Unsent Letters: To Whom It May Concern
To Whom It May Concern:
These letters were written as they unfolded.
For now they live here, in this room,
waiting to be discovered, torn apart, taped together.
Journal entries, poems, songs,
transcriptions and scripts of psychodrama
continued to be lived out over and over
through feedback and distortion.
Come write your letters,
then watch them turn into flowers.
“Unsent Letters: To Whom It May Concern” is an experimental, immersive, and interactive theatre piece, investigating stories, cyclical patterns in human relationships, memories, and how they continue to live on in objects, places, and our bodies.
Inspired by Gestalt, psychodrama, empty chair, narrative therapy, and catharsis, while exploring the intersections of theatre, poetry, songs, sound art, aerial hoop, dance, and visual art, the experience takes form as both a musical and an installation, posing the question: How do we rewrite our stories when we revisit them?
Artist Info
Van Lefan樂凡 is a Taiwanese multidisciplinary artist with practices in music, sound art, visual media, written works, theatre, northern Shaolin kung fu, dance, and aerial hoop. Composing using field recordings, feedback, self made instruments, electronics, voice, and acoustic instruments, her work continues to explore new ways interweaving mediums can create immersive spaces for healing, processing emotions, ideas, and reflection on personal and collective experiences. Her works include debut album “What Holds Us Together?” (2022), SFU Theatre Production of Susanna Fournier’s “next time i die” (2022), “Space is Made” (2023, in Residency with Media Arts Committee), “Julius Caesar” at Bard on the Beach (2023, Assistant Sound Design), and completed technician apprenticeship at Lobe 4DSOUND Spatial Sound Studio in summer 2023.
Kaila Bhullar (she/they) is an experimental filmmaker + multimedia artist based out of the stolen traditional territories of three Local First Nations: the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Largely informed by digitally-based art forms, Bhullar uses art-making as an introspective tool that explores various internal dispositions concerning identity and perception. As a queer and biracial individual, they are interested in analyzing cultural binaries and norms, alongside the complexities that exist within the self. These inquiries often manifest as collages of varying forms, video or audiovisual works, and multimedia installations. Bhullar’s recent exhibition history includes DissFunction of FUNKtion, The James Black Gallery, 2023; The Framing of Perception, XINEMA, 2023; Dream Safely, Audain Gallery, 2023; Digital Interventions – Heterotopias, Massy Arts Gallery, 2022; and I Spy, UNIT/PITT, 2022. . Bhullar currently works as a studio assistant at Lobe Studio, and holds a BFA from the School for the Contemporary Arts [SFU]
June Hsu (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist, musician, and theatre production designer passionate in all aspects of sound, video, and lighting. Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada –the unceded and stolen territories of the xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam),
Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, June has been surrounded by the colourful sounds and sights from the cities to the mountains; sparking an interest in exploring the interrelations between sounds and lights and their
unique personalities. Some of her works include, lighting designing for “Left of PuSh” an experimental in-process dance performance during the PuSh festival, sound designing for “Selfie” with rice & beans theatre and FOLDA, designing for “The Flying Dutchman” with the Vancouver Opera as the assistant projection designer, and designing for “Big Queer Filipino Karaoke Night! Online” with Upintheair’s rEvolver festival as the sound and projection designer. Follow her on instagram @junehsudesigns!
Accessibility Info
What Lab is located at 1814 Pandora Street. There is no dedicated parking, only street parking. The venue is located on the second floor up one flight of stairs, but there is a ground level accessible entrance through the back of the building. Seating is typically informal, and will include some combination of chairs, floor seating, couches, and cushions. There is one single-occupancy, gender-inclusive washroom. The washroom is not big enough for larger style wheelchairs to completely turn around in while the door is open. We are a trans-inclusive space.
This presentation is funded in part by
