Sage Sidley, Artist-in-residence, at the opening night of her show Connectors at Ubisoft Halifax. Photo by Jeff Cooke.

Ubisoft's ABRAXA artist residency program brings local artist to Canadian studio for a six month project.

Ubisoft Halifax celebrated its first ever artist residency with an opening night for the show Connectors by artist-in-residence Sage Sidley. The event took place November 2^nd and welcomed guests from around Halifax's tech and arts communities who joined us in our enthusiasm for this collaboration. With the support of the ABRAXA program and guidance from Pauline Jacquey in Montreal the studio hosted Sidley for six months. The result of the project is a beautiful and thought-provoking piece that will be on display for the duration of November.

Guests attending the opening night of Connectors and talking with artist Sage Sidley (right). Photo by Jeff Cooke.

Connectors uses data and imagery from across Ubisoft's networks and sources material from our own studio, server rooms, and even rooftops to ask questions about how we perceive the connection between digital and physical realms. Ubisoft Halifax sourced the discarded hardware necessary for the installation and volunteers from the IT department carefully unbuilt the computers to reveal their internal components while still being able to display the five-channel loops that Sage created.

Sage Sidley with her installation built partly from repurposed computers with the assistance of volunteers from Ubisoft Halifax. Photo by Jeff Cooke.

The contract for the residency stipulates freedom for the artist to access most of Ubisoft's resources, autonomy over where and when their art is displayed, and that artistically necessary changes they make to the studio will be repaired up to a certain dollar amount. Thoughts like "what are we getting ourselves into?" floated around in the early days before we'd met any of the artists. No damage was done, and only good memories remain from the residency.

Volunteer Cristian Da Silva, Full-Stack Programmer, had this to say about the experience -

"Working with Sage was a blessing. It was clear how passionate she is about the art and learning new things, and how open she was to let us step into this beautiful world and be guided by her. I hope we can have more Sages in the future. It was an amazing experience."

Some of the volunteers on the Connectors project. Back row from left: Jordan Long, Tabea Marzlin, George Greer, Artist-in-residence Sage Sidley, Robin Poirier, Britt Newstead, Sherlyn Harrison. Front row from left: Elliott Davis, Ryan Miller, Cristian Da Silva, Pauline Cameron, Adam Capone.

Sidley, who is also a part-time instructor at NSCAD University in Halifax, took naturally to the task of coordinating a team of volunteers - she effectively engaged the sign-ups and delegated pieces of her vision among the group. In total, nineteen volunteers regularly assisted with the project, with countless others contributing moments and ideas.

The six months passed all too quickly. The residency began soon after the doors to our newly built studio opened, so this could be seen as the end of the first chapter in our new space. Ubisoft Halifax plans to continue partnerships in the arts community and with social organizations going forward. We participated in Nocturne, Halifax's annual art-at-night event in October, and will do so again next year. It's been a wonderful artistic autumn for us at Ubisoft Halifax.

Connectors show opening night, 2023. Photo by Jeff Cooke.

We would like to thank Pauline Jacquey, Art and Cultural Programs Director, Art Souterrain, curator in Halifax Lisa Bouraly, Sage Sidley, Marcelo Careaga, Rahul Khatal with Ubisoft India, and everyone at Ubisoft Halifax and beyond who made this a success. We look forward to the next installment.