9 February 2021 - 31 May 2021

isthmus is a connection; a site forged between places. This collaborative research commission invites artists whose thinking and work are bolstered by peer exchange and participatory forms of knowledge assembly. Presented on the Mercer Union website and using Miro, commissioned projects bridge geographies and temporalities between artists, their collaborators and publics; gathering a multiplicity of voices and artefacts while architecting new connections through virtual workshops, tours, screenings and live conversation.

The program’s Winter 2021 commission features artists Aleesa Cohene and Ame Henderson, in collaboration with writer Daniella Sanader and three pairs of dance artists. We invite you to follow their project Two, Four, Six as it develops.

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Aleesa Cohene’s work has been exhibited in festivals and galleries internationally, with solo exhibitions at Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography, Toronto (2017); Reykjavik Photography Museum (2013); Gallery Suvi Lehtinen, Berlin (2012); and Glasmoog Gallery, Cologne (2010). They hold a Masters of Visual Studies from the University of Toronto and completed a fellowship at the Kunsthochschule für Medien, Cologne under German experimental filmmaker Matthias Müller. They have participated in artist residencies in Canada, Denmark and the Netherlands, and have won grants and prizes in Canada and Europe. Their work is part of the permanent collection of Oakville Galleries and numerous private collections.                                        

Ame Henderson is a choreographer and performer of settler ancestry from Nuu-chah-nulth territory on the west coast of Vancouver Island and now living and working in Tkaronto/Toronto. With a practice that spans publication, performance and exhibition, her work activates dance and choreography to propose experiential modes of being together. She collaborated regularly with Toronto Dance Theatre (2013-2019) creating the works voyager (2014) with the songwriter Jennifer Castle; Noisy (2017) with musicians Robin Dann and Matt Smith; and RING (2019) with composer Sarah Davachi. Her projects produced by Toronto collective Public Recordings include performance encyclopeadia (2013), co-created with Evan Webber; relay (2010); and what we are saying (2013), which have toured nationally and internationally.  

Daniella Sanader is a writer and reader based in Toronto. Her arts writing has been published by a number of publications, galleries and artist-run spaces across the country. She holds an MA in Art History and Gender Studies from McGill University and was a participant in the 2018 Critical Art Writing Ensemble at the Banff Centre. desanader.com

Two, Four, Six is presented in partnership with Public Recordings, Toronto.