE: Ascension into Another Golden Age was a a wild success. That night Thin Blank Human was born.
Q: And then you performed a Strip Tease called Nothing To See Here.
A: Yes later in October I performed Nothing To See Here at The Canadian Alternative Arts Collective (of which I am proud to be a new member) and here is where the gender issue started to become interesting. That night I didn’t speak. I gestured to the writing on the back of my Flight Suit and then would do various strip tease dances out of the suit.
At first an older man said ‘You are spectacular, can I ask if you are a man or a woman?” I answered “I am a woman” and he said “really?” and stared at me longer. I said “yes my name is Lisa” and he seemed not to believe me. During this packed event I stripped out of the flight suit many times. A second man came over and said to me “If you don’t stop that, I’m going to punch you in the face.” I was surprised and responded playfully but didn’t stop. Third guy said “I don’t want to see a man strip. Stop it it’s fucking disturbing.” I said out loud “I am a woman.” I overheard another man say “that is not a woman, no woman would dance like that.” I also heard “no woman would wear that.”
Interesting. First of all who cares? These guys care. I was immediately reminded of friend and artist Steven Joseph, who was my MUSE for TRIANGLE, he is a male who is given a hard time on a regular basis by males who get angry with him for looking like a beautiful woman. 
These small examples led me to believe that I want to further experiment with gender and the morph suit. So my female body shape and female voice do not trump the idea that I’m a man. – October 27 2014.
Fritz Snitz is arranging for Lisa to perform NOTHING TO SEE HERE in New York City in 2015 following a series of performances in downtown Toronto. Tonight for Halloween Haus of Dada presents a Screening/ Performance/ Installation FREE SURGERY on All Hallows Eve where Lisa will be performing as The Faceless Dr. Wegner.
More about Thin Blank Human Artist Would Rather Give Ownership of Her Work to Those Who Inspire, Than Those Who Can Pay.
More: Performance Artist Charging Art Collectors To Think About Her
Tags: canadian, dress, gender, haus of dada, lisa anita wegner, nothing to see here, nuit blanche, performance art, strip tease, thin blank human
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- Posted under art installation ideas, art therapy, comedy, dada lab experiments, film and art, Love Letters
October 13, 2014 Artist Would Rather Give Ownership of Her Work to Those Who Inspire, Than Those Who Can Pay.
Artist Lisa Anita Wegner has had a wave of unexpected financial success when Haus of Dada started offering LAW Thought Certificates for sale. Originally priced at a mere $200 to think about Lisa, when they were announced as available the price shot up to sell at over a thousand times their original value.
An anonymous German collector was thrilled that he holds the first gallery sanctified thought, purchased at $300,000 CDN. He owns the thought of Lisa Anita Wegner in her signature white suit for 2014. “Many others are allowed to think it, but I own it- I paid for it” the collector boasts.“We don’t want Lisa saturating people’s minds, we want them wanting more. So we will stop the sales next week and then “Memories of LAW” ownership certificates can only be viewed be during upcoming March 9th performance at the Museum of Modern Art or next season as a guest performance at the Art Gallery of Ontatrio” says her manager who goes by his street name Wheels.
Unexpectedly the first week of October, Haus of Dada stopped the sale of these thought certificates and Lisa insisted the 3.3 Million CDN be divided amongst local charities.
“All this wealth flashed around felt creepy,” admitted Lisa, who will now be giving these valuable Thought Certificates to people who have directly inspired her. “If these folks want to cash them in, that is up to them. It is a gift.”
Bruce Willis poses with a rare shot of a LAW Thought Certificate. “I’ll never let this piece go.” Declares Willis
So artists, art patrons, curators and media are all waiting to see who is chosen to receive these valuable pieces of paper. “Finances will have nothing to do with it. They go to those who have given me something much more valuable than money. Inspiration and human connection.” says Lisa with a big smile.
October 13, 2014 Fritz Snitz for Haus of Dada
Tags: art, Art Collectors, Fritz Snitz, haus of dada, LAW, lisa anita wegner, performance art
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September 29, 2014 Performance Artist Charging Art Collectors To Think About Her
Toronto based Performance Artist Lisa Anita Wegner responded to New York Artist Lana Newstrom’s recent success with collectors, selling her invisible art.
Lisa immediately was inspired by this bold manoeuvre and teamed up with curators Fritz Snitz and Candy Warhol who started started charging art collectors to think about Wegner.In the first week alone, collectors in New York, Berlin and Saltzburg have paid out 3 Million to be the first to own the thought of Lisa Anita Wegner.
Lisa is represented by Haus of Dada in Toronto, although if you want to be in the ranks of these collectors you had better hurry. After a mere week there is already talk of limiting the purchases. An anonymous German collector is thrilled that he holds the first gallery sanctified thought, purchased at $300,000 CDN. He owns the thought of Lisa Anita Wegner shown below. “Many others are allowed to think it, but I own it- I paid for it” the collector boasts.“We don’t want Lisa saturating people’s minds, we want them wanting more. So we will stop the sales next week and then “Memories of LAW” ownership certificates can only be viewed be during upcoming March 9th performance at the Museum of Modern Art or next season as a guest performance at the Art Gallery of Ontatrio” says her manager who goes by his street name Wheels.
Lisa Anita Wegner will not let us forget her.
COLLECTORS information: http://www.mightybraveproductions.com/collectors
Article: The Dada Times, Toronto by Mama Dada
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September 19, 2014 Intergalactic Light Show Allowed into Earth Environment October 4, 2014: TRIANGLE Nuit Blanche Updates
Born from a few hard weeks of c-ptsd cognitive problems, this new improved projection light show at The Black Cat is perhaps the most amazing thing I’ve discovered in my experimenting with bending light. I have discovered a new element that takes my projections to another level.
I have an installation of gauzy curtains and netting in a womb shape that the audience enters into. With industrial fans and multiple directional projections in the gauze, when I tested it as part of a local art festival, it was extremely successful despite not being able to hear the healing sound track by Marshall Dragun. So I have a **special sound experience** for The Black Cat: Full Surround Sound brought to you by Sennheiser HDR170 and Haus of Dada. We are still looking at some rentals for Quadrophonic Surround Sound for The Belljar Cafe, the last and most relaxing of the venues.Haus of Dada : The Invitation
The Black Cat: The Experience
Belljar: The Exhalation
My favourite special guest is the glorious artist Steven Joseph who will be my MUSE. I pulled him though my portal into TRIANGLE and he will thrill us with his extra terrestrial beauty and style. Come and catch a glimpse before Steven gets pulled into another level Super Star Galaxy and we mere humans can no longer reach.
TRIANGLE is sponsors by Parkdale Village Arts Collective/ Gallery 1313, Partners in Art, Belljar Cafe, Forever Epic Films, Mighty Brave Productions & Haus of Dada.
Soon the website will include full project details and bios of our team: www.mightybraveproductions.com/triangle
Your until the USA drinks Canada Dry…. Lisa
Tags: c-ptsd, lisa anita wegner, nuit blanche, triangle
September 12, 2014 I Am Toddler & Caregiver: Tricking Myself Into Doing What is Best
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September 9, 2014 How I Ended Up In The Windowbox at Gallery 1313
Maya and I are creatively simpatico and I enjoyed adding her into my art practise. We started formulated an idea of what we wanted to make for the End of Program Exhibition supported by Telus and Gallery 1313. We started playing on video and I found her shooting and her editing worked well with mine. We started working on TRIPTYCH our performance/ projection/ popcorn party installation.
Maya and I ended up creating a series of videos in preparation:
And it was very fun making the disco ball sculptures:
Tags: gallery 1313, lisa anita wegner, maya path, mentorship, telus mentorship program, triptych film, window box gallery 1313
July 20, 2014 Whole Milk and Cocaine: Making Spectacle of Stardust at The Black Cat
Wanda and I doing makeup test.
Sneak peek at Vanessa Lee Wishart’s glorious rainbow gown for closing party
Tags: androgyny, art, art gallery, art therapy, art video, art videos, david bowie, gender, hair and makeup, haus of dada, intern, life on jupiter, life on mars?, lisa anita wegner, maha rich, medical art, performance art, performance art piece, the black cat, transformation, wanda macrae, ziggy stardust
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May 15, 2014 Life on Jupiter? Me & Ziggy
I tell people all the time that I meditate but so far I’ve laid pretty low about my meditation buddy Ziggy Stardust. It sheds light on my fascination, for those interested in such shedding.
Tags: 1973, art, artist, david bowie, fascination, haus of dada, inspiration, joy, life on jupiter, life on mars?, lisa anita wegner, meditation, performance art, performance artist, spiders from mars, the black cat, the life and death of piggy stardust, Toronto, wanda macrae, ziggy stardust
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April 28, 2014 I create Worlds and live in them. Sometimes I get tired.
My stories come out clear, focussed, on track and on fire. I can’t believe how satisfying my day to day life has become. I am able to keep on a steady creative train and keep it moving slowly and surely. My bodies of work are merging and they feel flesh and blood real to me. I feel peaceful calm every day and nothing is nothing more important to me anymore than my own well being. I know exactly what I have to do. I see my plans, my collaborations, my shots, my images, feel the feelings. I am a blessed artist- a creator of worlds.
As I have since I got sick, I get hit by crippling exhaustion that knocks me right on my back when I push myself. I’m getting better at listening to my Spidey senses and taking care of things before they hit exhaustion and cognitive slippage. Since late last week I was incapacitated, moving from one piece of furniture to another, trying to muster the strength to buy groceries or take my dogs out. I feel like five years later I should be better at managing this, and I have to remember how far I have come. And with a stress disorder my chemicals shoot powerfully and my guidance system when it wants me to stop, it screams at me and knocks me to the ground.
And while this feels like a cruel blessing sometimes, I can’t ignore my inner voice. After trauma I find my inner voice yells. It’s yelling “take exquisite care of yourself” and now I am an overprotective mother to myself, sending myself home to rest when I need.
I was intending to write a bit about my bodies of work, to clarify them for myself but I don’t have it in me today.
I have a few errands to run for Queen of the Parade 2014, my next installation that will be at ARTRageous In Motion Fundraiser in Toronto in two days. Tomorrow I have marked a day of rest and recharging my batteries in preparation.
Off to take care of myself and make final preparations
Cheerios and love
Lisa Anita Wegner
Tags: ArtRageous, Daniels Spectrum, Forever Epic Films, lisa anita wegner, Longbranch Design, partners in art, PIA, ptsd, Queen of the Parade, Vanessa Lee Wishart
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February 16, 2014 The Triangular LAW of a Freedom Junkie
I am thrilled to bring one facet of the TRIANGLE ascension experience to the opening of DIGITIZE, a show running at Moniker Gallery March 6-12. Come March 6th 7pm -11pm see all the art and ascend with me in my multi projector experience.
Here is a taste of the inaugural blastoff that was Feb 1st at Belljar.
TRIANGLE is a three location ascension experience with blastoff being October2014. The triangle is an ancient symbol used to meditate on ascension, as a conduit for higher energies, and as a cosmic aerial to receive the frequency of a higher realm. A triangle opens your third eye. Come be a part of 3 distinct sound and projection environments with timed performances by the artist who will be your Guide, ensuring your comfort during your intergalactic travel. The TRIANGLE will be located between 2186 Dundas -an art hub- The Belljar Bar and Cafe -a social hub- and Lisa Anita Wegner’s studio -an imagination hub- which closes the triangle.
Come and experience TRIANGLE, where everything mundane will be transformed into the marvelous. As all space and time exist in one moment, travel in and out is accessible to those who use the vehicle of the triangle.
Born from my Dada dream lab experiments, TRIANGLE began with the notion that with imagination, the mundane can transformed into marvellous. The various video images start with mundane footage, a flower, my feet walking, a few seconds of an octopus shooting ink. Through layering and playing with timeline I create what I call video studies. They are an everyday part of my art practise, a visual diary.
My art practice has a focus on re-birth, redemption, transformation, and process work, using a multi-media approach that fearlessly probes for the truth, richness and hard-won lessons from my personal journey over the past half-decade that has confonted me with extraordinary difficulties. Emerging from my personal darkness, I have come to love rhythm and repetition both on and off beats; as well as the beauty and possibilities of found objects – even with technology. I work with a pastiche of donated equipment, and have embraced both the imperfections and new creative possibilities that result.
While spending time at three venues, I noticed that my studio, The Belljar Cafe, and 2186 Dundas gallery were located in a triangle. When I started researching the three-angled shape, TRIANGLE was born.
I am experimenting with a performing persona who lives outside the space/ time continuum. For TRIANGLE she will be the Guide, walking earthlings from one venue to another while performing in each projection once every hour. She wears a dress made from da-lite project screens and all her exposed skin is covered with white makeup.
My current body of work includes Dada Lab Experiments in which a multimedia “history” is created through spontaneous exploration for both myself and Haus of Dada, my studio. A silent black and white film titled Sunbathing on Mars 1916 is the backbone of this multi-year project. This for me is the ultimate creative freedom. As a trauma survivor, there is something cathartic in the ability to recreate myself and revise my history; and now TRIANGLE will be the first stage in inventing my future.
Tags: art, art installation, art projections, belljar cafe, blastoff, lisa anita wegner, moniker gallery, projection, projection womb, sacred geometry, triangle, vonliptov
January 23, 2014 Ultimate Creative Freedom: The Birth of A Dada Nation
I have found such ultimate freedom and creativity in rewriting my history. Having Tobias Funke murder the real me is opening up the universe. My art flows through Mama Dada and I can’t wait to see what kind of child she raises. I now envision a Dada Nation, a place that my family builds where no linear timeline exists and all the rules are broken.
Mama Dada was an old child and every day she is getting younger. Papa Dada is so in love with her.
Tags: creative freedom, dada nation, dadaheim, dadovia, daisy semkiw blackburn, haus of dada, insert me anywhere, lisa anita wegner, Mama Dada, papa dada, tobias funke
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January 13, 2014 mama dada and a bold possibility
today was the first day of mama dada experiment:
i can’t get enough of these. i think i will have a big dada family:
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January 10, 2014 Papa Dada: Rewriting Haus History Lab Experiment Day 1
I have a vision of creating myself as a whole family. Father, mother, self, sister, brother, child. I saw it as a silent black and white film series telling the fictional history of the Haus of Dada. The beginning is the meeting of Mama and Papa Dada. Mama Dada is an artist and Papa is a romantic fool who does everything Mama’s love. He is in love with the reflection of himself in her.
Slow is the new fast, so I decided to break this down to tiny pieces. Today I found a look and the beginning of Papa. He turned out silly and vain feeling like the bastard child of The Burger King and Dali. I think I’m onto something. Papa’s musical uncle is Klaus Nomi.
With this act, I activate the history of the Haus and so Papa Dada is born. Happy Birthday Papa I look forward to meeting you soon again.
Tags: black and white, character creation, dada, dada lab, family, haus of dada, lady dada, lisa anita wegner, Mama and Papa, papa dada, persona, rewriting history, silent film
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- Posted under art installation ideas, comedy, dada lab experiments, film and art, Love Letters
January 9, 2014 Haus of Dada Laboratory Experiments 2014
- Haus of Dada Happening Series: unadvertised pop-up projections installations
- Sleight of Gesture, interactive digital magic show in collaboration with Vincent John Vincent of GestureTek
- LAW of TRANSFORMATION: research. Video series with live gallery transformation by hair and makeup artist Wanda MacRae.
- You are Mother Nature. A performance art and interactive projection showMoment Factory Me: Dada Dreams Laboratory video series
- Ongoing body of pixel paintings
- Daily video experiments
- Ongoing body of collages with found objects
- Ongoing series of self portraits: moving + still
- Flash Mob concept creation and execution
- My Favourite Mistake: White Tragedy Feature Film
- Welcome to Your Guidance System: Inner.Space
- Neverwet on White: You are The Artist
- A collaboration with Istavan Cantor
Tags: 2014, art is for me, art videos, dada, haus of dada, lisa anita wegner, performance artist
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January 3, 2014 They’ve forgiven my mistakes: If you listen carefully, there is music in the silence
I had my first projection happening on New Years Day. It was -19 degrees outside and I had a flu that had knocked me almost senseless. I had set up and tested the equipment the day before when I had my wits about me, so I decided to go ahead with it as planned. And I’m very glad I did.
Tags: art is for me, art therapy, art videos, dada, happening, haus of dada, lisa anita wegner, projection, rear projection, redemption, screening
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December 31, 2013 37 Cable Cars of Readers: I want to Find Freedom In My Own Skin
A message I got from WordPress: “A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,200 times in 2013. If it were a cable car, it would take about 37 trips to carry that many people. In 2013, there were 7 new posts, 9 pictures uploaded.” I felt like I blogged more than seven times last year. This Churchill quote about the Battle of Britain makes me chuckle when I think about it in terms of blogging: “Never Has So Much Been Said About So Little (and read) by So Few”. I’m going to blog more often and more thoroughly from now on. The shape of my art practise is to document my days and my experiences in pictures, moving pictures and installation art. I think for 2014 I’m going to add words to that mix more deliberately. There was an interest from Cormorant Books last year in the story of how art saved my life, but it didn’t flow yet. Perhaps a few years premature. I won’t be writing it myself, however, blogging gets the words out of me for a writer to shape down the road.
Finding a performing persona is on my mind: I never thought something like this would ever be of interest to me- I’m such an authenticity junkie. I realized the type of persona I am looking for it something brought forth from a part of me that I am comfortable with, something I am authentic within. And then blow that aspect up larger than life, into a persona to play with and have access to for use in my installations. This persona quest is working toward a specific performance in October, but now I want to find it for myself. I have dropped into my body very deeply in the last few months. And I realized that while I am very physical and thought I was in tune with my body, I never use my physicality as part of my storytelling. I started to free that part of me, and I’m looking forward what might grow out of it. I remember being a bear mascot years ago and when I was completely unrecognizable I was dancing hard and audience was responding. I want to find that freedom in a less heated less furry suit. I want to find that freedom in my own skin. Then I can really do something. Now that I’ve spent an intensive five years of truthful self investigation, and the last several months amping up the listening, I feel ready to transform this authenticity and comfort into a real story telling tool. I love performance installations and realize I will probably do these for the rest of my life.
Steps toward finding this: Research by trying on other personas that I find fascinating. Personas that helped artist come into themselves. My first live transformation in a gallery will be LAW of TRANSFORMATION: Research: Ziggy Stardust. Transformation by yours truly and hair and makeup by Wanda McRae. I am shockingly stoked to have no eyebrows and an orange mullet. Or Moulet as I will call it when it’s on my head.
My brain is so deep into my next year of art and film production- and it fulfills me and clarifies what’s important. I don’t know what I ever did when I was just making films and had no daily creative output. I could never go back. And I could never go back to not meditating either, I can’t stop listening. I have never been healthier, happier, more certain, more calm and more sure I am doing things in life that are best for me. Two thousand and fourteen, bring it on. I am ready for you with open arms.
Blogs: Never before have so many written so much to be read by so few. Amen.
Happy New Year
LAW
Tags: art gallery, freedom, lisa anita wegner, meditating, performance artist, persona, transformation, ziggy stardust
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December 20, 2013 Welcome to Your Guidance System: Inner.Space
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Lisa Anita Wegner 
