THE NEXT PHASE BEGINS… (ok, there are two parts but they are related)

LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS TO BE PART OF FREE WORKSHOPS -  With the help of my artist team, Rebecca Picherck and Jeremy Mimnagh, I will be leading free physical workshops on the subject of Beyond Pain. Participants will be given a chance to speak about and move through their individual pain. A video camera will record actions, getures and movement related to how pain exists within the body and how it exits the body.  These movements will then be incorporated into a new choreography - DIVORCE DANCE - that I will perform in conjuction with the original workshop video as part of the bigger exhibition of 24 Windows.

OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP … Did you take photos, or video on that day? If yes, would you be willing to give me a copy of that material so I can include it in 24 WINDOWS? Email me! cathy@cathygordon.com

WHAT IS 24 WINDOWS? Well, it’s a video installation for starters. 24 Windows is intended to stand on its own as an exhibit as well as to include the live performance, DIVORCE DANCE. Like the original performance, 24 Windows will be eight hours long. There will be a wall of 24 videos = each of the 8 hours of the performance x the 3 points of view of each of the cameras. The footage will be intercut with media footage, stills, as well as stories from around the world that were posted here on the site. As one of the many interactive possibilities of 24 Windows, audience member will be able to continue adding stories to the installation while it’s happening.

ON MY KNEES 2007 - EVENT HEADQUARTERS: The Gladstone Art Bar

Open from 11:30am to 5:00pm

You are invited to join Cathy at any point along the way as she crawls to each Station. If you have a cell phone with camera and internet capabilities, you can take photos of her travels and instantly post them on this website by emailing them to river96needs@photos.flickr.com.

You can check Cathy’s progress throughout the day, here, online at www.cathygordon.com. Use the Chat Box on the Home Page to chat with Gladstone Station Captain - Katie Kehoe who will be posting up-to-the-minute details of what’s happening. You’ll find out where Cathy is on her route, if she’s on schedule, and everything that has transpired on her journey to either help or hinder her progress.

In the neighbourhood? You can also drop by the Gladstone Art Bar and be part of the Video Diaries that Katie will be doing every fifteen to twenty minutes. You’ll be able to hear for yourself, as Katie talks live with the entourage (with this radical technology called a phone) and you can join her in reporting the incidents on the Chat Box.

Or you can quietly explore the rest of the On My Knees installation and wait for the show to come to you. Cathy will arrive at the Art Bar around 4:00pm and then dance on her knees to a remix of their wedding song as designed by her ex husband Steve Marsh.

The last artistic collaboration between Cathy and Steve was f u s i o n produced by DNA Theatre in 2003 which was recognized with four Dora nominations. Since then Steve has been touring with Marie Brassard and Cathy has become The Managing Director at The Theatre Centre and co-curator of The Free Fall Festival.

eight hours

eight installations @ eight stations

a celebration of eight years of marriage

crawling on her hands and knees through the streets / crawling to the water

In case you were wondering why I am doing this…

by Cathy Gordon

I was married to Steve for a total of eight years. Actually, we’re still married — and that’s the problem. Since our exceedingly amicable separation almost five years ago, I have not dwelled much on that time in my life. It has never seemed urgent to file the paper work. But I believe this “technicality” of not legally being divorced has affected my other relationships. Beginning on New Year’s Day 2006, I have felt an increasing need to sever that particular energy link between Steve and myself – so I sent him an email, “Happy New Year, let’s get a divorce!” and he agreed. But then we didn’t.

Then last summer, I was struck by a vision of myself crawling doggedly on my hands and knees along the dirty streets of Toronto - weighed down by all the repressed memories and my own procrastination. I would crawl towards the water where I would be reborn. The image would not leave me. It conjured the spectacle of a pilgrimage with thousands of crawling faithful; beautiful old women crawling through the villages of South America. I could be part of that. In my own way. Not by recreating a mass religious experience, but by doing something profoundly spiritual for myself. It would be humbling. My strength would come from this humility.

This divorce ceremony would be/should be a public ceremony, just as a wedding is a public ceremony. This journey would honour the eight years I spent with Steve and then allow me to let it go. Over the past twelve months, I’ve been struck by how affected people are by this project. Everyone has their own connection to image of my crawling. For some, they only see pain, for others they see strength or joy or cleansing or insanity — yes, I do get asked, “Are you crazy?”.

But what has been truly astonishing has been the number of people who want to walk with me or help me in some way to make this happen. And I am profoundly grateful to the many people who have volunteered their time, their resources, their talent, to make this project happen. It is an incredible feeling.