Survival Technologies

Kamissa Ma Koïta is a Malian-Canadian artist based in Montreal. Her practice incorporates performing the Indigenous West African knowledge of her ancestors; through her performative re-enactments, she seeks to tap into a redemptive power. Her work has notably been presented at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (2018), the Musée Nationale des beaux-arts du Québec (2021), the Never Apart Centre (2019), Dare-Dare (2018), the Galerie de l’UQAM (2018), and VIVA! Art Action (2019).

Born in in Montreal, Elena Stoodley is a multidisciplinary artist whose work includes singing, sound art, and writing. She has performed her music for international audiences, notably in Cameroon and the Congo, and created the sound design for numerous theatrical works, including the play M’appelle Mohamed Ali, presented at FTA 2022, and Black Out by the company  Tableau d’hôte. A staged reading of her work Des squelettes pour déjeuner was  performed at the Jamais Lu festival in 2020. She also serves as creator and producer for Chécké, an annual comedic revue with a focus on Haiti.

The interdisciplinary Montreal group PME-ART, who have been presented at FTA with Adventures can be found anywhere, même dans la répétition (2022) and En français comme en anglais, it’s easy to criticise (FTA 1999), gave Kamissa Ma Koïta and Elena Stoodley carte blanche in creating Survival Technologies. Constantly seeking new forms of more ethical and accommodating collaboration, artistic co-directors Jacob Wren and Sylvie Lachance didn’t hesitate to adjust their role within the creative process. For this piece, Wren shifted toward offering dramaturgical support and flexible collaboration according to the needs of the work. By handing over the reins, PME-ART is pursuing its mission of creating hybrid artistic objects that always allow people to express themselves in a genuine and unique way. Since 1998, their works have been presented in over 50 cities in Quebec and elsewhere.