JENNIFER LINDSAY
jennifer lindsay (canada/the republic of ireland) is a tkaronto based artist-researcher working in theatre, video, ceramics, and sound. spanning art and health sciences, her practice is informed by memoirs of the body, language disfluency, and crip time.
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26 OR LESS
photos by prashant gopalCHARLES STREET VIDEO ART RESIDENCY
aug 1, 2024
aug 3, 2024
aug 8, 2024
7pm - 8pm
in denielle elliott’s essay, neurological disturbances and time travel, she writes about her personal experience with anomia. mostly invisible to outsiders, anomia is a communication difference that presents as trouble with word-finding. instead of practicing language recall techniques or feeling embarrassed, elliott encourages a playful approach to time in between words. as someone who also experiences anomia i am thinking about what a playful approach to trouble with word finding means to me, my brain injury community, and those who might experience similar or different language disfluencies.
26 OR LESS is an interactive sound and video lab that playfully asks:
what does trouble with word-finding sound like?
activated by motion sensor devices hidden within the lab, a text-based primary soundscape can be heard playing on a loop. it begins with a speaker saying, “i am drawing a blank, i am trying to find the word, i forgot” and other phrases in relation to empty speech, speech techniques, and memory recall phenomena. the more visitors move around, the more the motion sensor devices activate additional speakers repeating the same or similar phrases. as speakers join in, a cacophony of voices are heard in unison, as well as interrupting, and overlapping each other.
to listen to the text-based primary soundscapes co-created with naveed ahmed, click on the audio player below.
in addition to the cacophony, visitors are encouraged to add to the primary soundscape by making personal recordings of their own. instructions on how to participate are provided during housekeeping announcements and include letting visitors know that they have access to a recording booth set up with a touchscreen computer, informed consent process, and prompts. if consented to, recordings are added to the primary soundscape in real-time and are synced with an alternative version of 20, a video of fluctuating ct scans projected on the walls of the space.
rooted in communal knowledge making, this project draws on the intersections of queer, feminist, crip science and technology studies, as well as sonic ethnography.
special thanks to: the generous support of charles street video and their maker space residency program, specifically greg woodbury, christian anderson, yazid mohamednur, and konrad skreta for their kindness, numerous technical lessons, and availability to troubleshoot. many thanks to denielle elliott for her essay, interest, and belief, scott buckingham for his enthusiasm and generosity with time, naveed ahmed for being a long-time collaborator, prashant gopal for his generous photography, the love your brain organization, stew innis for his expertise and ease, cameron britton and ely lyonblum for their sound advice and encouragement, natasha fernandez, kristine kim, xuan nguyen marshall for always showing up, laurel anne stark - my blister - for her encouragement and unwavering business acumen, mel trojkovic for her advice and second set of reading eyes, sarah burstcher for her second set of reading eyes, and scott porbosa for his projector advice.
photos by prashant gopal
the title 26 OR LESS is derived from the montreal cognitive assessment test, where a score of 26 or less out of 30 indicates acute cognitive deficits for people with brain injury, dementia, and parkinson’s disease. this project is an homage to this community.
production and direction
direction and production: jennifer lindsay
sound design and editing: naveed ahmed
technical development: scott buckingham
spatial sound design: dan tapper
photography: prashant gopal
audiovisual support: stew innes and karl skene
accessibility volunteers
albert kwon, xuan nguyen marshall, matt davies, samayita khan, isla nightingale brown, stephanie hiltz, melanie trojkovic, and sasha furlani.
photos by prashant gopal, video by jennifer lindsay
this project is the culmination and cross-pollination of 20, REMEMBER TO FORGET, and SPEAK, MEMORY! though it can be argued that my work in video, ceramics, and sound were a constant conduit to theatre, 26 OR LESS marks my formal return to theatre after an almost decade long hiatus.
in the beginning, this project was about memory. in august 2024, this project was about language. at present, this project is about memory, and language, with a greater emphasis on time and space. in jjjjjerome ellis’ work the clearing, they are interested in how their block stutter creates time. inspired by ellis, i am interested in shifting my relationship with disabled speech from erasure to the creation of time. regarding space: in my friend kate miller’s audiovisual poem about being a hard of hearing parent, there are a lot of ways someone can take your child, she tells the story of her child taking a hearing test because they were at risk for congenital hearing loss. their child passed the test, and miller felt both relief and defeat. relief because they want their child to be healthy and defeat because they feel, or felt, their hearing differences would make them feel far away from eachother. i share those feelings with miller in relation to my anomia and the people i love. inspired by miller, i am interested in sitting with the distance.