Salmon People, recombinant audio video installation, 2010-15
Julie Andreyev and Simon Lysander Overstall, with Adams River sockeye salmon
–video shows 2 min clip of installation at Surrey UrbanScreen, 2015–
Salmon People considers the shared ecologies of salmon and humans through the artist’s videos of spawning salmon combined with human activity on the Fraser river waters that are part of this Adams River sockeye salmon population’s migration route. Salmon, human, and marine bird sounds make up the soundscape for the project. Salmon People presents a computational recombinant video-audio panorama, a constantly changing land-sea-scape, signaling the multispecies Fraser river communities.
“This artwork is a source of inspiration, bringing awareness to fish, on a peace keeping missive, moving through human and nonhuman landscapes, cultures, and media politics.” —Prophecy Sun, Carlson, K., Bizzocchi, J., Schiphorst, T. (2017)
“…Salmon People offers a dissenting and empathic understanding of the lives of other species, one that speaks to current environmental challenges as well as a growing awareness of the agency and consciousness of other species.” —Carol Gigliotti (2016)
Production Team:
Julie Andreyev: direction, video editing
Simon Lysander Overstall: software, sound design
Paolo Pennuti in collaboration with Elisa Ferrari: Adams River cinematography
Jonathan Nunes: Fraser River cinematography
exhibitions:
- 2018, Sept 8- Jan 6, 2019, “Endangered Species: Artists on the Front Line of Biodiversity“, curated by Barbara Matilsky, Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA.
- 2015, Oct 23 – Jan 31, 2016, “Salmon People”, Surrey UrbanScreen, Surrey, Canada.
- 2015, May 13 – June 14, “Salmon People”, at Videographe, Montreal. Curated by Brenda Cleniuk.
- 2014, “Salmon People” at Interactive Futures 2014: More-Than-Human Worlds, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Vancouver.
associated publications:
Andreyev, Julie. “Salmons and River” (chapter). Lessons from a Multispecies Art Studio: Uncovering Ecological Understanding & Biophilia Through Creative Reciprocity. Intellect Books, 2021.
Andreyev, Julie. “Salmon People.” PAD Public Art Dialogue Journal, fall 2019, thematic: Collaborating with Nature: Public Art & the Environment, Routledge at Taylor & Francis.
Matilsky, Barbara. “Endangered Species: Artists on the Front Line of Biodiversity.”Bellingham, WA: Whatcom Museum, 2018.
Sun, p., Carlson, K., Bizzocchi, J., Schiphorst, T. (2017) “Urban Mesh: Exploring Data, Biological Processes and Immersion in the Salmon People.” Bio-Creation and Peace, Proceedings, ISEA2017, Manizales, Columbia.
Gigliotti, Carol. “Hard Destiny: Julie Andreyev’s and Simon Lysander Overstall’s Salmon People” Surrey Urbanscreen, 2016.
supported by:
GRAND AD-NODE Project Fund, Emily Carr University of Art + Design
