Toronto (Tkaronto)_The Indigenous Screen Office (ISO) is excited to announce the exhibition of Tartupaluk (Prototype) by Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory at Marshall McLuhan Salon of the Embassy of Canada in Berlin as part of the Berlinale Forum Expanded Program from February 16 to 23, 2023. Tartupaluk is a live action, animation and VFX prototype of a larger immersive project in development. The prototype was part of the Arctic XR project, which premiered at the Sami Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2022.
Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory’s 8-minute virtual reality prototype proposes a visit to Tartupaluk, an imagined northern republic on a tiny island, populated by a nation of lovers and their vivacious President. The real Tartupaluk, also known as Hans Island, is a tiny inhabitable island located between Nunavut and Greenland. The island was at the centre of an unlikely sovereignty dispute between Canada and Denmark, exemplifying the complexities of unsettled territories of the Arctic.
Tartupaluk (Prototype) is a Canada-Denmark-Greenland co-production produced by Charles Stéphane Roy of SCINTILLA (formerly LMDP Co.) and Emile Hertling Péronard of Ánorâk Film Denmark, with the financing support of the Canada Media Fund, the Danish Film Institute, Naalakkersuisut / Government of Greenland, the Nunavut Film Development Corporation and the Aabijijiwan New Media Lab. The project was selected at the IDFA DocLab Forum last November, and the creative team is planning to shoot the full interactive VR version of the project on the actual island in the coming months.
“It has been a true gift to create Tartupaluk in virtual reality because it gives me great pleasure to envelope the world of Tartupaluk around everyone, to literally wrap people up with the beauty of Inuit homelands, to swathe you in Inuit sense of humour and swaddle you in sexy polar bear skin pants and wide grins. Tartupaluk is about Inuit lovers as well as physical, geographic and political unity in the polar region of the world. I so look forward to bringing this work to Berlinale.” said Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory, director of Tartupaluk.
“Laakkuluk’s work demonstrates the expansiveness of Indigenous storytellers as innovators who have always embraced new ideas and technologies,” said Kerry Swanson, CEO of ISO. “The ISO is committed to providing increased support to creators working in the digital and immersive space and we are thrilled to be partnering with Berlinale and the Canadian Embassy on this presentation.”
2021 Winner of the Sobey Art Award, Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory is a Kalaaleq (Greenlandic Inuk) performance artist, poet, actor, curator, storyteller and writer. She is known for performing uaajeerneq, a Greenlandic mask dance. She performs internationally, collaborates with other artists and is a fierce advocate for Inuit artists. Her collaborative works with Jamie Griffiths includes Timiga nunalu, sikulu (My body, the land and the ice) for the touring exhibition #CallResponse and Silaup Putunga, a film installation acquired by the Art Gallery of Ontario in 2018.
Tartupaluk (Prototype) exhibit opening is on February 16, 2023 at the Marshall McLuhan Salon at the Embassy of Canada to Germany. There will also be an artist talk with Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory and Kerry Swanson of the ISO at the auditorium at the Canadian Embassy on February 18, 2023 at 2 PM.
On February 23, 2023, ISO’s Storytellers Podcast will feature an in-depth interview with Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory to exchange about her vision and her artistic approach.
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For more information or to book an interview please contact:
Indigenous Screen Office
Jean-François D. O’Bomsawin
Director of Marketing & Communications
jfobomsawin@indigenousscreenoffice.com
(438) 826-6291
www.iso-bea.ca
About the Indigenous Screen Office
The Indigenous Screen Office (ISO) is an independent national advocacy and funding organization serving First Nations, Inuit and Métis creators of screen content in Canada. The ISO’s mandate is to foster and support narrative sovereignty and cultural revitalization by increasing Indigenous storytelling on screens and promoting Indigenous values and participation across the sector.