Inside a sculptural space that breathes and glows, the audience is immersed in a soundscape where Robbie’s voice, the vibrations of a heart, the songs of belugas, and the breath of the structure meet. Designed by digital luthier Alexandre Burton, the system makes Robbie’s voice the engine of the ecosystem: his singing activates, modulates, and links all these sonic layers. Here, technology is an architecture in service of the living.
The audience plunges into this space outside of time, a multilingual deck of cards in hand, offering different ways of approaching the experience. Inuit craftsmanship and First Nations medicines nourish and complete the space.
In this sensitive ecosystem, a calm settles in, sometimes without one’s awareness. Little by little, reference points shift: the mind slows, the body settles, and something opens.
Carrying a question passed down by Indigenous Elders — “When was the last time you sang?” — Robbie Madsen invites participants to experience a suspended time where singing becomes a gesture of reconciliation, a space of recognition that transcends differences of language, culture, and origin.
Robbie’s words:
“No matter the history, the First Nations People of Turtle Island are not leaving our territory, and neither are the descendants of European Settlers, it seems. And so, I find it important to engage myself wholeheartedly with those descendants who are doing what they can towards damage repair, and who carry the shameful and embarrassing legacy their Ancestors caused them with their actions in Indian Residential Schools and during the Sixties Scoop. I am a survivor of both these systems. And my involvement in the When Was production is a conscious and deliberate act of forgiveness, on my part, meant to install healing on both sides of the coin.”
Words from spectators
« I rarely had the chance to feel someone like that, and feel us as a group. And at the same time, it was like I was in the wind, and in the center of the Earth. Through the sound of the voice, I saw landscapes, as if I was blind. It felt like an internal and external journey at the same time. Thanks for this true moment of connection.» Malvina
“ Merci Robbie pour ce moment de rencontre magique entre parfaits inconnus. Tu m’as montré la force et la puissance de la vulnérabilité, d’un regard vrai, d’une générosité dénuée de toute crainte, méfiance, d’un sourire bienveillant et aimant.” Antoine
« Dans cette installation, tu te sens comme une bulle autour de toi qui te protège du monde extérieur et donne une pause à ton flux de pensées. Tu oublies un peu toutes les inquiétudes qui te touchent. À l’aide des cartes, tu reviens tranquillement à ta vie mais d’une autre manière, un peu à la troisième personne, avec simplicité. La vie n’a plus l’air aussi stressante et tes soucis plus simples. Merci pour cette immense joie que tu m’as procurée. » Lilia, 16 ans.
Crédits
Co-creation: ROBBIE MADSEN + AURÉLIE PEDRON with the support of MAGALI CASAUBON
Performance: ROBBIE MADSEN
Interactive system: ALEXANDRE BURTON
Technical direction: JUSTIN HOUDE
Structure: MARILÈNE BASTIEN
With the valuable advice of CHANTAL LABONTÉ (Light designer)
Inuit sculptors: BILLY AMITTUK, JOHNNY EYAITUK, SIMIUNI NAUYA, SAILA
Drawing on the cards: OHITO SHARKY
Cree translation: MABEL WACHAPEE
Inuktitut translation: KATAUGA SAILA, CHARLOTTE JOHANNES & SARAH CAIN
Graphic design: JULIEN BERTHIER