wayfinding into the light: resonance and multi-sensory access in the pyrotechnic arts

Dennis Ha

Join artist Collin van Uchelen for a public presentation of his innovative practices in the pyrotechnic arts. Drawing on his own experience as a pyrotechnician with sight-loss, Collin will explore how to translate the light of fireworks across senses to make it accessible through touch, description, and sight.

Collin will introduce his “Fingerworks for Fireworks” tactile technique for describing fireworks to members of the blind/low vision community by “drawing” their light-emitting star trajectories onto the backs of consenting participants. Collin uses this technique in designing and choreographing his own pyro-musical firework displays.

Finally, we will explore resonance (tingles/goosebumps) in response to art and its implications as a creative means for access and wayfinding in the arts. This presentation invites participants to consider how multisensory accessibility can provide meaningful pathways for inclusion in public displays of art, whether pyrotechnics, dance, or other dynamic artforms.

  • Duration : 1 hour
  • Free entry – no reservation required
  • MAI Gallery

touch the music - visit and performance by véro leduc - french / lsq / asl / protactile

Festival Phénomena 2025, Soirée de performances sourdes. Lundi 6 octobre 2025, Salle bleue – Édifice Wilder – Espace danse. Véro Leduc, Cai Glover, Hodan Youssouf, Dominique Ireland.

“I will move toward you with the eyes of a Deaf person,” sings Richard Desjardins. And what if it were with the eyes of a blind person? How can one approach music in sign languages when one is blind? More generally, how can blind people appreciate Deaf art? And even more broadly, how can we learn from one another in order to develop new relationships to art? Signed languages are visual and non-auditory, while many blind people experience the world primarily through hearing and therefore cannot fully access sign languages through listening alone. For several years, Véro Leduc has been exploring Deaf and crip creation, seeking to expand the ways art can be created and experienced across different abilities. Along the way, she invites each of us to explore new relationships to art not by pretending to be blind or Deaf, but by tasting new ways of being in the world. The performance Touche la musique / Touch the Music is an invitation to discover signed art through touch.

Accessibility Information: 

  • Véro will present in LSQ (Quebec Sign Language). Interpretation will be provided in LSQ–French, LSQ–ASL, and Protactile.
  • The venue is accessible to wheelchair users.
  • Please feel free to contact us if you have any accessibility requests [email protected] or 514-701-4068
  • The activity lasts approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes: 15 minutes for welcoming remarks, 20 minutes for the performance, 30 minutes for the guided visit and 30 minutes for an open discussion.

Véro Leduc will perform a music piece using signed language. She will move her body in different ways, create sounds and communicate poetic words in Quebec Sign Language (LSQ). The audience will be invited to participate in a cre-expansive way, that is, to expand the work through co-creation. There are several ways to take part:

  • As movers: These participants will be invited to draw inspiration from Véro’s performance to move. Some may choose to reinterpret LSQ signs in their own way. Movers can decide whether they prefer to move solo (solo-movers) or to be touched (tactile-movers).
  • As touchers: These participants will be invited to touch the tactile-movers in order to experience Véro’s performance through them.
  • As precious ones: These participants are invited simply to be present.

All ways of moving, touching, and simply being present are welcome.

Following the performance, there will be a guided tour of the artwork Signer son fado.

→ Free entry – no reservation required.

tender frequencies

Join artist Salima Punjani for an intimate gathering with the soft sculptures of Sensory Glisk. In this gentle session, participants are invited to slow down, make tea, and spend time with the playful forms such as oversized fingers, ears, eyes and tactile tableaux that invite touch and tenderness. There’s no formal structure, just an invitation to listen, feel, and be. This is a space for listening and sensory exploration, where touch and sound intertwine. Whether you sit in quiet reflection, share a sensory memory, or simply enjoy the warmth of tea and company, you’re welcome to engage however it feels good for you. Stay as long as you would like.

→ 3:30pm – 5:30pm
→ Free entry – no reservation required.

Accessibility Information: For this activity, the artist prefers if people are masked or prompted to not come if they aren’t feeling well. A mask decorating station will be open at the entrance to the gallery.

résonances – research-creation residency (au-delà du visuel)

From April 20 to 24, the Au-delà du visuel team will take up residence in the Wayfinders: au gré des sens exhibition as part of a research-creation residency. Each day, the artists will focus on one or more selected artworks with the goal of making them accessible to people with visual impairments through short performances. Using words, movement, and music, the artists will seek to convey the rhythms of an artwork, its textures, composition, narrative, and the emotions and sensations it evokes in them. Throughout the week, the public will be able to observe the artists’ research work as they inhabit the gallery space.

On Friday, April 24, Au-delà du visuel will invite six blind participants to experience the various performances and then engage in a discussion. This presentation is open to everyone. Sighted participants who wish to take part will be invited to wear a blindfold. With the participation of: Audrey-Anne Bouchard, Laurie-Anne Langis, Marc-André Lapointe, and Vytautas Bucionis Jr.

inhabiting the line – tactile drawing workshop with raphaëlle de groot

As part of the Wayfinders exhibition, Raphaëlle de Groot invites you to a sensory immersion extending her participatory work, Colin-maillard. This workshop offers an exploration of drawing as a haptic experience. Participants will be invited to explore amorphous, textured forms. With one hand, you will feel the curves and roughness; with the other, you will translate the rhythm and path of this discovery onto paper. By also exploring tactile portraiture and contour drawing, the activity shifts attention toward inward perception. Drawing a line on paper becomes first a line traced within oneself, in the sensitive space of the body. Sighted participants are encouraged to wear blindfolds.

→ This workshop is bilingual (English/French).

→ FULL. To join the waiting list for this workshop, please email Claudia Parent at [email protected] or leave a message at 514-982-1812, ext. 231

blind field shuttle with carmen papalia

Blind Field Shuttle (2010–present) is a collaborative walking performance in which Carmen Papalia guides large groups of participants on a non-visual walk through urban or rural environments. Standing in a single-file line behind the artist, participants hold onto the arm of the person in front of them and agree to keep their eyes closed for the duration of the roughly hour-long walk. An extension of Papalia’s personal walking practice, the performance invites participants to exercise their non-visual senses while collectively negotiating movement, obstacles, and the cultural context in which vision is dominant. As participants move together, the work reveals both the barriers created by visual primacy and the interdependent support networks that underpin disability culture. Blind Field Shuttle challenges assumptions about disability and accessibility by treating disability as a revelatory, valuable experience and accessibility as a “temporary, collectively-held space.”

Participants meet at the MAI Café – Walking circuit to be determined.

register

Participant accessibility:

You must wear comfortable shoes suitable for walking over varied terrain and be able to walk in a single-file line while holding onto the arm of the person in front of you. A secure area is available at the MAI where you can store bags and personal items during the performance. 

If you are a Deaf or D/deaf participant, ASL interpretation can be provided (please fill up the registration form and specify your needs). 

Participants who use mobility devices or who cannot participate in the single-file walking arrangement will be offered an alternative one-on-one or small-group, non-visual experience of the work.

série noire: beginner djembé workshop

Série noire brings together three events, from February to April 2026, to extend Black History Month and celebrate the community through spaces imbued with kindness.

For this final event, participants of afro-descendance are invited to participate in a beginner djembé workshop led by Yawo Matey. No prior experience is required.

→ Studio #428 
→ Sign-ups required via this link

15$ at the door – 10$ if you have your own Djembe.

série noire: prochain narratif

Série noire brings together three events, from February to April 2026, to extend Black History Month and celebrate the community through spaces imbued with kindness.

For this second event, we invite you to an evening of open mic and music in a supportive environment where everyone is welcome to read, in French or English. Bring your own words, or offer passages from writers of Afro-descendant heritage who have moved you. This is a place to practice, to listen, and to be heard.

Sign-ups to read are welcome at the door, with pre-registration encouraged via this link.

The evening will also feature a live concert by NINKI-NANKA (7:30–8:30 PM), blending percussion, kora, cello, and guitar.

→ Doors: 7pm
→ Concert by NINKI-NANKA: 7:30pm – 8:30pm
→ Readings: until 9:30pm

10$ at the door – No one will be refused for insufficient funds. All proceeds from this event will be donated to the non-profit organization When the Village Meditates.

série noire: kemetic yoga and tea

Série noire brings together three events, from February to April 2026, to extend Black History Month and celebrate the community through spaces imbued with kindness.

Kemetic Yoga is a meditative movement practice rooted in ancient Egyptian wisdom. It uses slow, continuous geometric movements coordinated with breath to cultivate balance, stability, and inner calm. It supports emotional regulation, joint health, and energy flow (“Shu”). 

This practice is done on the mat, props such as blocks and straps are recommended for ease and support. 

Come take a moment to dedicate to your self-care and stay to connect with others as we’ll have some delicious herbal tea and a little surprise to take home.

All proceeds from the event will be donated to When the Village Meditates.

milton-parc pop-up neighbours exhibition

The Milton-Parc Neighbors pop-up exhibition brings together 14 neighbors (residents, collectives, or organizations) from the Milton-Parc neighborhood.
Situated in the Milton-Parc neighbourhood for over 25 years, MAI aims to honour the vitality and artistic sensitivity of the people who call it home. This exhibition opens a window onto the creative energy of our community and offers an invitation to encounter the spirit of the neighbourhood through the works of its residents, from December 5 to 7.
Opening reception: December 5th 2025, 5–7 p.m.
Exhibition: December 6th & 7th, 12–6 p.m.
Free admission — no reservation required.
Artists presented:
Corinne Beaumier
Juan Carlos Prada-Lopez
Oonya Kempadoo
Georgia Graham
Campagne Chez Gautier
Jean-Francois Lamoureux
Charlotte Poitras
Trudi Mathieu
Les Short
Claudette Louis
Matt Currie
Vincent Van Dongen
L’Atelier
Atelier Tlachiuak