Convergence Cohort: Invocation

Join us for the first of a two-night showcase of new works in development by artists from re:Naissance's Convergence Cohort mentorship program. Bringing together performance, technology, and imaginative inquiry, this evening invites audiences to engage with the process of developing new works and connect with the artists through a talkback following the performances. This evening is meant to build connections from person to person, open up conversations about the artistic process, and explore the ideas behind the these emerging works together. Nov 20 | 7:00PMThe ANNEX, 823 Seymour St, Vancouver, BC V6B 3L4Tickets: Sliding scale, $9.99 - $19.99. Free tickets available to Indigenous, Métis, and Inuit peoples. Convergence Cohort: Invocation Kaili Che, Samantha Walters, and Mermaid Li invite us to reconsider the familiar and imagine new ways of experiencing the world around us. The evening’s performances will be followed by an artist talkback facilitated by Stephanie Wong. Arrive early to experience The Archaeologists, a VR work by Cohort artists Indah Del Bianco and Kherl Atienza. Featured works: Mold's Lab-yrinth by Kaili Che Molds’ Lab-yrinth is a multi-sensory, interdisciplinary project comprising a series of interconnected installations and performances that explore the spaces between decay and renewal, grief and transformation, memory and afterlife. This work emerged from a personal necessity to process and synthesize the loss of my grandfathers, uncle, and cousin within a six-month period. At its heart, the project asks how grief can be witnessed and transformed through community care, imagining decay not as an ending, but as a threshold—a place where something else might begin. SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE by Samantha Walters SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE is an interdisciplinary devised performance project that explores how our social lives are structured by the idea of “convenience” and where the edges and breakages around that concept arise. From the ‘out of order’ sign outside a bathroom to the CAPTCHA test on websites you do to prove you’re human, small inconveniences can cause ruptures in our daily routines. What’s behind those openings? And in a society where social services are increasingly deteriorating due to profit-seeking enterprises and artificial intelligence, how can these moments of inconvenience actually highlight our shared humanity? 拜台 (bài tái) by Mermaid Li 拜台 (bài tái) — a ritual prayer and solo vocal, choreographic, and multimedia performance acknowledging the stage as a living, communal ceremonial space. Drawing from the traditional Chinese opera practice of 拜台—honoring the stage through ritual bows, lineage, blessing, and boundary —Stage Prayer reimagines this practice as a contemporary ritual-theatre work grounded in dance and embodied presence.The Archaeologists (pre-show VR experience in lobby) by Indah Del Bianco and Kherl Atienza. Working with sounds from the natural ecosystems within the səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh…