Indonesian singer and environmental activist Nova Ruth and her companion Filastine, American percussionist, producer and DJ, make a rare stopover in Montreal to tell us about their life as an artist aboard the sailboat Arka Kinariwhere they have lived since 2019.
Their story, presented in the dome of the Society of Technological Arts (SAT) until Saturday, combines performance live360-degree projections as well as a narration that allows us to understand a little better the activism of these two artists concerned about climate change.
Filastine and Nova did traditional tours for around ten years – they even came to Montreal to participate in the Mutek festival a few years ago – but as Filastine explains, “there was a dissonance between our words and our actions”.
“Our desire to make art and music was also motivated by our desire to be in harmony with nature, to resolve ecological issues, but at the same time, we were flying from festival to festival. festival… So, we were trapped between the world we inherited and the one we wanted to build. »
The project ofArka Kinari – Arka means vessel in Latin, while the Sanskrit word kinari designates a musician who is half man, half bird – was born from this desire to be consistent with these ecological concerns. Filastine and Nova therefore set out to find a sailboat, which they transformed into a mobile stage.
PHOTO MYRIAM MÉNARD, PROVIDED BY SAT
After this Montreal series, the two artists will give a few shows in New York, then in Europe, before returning to their sailboat in East Timor for new marine adventures.
Arka Kinari: Artivisime at sea is in fact a documentary performative work which details the somewhat crazy project that the two artists launched in 2019.
The performance opens with an Indonesian song that Nova Ruth sings each time she sets out to sea to protect the crew from misfortunes or disasters that they may encounter. We also learn (unsurprisingly) that beyond the romanticism of the adventure, this sea tour presents real dangers. Whether they are linked to the elements of nature or the presence of pirates.
The reality was brutal. After leaving the port of Rotterdam, the couple created a multimedia show while denouncing the dumping of garbage in the Indonesian archipelago, as well as large-scale deforestation, two realities that threaten the availability of drinking water. But a few months later, a global pandemic was declared.
“We found ourselves completely isolated,” they say. The borders of every country in the world have closed. We couldn’t land anywhere. »
Filastine, Nova and their small crew sailed at sea, completely cut off from the world, for a year! After issuing a press release to alert the world of their situation, Indonesia finally agreed to let them enter the country. “From outcasts, we have become princes,” they will say.
It was at this moment that they decided to tell the story of their journey aboard this boat equipped with solar panels and a seawater desalination system. Sometimes, people were invited aboard the sailboat to watch their performance. Sometimes, it was they who went to meet local populations to deliver their show-testimony.
“We believe that beyond the facts, it is the stories that change people’s behavior,” Nova Ruth tells us during the performance. We share what we experience and what we see, which is a direct result of climate change. We must find a way to act more quickly,” believes the artist.
After this Montreal series, the two artists will give a few shows in New York, then in Europe, before returning to their sailboat in East Timor for new marine adventures.
Until May 4 in the dome of the Society of Technological Arts (SAT) of Montreal