Dream Diary and Ocean Breath
- Itziar Okariz
Western Front is pleased to present an evening of live performance by the Basque artist Itziar Okariz, offering an introduction to her practice ahead of a workshop series with students and recent alumni from Emily Carr University of Art + Design. The evening will feature two works that explore language, sound, and the body, built from small linguistic units and signs that generate meaning through reiteration.
In Dream Diary, Okariz continues her practice of recording dreams. In the month before the performance, she keeps a diary of recollections written immediately upon waking—brief impressions that often take the form of vivid narratives or fleeting images. During the performance, these texts are transformed through fragmented, cyclical readings: phrases are multiplied, inverted, and connected, with each reading carrying the last word into the next. Gradually, the full dream emerges.
The program concludes with Ocean Breath, a collaboration with Izar Okariz. Drawing on ujjayi breathing—a yogic technique reminiscent of ocean waves—the work amplifies breath through microphones as two performers inhale and exhale, sometimes in sync, sometimes not. This accumulative chorus of breaths shifts between abstraction and figuration, evoking the rhythm of the sea.
About the Artists
Itziar Okariz is an artist based between Bilbao and New York. Her work revolves within the framework of action and performance, questioning the ways of regulating language and the production of signs that define us. Her work–vocal performances, instant acts, videos, installations and text pieces–examines the ties between architecture, territory, body, ritual, sexuality, and semiotics. Often associated with feminist practices, punk-rock and the queer critique of normative gender constructs.
Izar Okariz works across plaster, wool, clay, oil paint, photography, paper, and pencil, among other materials. Trained in Fine Arts, she brings a strong interest in theatre to her practice. Her live works include How to be Both and Day Bed Bowie, and her recent projects explore the use of puppetry. She is a member of the Kikeku collective (Haurreskola) and also writes short stories.
Accessibility
The Grand Luxe Hall is located on the second floor of Western Front, which is accessed by a flight of 26 stairs. ASL interpretation is available upon request. Please contact us at info@westernfront.ca or +1 (604) 876 9343 to arrange. Further details about accessibility at Western Front can be found here.
Acknowledgements
Presented in partnership with Libby Leshgold Gallery and Emily Carr University of Art + Design. This project is funded in part by the Government of Canada.
Western Front is a non-profit artist-run centre in Vancouver.
We acknowledge the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations as traditional owners of the land upon which Western Front stands.