askîwan ᐊᐢᑮᐊᐧᐣ

ASKÎWAN ᐊᐢᑮᐊᐧᐣ is an operatic multimedia performance created and directed by Tyson Houseman. It combines multiple live video feed projections, dynamic theatrical set pieces, and small scale object performance, an electroacoustic musical score performed live by Devon Bate and featuring lyrics sung in nehiyawewin (plains cree) by baritone vocalist Jonathon Adams (Cree-Métis). The performance depicts mountainscapes from the foothills and Rocky Mountains to convey an ecological notion of non-linear, cyclical, deep time on a geologic time-scale. It interprets nehiyaw cosmological teachings from Elders about time, space, and connections to land at a critical moment of ecological crisis in human history.