What a strange place! Check out this exhibit

In a dark exhibition space at the Kelowna Art Gallery there are nine TV screens showing people, their faces covered in cartoon-like cardboard masks, moving slowly...desperately slowly.

It all looks strange, and that's the point.

As one of the co-creators of In a Strange Place, Eric Moschopedis, told Leslie from OV1039, some patrons have quickly walked out of the exhibit, unable to tolerate the deliberate unrushed movements enacted by the on camera participants. However, he noted some have sat there and cried, while others have drifted towards sleep in what is a very meditative installation.

“The aim of In a Strange Place is to translate the complex knowledge and expertise of forest caretakers into emotional and visual gestures for a non-science audience,” Moschopedis and fellow artist Mia Rushton have explained. The duo are known simply as Mia + Eric.

The 150 people making their super slow, improvised 'dances' on screen are foresters, ecologists, activists, conservationists, and land keepers. They each wear handmade masks of imagined future forest creatures. These also preserve the anonymity of the participants with Moschopedis explaining the audience should not be swayed by any preconceptions about those who are connected to the industry: logger or hippy as he put it.

These choreographies are reflections of the participant’s care work, their connection to their local forest, and their role in an uncertain multi-species future.

The project was born out of a multi-year, international research and engagement process with communities in England, Germany, Norway, and Canada. The total running time of the installation is 2 hours 4 minutes. In a Strange Place runs from January 18 to March 23, 2025. It is co-presented with Inner Fish Performance Co. as part of the Living Things Festival (Jan 20-31) happening in Kelowna.

Mia + Eric are a neurodivergent, interdisciplinary artist team based in Calgary, Alberta. Eric has a background in theatre and performance, while Mia specializes in craft, printmaking, and the visual arts.