If you’re a fan of Sudbury Alternative Art Fair (FAAS), you’re probably aware that it’s returning this week for the first time in five years.
Like so many other events, Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario’s FAAS was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was supposed to return for its seventh edition in 2020, but the advent of the pandemic put those plans on hold.
With FAAS being held every two years, it should have then been held last year, in 2022, but GNO’s move into the brand-new Place des Arts made things too hectic.
“So we were ready this year, 2023, to do another one,” said GNO director Danielle Tremblay, of the event, which began June 14 and runs until June 17.
Past editions of the festival have been set up in the Elm Place mall (also previously known as the Rainbow mall and the City Centre) and the former St-Louis-de-Gonzague elementary school on Mackenzie Street.
This time, FAAS will be setting up on Kathleen Street in the Donovan neighbourhood.
Under the theme of neighbourhood, some 20 artists will create original installations, artworks, and performances in unusual spaces. As usual, the event is free and open to all.
“We really like to reach out to the community, and not just be in our little corner,” said Tremblay.
“It’s such a variety of people on Kathleen Street … So we thought, you know, nice mixture, we want to really go in and meet people and see what Kathleen Street is about and kind of mix in with them.”
The event began June 14 with set-up on Kathleen Street and the opening of the exhibition “M. Gros” at Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario in the Place des Arts building.
Live creation on Kathleen Street will continue June 15-16, with a magazine launch and a radio performance plus a DJ at the Croation Centre during the evening of June 16.
The main event will be on June 17, all centred on Kathleen Street, with a family day and garage sale from noon to 3 p.m., the opening of the installations and performances at 7 p.m., and a show with Annie-Claude Deschênes and Fauxcils at the Croatian Centre at 9 p.m.
In terms of family day, Tremblay said artists are being brought in specifically for that event, including an artist who makes handmade cameras out of food items (such as loaves of bread). There will also be kite-making (in the shape of fish), and kids can form their own neighbourhood out of boxes.
“It will be lots of fun,” said Tremblay. “And then in the evening we’re going to open up again, for a variety of performances, and the people can walk around maybe artists and see all the installations on the street.”
Among the installations will be large-scale drawings which the artist creates and erases throughout the week, as well as video projections.
There will also be a video project with Myths and Mirrors, which involves a conversation with sex workers (Kathleen Street is known as an area where sex workers are prevalent).
“We’re trying to listen and hear what they have to say about having a safe space and a place to be,” Tremblay said.
The full FAAS 7 lineup is available through GNO’s website.
Heidi Ulrichsen is the associate content editor at Sudbury.com. She also covers education and the arts scene.
