BIG small Talk with Artist: Madi Piller
BIG small Talk is a chance to meet, introduce, and get to know artists that Harbour Collective encounters along the way. Sasha Kucas speaks with Madi Piller, an experimental filmmaker whom Harbour is collaborating with on a unique project called La Leun Waashisho: Augmented and Virtual Reality Stories on Indigenous Moon Stories, which will be coming up close to the end of this year.
This former commercial advertising employee, backgammon playing, mildly obsessed lover of guinea pigs thrives on LAB gatherings and spontaneity. Always lending a hand to artists, Madi talks about Canada, family, machines, film, and much more. This smiling, laughing, lively zucchini fanatic shared books, images, and signs that popped up everywhere on the screen, keeping me on my toes!
Tell me about your introduction to Harbour Collective.
I think it was through you(haha) at a community gathering. I have known Harbour Collective for a long time through their newsletters and have read about their projects. It was great that we met spontaneously through a collaboration at a lab. We were at the right place and at the right moment.
I know you are an experimental filmmaker. Could you share the story of your artistic journey?
I came into experimental filmmaking through a reaction to formality. The first time I made a film by myself -loading a camera, shooting, and developing the person teaching, Simone Jones saw my nervousness holding the material and said I should not care if the film drops on the floor because those scratches would be unique and something clicked. I like the rigour of knowing things but value the spontaneity of the moment, the now, of the planned non-planning. It became a part of my practice.
What are you working on right now?
I always work on different things, all at the same time. I cannot work on only one project. Serious projects often suck me in, and I need to navigate out and do something that takes me out of the frame of research and deep thinking. I am reviewing this book (Madi showed me a book by Hannah Arendt). If you go into these deep thoughts, you need a break, and you need to do something like this (Madi shows me a card with four colourful still images on it).
That is beautiful! What is it?
I immerse myself in documentary poetry films, essays on identity, and abstract films. They help me navigate my day-to-day. These are very organic processes that start with plants on film. I learned this type of work from Karel Doing. He is from the UK and invented Phytography, a plant-on-film technique. Karel was present at a Film Farm and showed us how to do phytograms. The plants simmer in Vitamin C-infused liquid and Sodium Carbonate. Afterward, the plants are placed directly onto the film. The sun reacts, and plant images emerge onto the film. I wanted more than a visceral representation or shape of the plants and flowers. So, I manipulated the shapes, transferred them onto the film, digitized the images, distorted them in a software program, outputted them back to the film, and then painted the film. The process is generative; the same object goes from one medium to another and back. It is kind of a ping-pong kind of thing, and I like it. I ended up having these gorgeous images. This film is called Birds. It just played at the Artifact Small-Format Film Festival in Calgary. (https://artifactfilmfestival.com/festival/)
Does film inspire you? Is it your favourite medium?
I think machines and films inspire me 100%
What motivates you about machines?
I grew up with machines. As a kid, I recall going with my grandpa to the mechanics. One of his jobs was buying, repairing, and selling old things. His house and garage were full of junk and a treasure for me as a kid. When I started working in advertising, Peruvian women, relegated to production and the perimeter of the camera, could not touch the camera. I was always fascinated by cameras and tried to do what the guys did. When I came to Canada, I discovered the art centres and that anybody could access the equipment. Over the years, I collected equipment, receiving emails from people wanting to dispose of machines and things. When you care about machines, you want to treat them nicely. Re-adapt them. Resurface them. Take care of them because they are tools. (Madi shuffles and pulls out a sign.) “Let’s work together to reduce breakage of our working tools.” My motto.
What inspires or motivates you?
What motivates me a lot is my identity. What you bring as cultural baggage and, interestingly, I carry two bags- one is my Peruvian/French identity, and the other, which is very strong, is my Jewish identity. I have pain and happiness for both.
From what you have created, what is your most meaningful piece?
They are like kids, made at different moments, with one no better than the other. I have a line of films that I have been growing that narrate the background with family stories of persecution, displacement, losing families, the history of Jewish identity, and trauma. I have also been making experimental films with mushrooms, plants, and things that bring me joy. Each film I create is beautiful and unique.
Describe your perfect day.
My perfect day involves finishing up fast with computer things and going and being creative.
What moment would you re-live?
Ten years ago, I entered this studio and took a picture from the other side of the room. The perfectly painted place had newly installed shiny grey flooring. Now, I see all this equipment- living things and not decoration. This journey gave me the independence to produce more work and not just for myself.
If you could possess a superpower, what would it be and why?
If I could possess a superpower, I would try to solve misery because I like people to be happy.
Do you believe in aliens? Why or why not?
I don’t believe in aliens, only representations of ourselves in space and the universe. I believe in energy. Our energies expire but expire in this shell that is our body. Once our bodies expire, energy goes somewhere. So, we need to live with good energy.
What is one thing people would never guess about you?
I had a brain tumor and I still need to monitor the remains of it.
What story do you love to tell but hardly ever get a chance to?
While making a TV commercial, I met my childhood hero, Topo Gigio. Topo Gigio was a show for kids on the Ed Sullivan Show and a big deal in South America. I would watch Topo Gigio every night, and he would tell me to go to sleep.
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
I would live in Canada, the last paradise on Earth. Canada is beautiful. I love living here. It’s such a big country that if you don’t want to see anybody, you can go to the middle of nowhere and hide. I’d like to live in Winnipeg. I have always liked Winnipeg, I always smile when I think of Winnipeg. Why Winnipeg? I like the sound of the name – Winnipeg. Haha it reminds me of the stories of Winnie the Pooh. Winnipeg is not too commercial or tense but filled with character and things to do.
If I ran into Madi in the streets of Toronto, I would see if we could go to the Filipino karaoke place where ‘La Bamba’ is sung, see a music concert somewhere, or learn how to do pytograms. I get the feeling that wherever and whatever Madi goes and does, it always ends up being fun.
Maybe Madi will move to Winnipeg.
How great would that be?
Madi Piller was born in Lima, Peru. She is a filmmaker, animator, mentor, programmer and independent curator based in Toronto, Canada. Madi’s films have been screened at film festivals, alternative spaces and contemporary art venues nationally and internationally. Her work has been produced with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council. Eleven in Motion: Abstract Expressions in Animation, Hello Amiga , OP ART Re- Imaged: Imaginable Spaces, The Frame is the Keyframe: Frame Anomalies , FROM A to Z, My Home Here, are her curatorial projects. She programs animation and experimental analog/hybrid work at venues nationally and internationally. Her latest programs are virtual exhibitions in Augmented Reality, directing so far 4 projects with over 30 artists.
http://www.madipiller.com/
http://www.pixfilm.ca
http://www.pixfilmcollective.com
