Odditorio | A Performative Installation, 2018

Iteration 1 | Work in Progress

Workshop at the Art Gallery of Guelph with support from University of Guelph


Troy Hourie Installation Artist | Creator

enVide neFelibata Oddity Doll | Puppet Artisan

Jerimiah Owens Composer | Sound Artist

Andrew Gaboury Clown | Movement Specialist

Constantinos Soutos Media Technician


Supported by Ontario Arts Council Interarts creation grant.



Odditorio | A Performative Installation combines installation art, puppetry, media and performance aspects
of my practice. This artwork will merge two long-term creative projects I have speculated during my career into
one immersive performative installation. (I have created the term ‘performative installation’ to encapsulate my
intentions as an artist to include myself (or the creative process) as a performance element in an installation
artwork). Firstly, I have been inspired by Carlos Vilardebó’s film documenting Alexander Calder at play with
his artwork “The Circus” in which he builds a narrative through the animation of the artwork itself. The discovery
of this piece has already influenced past works where I have inserted myself as a performer in the artworks I
created. As a scenographer, the second creative work I have longed to experiment with is Sweeney Todd, based on a
penny dreadful story String of Pearls. Several outcast characters have been re-envisioned as the members
of the sideshow in an amusement park like Coney Island. I have merged the carnivalesque with steam punk
to expose the mechanics of movement of the environment. Four characters have become oddity
dolls/puppets, built from found objects and toys and inhabit their own cabinet of wonder which collectively
have built a evocative installation landscape. Eventually, I speculate that the piece will evolve into a short performance where I
unpack the installation through play in front of an audience, building the installation around them as I go.
Once the space has been established, the audience will then be invited to interact with it.

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