Leading up to Pique on June 12, 2021, we are asking questions to participating artists to find out more about what they are working on for Pique and how the pandemic has affected their practice.
See No Stranger is curator, DJ and yoga teacher Sanjeet Takhar and composer and music producer Evan Vincent aka Emissive. They describe their project as “Two lovers, exploring how to be together within and without.”
1. Tell us a little bit about what your audio piece for Pique is going to be like?
See No Stranger is an augmented audio meditation/ sound walk. It’s created to be a listening experience, however, it’s also a reflection on the learnings we have had over the pandemic. A way of viewing ourselves as communal, a practise in looking at ourselves and others with kindness, perhaps refusing to see an “other” at all. It’s a means of exploring the ways in which we can view the world through gentler eyes.
2. How has the pandemic affected your artistic process?
It’s honestly been a blessing and a curse. The ability to have time to create, to dive into our inner psyche and to make space to just get weird on our own has been incredible. Toronto can often pressure artists to make things that are marketable or accessible. With no one to cater to for the time being, we’re feeling free to experiment more readily. There are many things that have been difficult. Missing the dance floor, feeling removed from our connections, and feeling lost in our practise (of throwing, attending and playing parties).
3. What are you listening to/watching/reading right now?
Serial Experiments Lain, Infinite Jest, Terminal Boredom, Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again, Death of The Artist, Drawing with the Left Side of the Brain, Xavier Renegade Angel, Aggrestuko
4. If you could get one idea, feeling, or message across with your work, what would it be?
see no stranger. anywhere
5. What are you looking forward to this summer?
To see people we love, to feel the sun, making new friends, reconnecting with old ones, to have some laughs and to bask in the creativity that blossomed over the past year+.
Visit thisispique.com to check out the program, buy a pay-what-you-can ticket, and learn more.
Follow Sanjeet and Emissive on Instagram.
Check out our blog and Instagram reels for more interviews with artists participating in Pique on June 12, 2021.