ENTER THE PORTAL
ELSEWHERE
This is a collaboration between Lisa Anita Wegner, an artist living with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), and Eric Rose, a renowned multi-sensory specialist and Artistic Director of Ghost River Theatre.
Elsewhere is a self contained. immersive multi-sensory experience that brings its audience into the mystery of the Dada Family, a 1930s Performance Cabaret Act.
Each viewer will be given singular experience of astonishing sensory stimuli and the reality-shifting storytelling possibilities of sensation as they meet the Dadas, who exist outside of time.
The dada family’s story unfolds as a bespoke experience for the guest who has been specially chosen. The immersive experience includes video, scent, flavour, temperature changes, light, fog, wind & sound that places the audiences member centre stage in the experience.
Robust audience accessibility is at the core of the project. A Portal Technician hosts a customizable experience for each audience member: Deaf/ASL interpreter; Audio Description; Relaxed Performance; and eye line height customization are just a few of the ever-evolving elements of the approach to access in Elsewhere.
An initial research phase in December 2024 brought Eric to Toronto as artist in residence at Haus of Dada for an intense immersion in Lisa’s films, artifacts, wind & light-based portals, and the history of both her real family and the performance personae who have evolved their own stories out of that history. This is a process Lisa has dubbed Realistic Confabulation. This is blending of real-life stories with wild fictions of other worlds and times is a cornerstone of her artistic work.
Phase One Research, December 2-6 2024 at Haus of Dada Toronto
Dada Universe: Film, Portals, Artifacts & History by Lisa Anita Wegner
Artist in Residence at Haus of Dada Eric Rose
Research Assistant/ Co-Producer Lisa McKeown
Filmmakers Ciaran Federico and Carson Davidson
D/deaf ASL Partner Sage Lovell, Deaf Spectrum
Audio Description Partner Kat Germain
Grant Writer John R Taylor
Co-Produced by Mighty Brave Productions and co funded by a private donor
