Kandis Friesen

Born and raised in the prairies, Kandis Friesen is an artist and cultural worker based in Montréal, Québec. Working from an interdisciplinary approach to both drawing and moving image, her work has been shown locally and internationally at various festivals and galleries, including recent projects with DARE-DARE and OBORO in Montreal, Mural Arts Program / Broken City Lab (Philadelphia, US), and Eastern Edge (St. John’s, CA), and recent screenings at VIVO Media Arts (Coast Salish Territories / Vancouver, CA), Athens Digital Arts Festival (Athens, GR), and Traverse Vidéo (Toulouse, FR). She has been the recipient of several grants and awards, and has participated in the residencies Neighborhood Time Exchange in Philadelphia (2015), OBORO’s Residencies for Local Artists Program in Montreal (2015), and an upcoming residency at MAWA in Winnipeg (2016).

As a cultural worker, her teaching frameworks are informed by feminist and artist-run culture, blending theoretical and hands-on experience to create open and accessible spaces that encourage self-determined learning and cultural expression. Her technical labour has included technical direction, art handling and gallery installation, maintenance, administration, audio and video post/production, and live technician work in theatre, music, film/video, and arts venues. She has developed and facilitated workshops in diverse contexts – artist-run, incarcerated, academic, DIY, and other community spaces – in Canada and the U.S., teaching on the subjects of DIY electronics, contact microphones and sound art, drawing, experimental animation and moving image, and the realm of copyright, ethics, and appropriation of the image in contemporary arts production.