Comox Valley Arts Council – CV/Arts Invites You This Summer To Experience Two Unique Immersive Screenings of GO FISH on Hornby and Denman Islands

Courtenay, BC, June 26, 2023

Comox Valley Arts (CV/Arts) is pleased to invite residents and visitors of Hornby and Denman islands to experience GO FISH, an immersive three screen video installaon created by B.C. arsts Sco Smith and Nee Wild.

Each year, hundreds of millions of herring return to the Salish Sea, their spawn painng a milky turquoise collar along its shores. For a few chaoc days, the sea is transformed. GO FISH asks the queson, if the herring set the table, who comes for dinner?

GO FISH takes viewers inside the annual herring migraon when hundreds of millions of herring return to the Salish Sea. The arsts were inially capvated by two different experiences. For Sco it was the three-dimensional wall of milt in the water marking the start of the spawn he experienced the first me he aempted to photograph the milt hanging off the shores of Hornby Island which he calls home part-me.

For Nee, it was stumbling on the sight of a seiner pursing a huge catch – its net full of herring…and a hundred barking, roiling, hungry sea lions. Both images got the arsts thinking about the possibilies of doing a project together, especially one different from the nature documentaries that normally come to mind.

“We set out to capture the abstract paerns found in the chaos and wonder of the herring spawn. Our decision to create a triptych grew out of an impulse to make art that was as compelling and immersive as the spawn itself. No narraon. No interviews. Our job was to observe, not to comment. So, we leaned into the abstract – in pursuit of framing the familiar in an unfamiliar way. We figured if we could surprise ourselves as filmmakers, we stood a chance of surprising you, our audience.”

“GO FISH was made with the parcipaon of both environmentalists and members of the fishing fleet. Our hope is to get everyone in the same room together with our fish…. wondering at the beauty and power of the spawn, and pondering our relaonship to it. GO FISH seeks to bring a curious lens to capture the poetry and complexity of one of the greatest shows on earth.”

GO FISH was inially presented at the Comox Valley Art Gallery in March and welcomed thousands of visitors who were moved by this compelling video installaon. CV/Arts is now taking that experience outside of the gallery, working in collaboraon with the arsts to bring this work back to where the piece was filmed, namely the shores of Hornby and Denman islands. Free public screenings will take place over two weeks this summer at the Jeffrey Rubinoff Sculpture Park on Hornby Island and the United Church on Denman Island.

“We are equally excited about the venues we have partnered with. Seng this presentaon of GO FISH amongst the musical sculptures dong the Jeffrey Rubinoff Sculpture Park on Hornby Island promises to create a juxtaposion one won’t soon forget. The same applies to the hallowed wooden United Church on Denman Island – what beer place to come to the altar of the spawn than the altar of a church?” says Sco Smith, one of the arsts.

“GO FISH is a thought-provoking and heart-moving piece that combines mulple realies from the contrasng perspecves of the human and non-human worlds during this frenec natural event. We are excited to present these two immersive experiences and bring GO FISH to the land and waters that have witnessed the spawning of herring from me immemorial.” says Juliana Bedoya, Community Engagement Director at CV/Arts

“Aer such a great launch at the Comox Valley Art Gallery, we are very excited to bring GO FISH home to the islands where it was filmed. This is our way of giving thanks to all those who helped us along the way, whether through gaining access to the shore via their properes, filling our divers tanks with air, teaching us how to observe the water, the animals, the birds, housing us, skippering us on your boats, or rescuing Sco from the side of the road aer the ferries had shut down.” says arst Nee Wild.

It took Nee and Sco more than four years to capture the footage and complete this piece, now masterfully edited into an immersive video installaon. Wild says of the experience, “Four years of having my life guided by the rhythms of the herring spawn – what a pleasure for this city girl. What an honor.”

“It’s been a gi to get to know the spawn and the shores of my own island more closely – this phenomenon that happens outside my front door on Hornby has led me to an inmacy I could not have encountered otherwise.” says Smith.

Screening Time and Locaons:

• ●  Hornby Island: Jeffrey Rubinoff Sculpture Park July 27-30 from 10am to 2:30pm
• ●  Denman Island: United Church August 3-6 from 10am-2:30pm
• ●  Arst Event: July 28th 7-9pm at the Jeffrey Rubinoff Sculpture Center on Hornby Island