Symposium of Art

An annual festival devoted to performance and related art practices (1996-2011)

Organized in partnership between the Owens Art Gallery and Struts Gallery & Faucet Media Arts Centre the Symposium of Art was held annually in Sackville, NB from 1996 to 2011. The symposia were intentionally non-thematic—signaled by the use of lyrics from Anne Murray’s hit ballad You Needed Me to provide the title of each year’s event, which allowed for the greatest diversity of interdisciplinary investigation and inquiry.

Each year artists and a curator/critic/historian were invited for week-long residencies during which they performed, installed work, broadcast, presented lectures and held workshops, and participated in a wealth of professional and social activities. The Symposium also embraced spontaneous interventions and performance presented on the street. The week was capped off by a colour-themed closing night cabaret of short performative works.

The symposia had been sometimes controversial but always sought to both present contemporary practices and to offer some critical and historical contextualizing to those practices. Participants came from across Canada and from the United States and Europe. Audiences attended in large numbers from across the region and beyond.  In the process, Sackville became a centre for the presentation, research and publishing on performance art and related practices.

Over the 16 years of Symposia, community partners included the Department of Fine Arts and Music at Mount Allison University, CHMA Radio 106.9 FM and Thunder & Lightning Ltd. and made possible with public support from the Canada Council for the Arts, The New Brunswick Arts Board, and the New Brunswick Department of Wellness, Culture and Sport with the support of the Centre Culturel Français – French Embassy of Canada.

Image Gallery

To Face the World Out on My Own Again
18 to 23 October 2010

The 15th annual Symposium of Art featured projects by Colin Campbell, Isabelle DeHay, Annie Dunning, Amanda Fauteux, Annik Gaudet, Janna Graham, Jacinthe Lorranger, Sandra Margolian, Helena Reckitt, Jerry Ropson, Ryan Suter, and Ron Tran. 

You Gave Me Strength to Stand Alone Again
17 to 24 October 2009

The 14th annual Symposium of Art featured projects by Paula Jean Cowan, Kenneth Doren, Rebecca Duclos, Herman Dune, Gordon Monohan, Motion Ensemble Symphony Nova Scotia, Mount Allison New Music Ensemble, Rosemary Murphy, Daniel Olson, Mitchell Wiebe, and D’arcy Wilson.

You Even Called Me Friend
20 to 25 October 2008

The 13th annual Symposium of Art featured projects by Pam Hall, Margaret Dragu, Felicity Tayler, Fringe Festival, Kelp Records, Mitchell Wiebe, Elisabeth Belliveau, Tom Sherman, Paula Jean Cowan, Ed Pien, Jane Dryden, jake moore, Mount Allison University Music students and faculty, Valérie D. Walker, and Paulina Abarca-Cantin.

And Turned My Lies Back Into Truth Again
22 to 27 October 2007

The 12th annual Symposium of Art featured projects by Elisabeth Belliveau, Sym Corrigan, Paula Cowan, Delux & Durangos, Peter Dykhius, Jason Fitzpatrick, Bologna-Fueled Rocketship, Jennifer Harris, Glynis Humphrey, Mathieu Léger, Liz MacDougall, Ryan Suter, Jayne Wark, Stoned Wheat Tins, and Cherry Bomb Cabaret.

You Gave Me Hope When I Was at the End
2 to 7 October 2006

The 11th annual Symposium of Art featured projects by Daniel Barrow, Marc Bell, Cat Pontoon, Leah Garnett, Ihor Holubizky, Risa Horowitz, Amy Lockhart, Lance McLean, and Snailhouse.

You Held My Hand When It Was Cold
4 to 9 October 2004

The 9th annual Symposium of Art featured performances and projects by Kay Burns, John Dummett, Steven Harris, Eleanor King, One Night Only, Graeme Patterson, Shotgun & Jaybird, and Iris Taylor.

When I Was Lost You Took Me Home
3 to 8 October 2005

The 10th annual Symposium of Art featured performances and projects by Kinga Araya, Daniel Barrow, Peter Brown, Peter Conlin, Gregory Elgstrand, Hannah Higgins, David Hoffos, Jan Peacock, and Chad Van Gaalen.

I Finally Found Someone Who Really Cares
20 to 25 October 2003

The 8th annual Symposium of Art featured performances and projects by Chris Cran, Kirsten Forkert, Craig Leonard, Rita McKeough, Robyn Moody, Franklin Sirmans, Hannah Thomson.

I’d be a Fool
21 to 26 October 2002

The 7th annual Symposium of Art featured performances and projects by Motion Ensemble, Paul Couillart and Ed Johnson, Shary Boyle, Project Mobilivre – Bookmobile Project, fig, Kristine Stiles, Smartbodies, and Stoned Wheat Thins.

I’ll Never Leave, Why Should I Leave
15 to 20 October 2001

The 6th annual Symposium of Art featured David Kramer, Marlene Madison, Bobby Nock, Kristine Stiles, Peter Flemming, Andrew Chandler, Motion, The Confidence Band, and Stoned Wheat Thins.

I Needed You and You Were There
6 to 12 November 2000

The 5th annual Symposium of Art featured Tanya Mars, Mitchell Wiebe and Charles Austin, The Confidence Band, Les Impromptists, John Porter, Jinhan Ko, and Stoned Wheat Thins.

I Can’t Believe It’s You, I Can’t Believe It’s True
8 November to 14 November 1999

The 4th annual Symposium of Art featured performances and projects by George Bures Miller, Micheal Buckland, Kathy O’Dell, Micheal Fernandes, students from Dr. Janet Hammock’s Sonic Explorations Couse and Stones Wheat Thins

You Needed Me, You Needed Me
9 to 15 November 1998

The 3rd annual Symposium of Art featured performances and projects by Piet Dafraeye, Daniel Olson, Sharla Sava, Kim Truchan and Stones Wheat Thins.

So High That I Could Almost See Eternity
11 to 15 November 1997

The 2nd annual Symposium of Art featured performances and projects by Bruce Barber, Colin Campbell, Rachel Echenberg, Gil McElroy, Terry Riley, and local artists and students at Mount Allison University.

You Put Me High (Upon a Pedestal)
11 November to 17 November 1996

The first Symposium of Art featured performances by John Boehme, Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan, Mark Kremer, Jayne Wark, and Dennis Young.