After learning about all the steps involved in making whisky during a three-month artist residency with Marla Hlady at the Glenfiddich Distillery in Scotland in the summer of 2019 it struck me how inadequate the word ‘whisky’ (meaning ‘water of life’) is because it captures only such a small part of the process. The title of this work is a 12-word sentence that attempts to convey all the steps involved more completely.
The project will take 12 years to complete, each year one word of the sentence gets filled, very slowly.
1. You 2020
2. And 2021
3. I 2022
4. Are 2023
5. Water 2024
6. Earth 2025
7. Fire 2026
8. Air 2027
9. Of 2028
10. Life 2029
11. And 2030
12. Death 2031
The project ends on 01-01-2032 (12 years plus a day).
Every year, during the span of the project, on December 12th from 12 noon to 12 midnight, a related event takes place.
Amanda Amour-Lynx (Water – 2024)
Filippo Andreatta (Earth – 2025)
Gabriela Areal (I – 2022)
Kate Armstrong (Water – 2024)
Georges Azzaria (Are – 2023)
Bagida’waad Alliance (Water – 2024)
Cindy Baker (I – 2022)
Jessica Marion Barr (Earth – 2025)
Steve Bates (You – 2020)
Christina Battle (Earth – 2025)
Catherine Béchard (You – 2020, And – 2021)
Sepideh Behrouziann (Earth – 2025)
Mary Walling Blackburn (And – 2021)
Joshua Bonnetta (Earth – 2025)
Dickson Bou (Water – 2024)
Penelope Cain (Water – 2024)
Allison Cameron (And – 2021)
Barbara Campbell (And – 2021)
Kate Carr (I – 2022)
Budhaditya Chattopadhyay (And – 2021)
Lina Choi (Water – 2024)
Ronnie Clarke (Are – 2023)
Shannon Cooney (Water – 2024)
Darren Copeland (And – 2021)
Andrea-Jane Cornell (I – 2022)
Tom Cull (Water – 2024)
Florencia Curci (You – 2020, And – 2021)
Alice De Visscher (Are – 2023)
Erika DeFreitas (You – 2020, And – 2021)
Christopher Dela Cruz (You – 2020)
Andrew Denton (Earth – 2025)
Yannick Desranleau (I – 2022)
Emily DiCarlo (I – 2022)
Adriana Disman (Are – 2023)
Sean Dockray (I – 2022)
Tanya Doody (Earth – 2025)
Jamie Dronyk (Water – 2024)
Amélie Laurence Fortin (Are – 2023)
Anna Friz (You – 2020, And – 2021, I – 2022)
Caroline Gagné (Are – 2023)
Melissa General (Water – 2024)
Dana Gingras (You – 2020)
Amy Mihyang Ginther (You – 2020, And – 2021)
James Greer (And – 2021)
Renato Grieco (And – 2021)
Michaela Grill (And – 2021, Earth – 2025)
David Grubbs (I – 2022)
Ufuk Ali Gueray (Earth – 2025)
Joaquín Gutiérrez Hadid (I – 2022)
Farheen Haq (Water – 2024)
Sebastiane Hegarty (I – 2022)
Sarah Hennies (And – 2021)
Marla Hlady (You – 2020, And – 2021)
Sabin Hudon (You – 2020, And – 2021)
Ryo Ikeshiro (I – 2022)
Kaya Joan (Water – 2024)
Sharmistha Kar (Water – 2024)
Laura Kikauka (I – 2022)
Seth Kim-Cohen (And – 2021)
Jeff Kolar (You – 2020, And – 2021)
Masha Kouznetsova (Water – 2024, Earth – 2025)
Annette Krebs (I – 2022)
Nick Kuepfer (I – 2022)
Jen Kutler (You – 2020, And – 2021)
ByungJun Kwon (And – 2021)
Myriam Lambert (Are – 2023)
Diane Landry (Are – 2023)
Renée Lear (And – 2021)
Peter Lebel (Water – 2024)
Cynthia Ling Lee (You – 2020, And – 2021)
Erik Lintunen (You – 2020)
Claire Liu (Water – 2024)
LoVid (And – 2021)
Neil Luck (You – 2020, And – 2021)
Chloe Lum (I – 2022)
Machine Listening (I – 2022)
Patrick Mahon (Water – 2024)
Thomas Mahon (Water – 2024)
Brady Marks (Water – 2024)
Tanya Mars (Are – 2023)
Mani Mazinani (I – 2022)
Matmos (I – 2022)
Ella Dawn McGeough (Earth – 2025)
Francisco Meirino (And – 2021)
Erica Mendritzki (Earth – 2025)
Sarah Messerschmidt (Earth – 2025)
Christof Migone (You – 2020, And – 2021, I – 2022, Are – 2023, Water – 2024, Earth – 2025)
Laura Millard (Water – 2024)
Valerie Mills-Milde (Water – 2024)
Ellen Moffat (And – 2021)
Gordon Monahan (I – 2022)
jake moore (Earth – 2025)
Michel Poblete Montoya (I – 2022)
Star Nahwegahbo (Water – 2024)
Sheri Osden Nault (Water – 2024)
Joseph Naytowhow (Earth – 2025)
Eli Nolet (Water – 2024)
Merlin Nova (You – 2020, And – 2021)
Midi Onodera (I – 2022)
Tot Onyx (You – 2020)
Cassie Packham (Earth – 2025)
James Parker (I – 2022)
Parsons & Charlesworth (Earth – 2025)
Agnès Pe (Are – 2023)
Dawit L. Petros (Earth – 2025)
Danielle Petti (Earth _ 2025)
Adrian Piper (And – 2021)
Chi Po-Hao (And – 2021)
Tazeen Qayyum (I – 2022)
Jocelyn Robert (Are – 2023)
Racquel Rowe (Water – 2024)
Gabriel Saloman (You – 2020)
Jon Sasaki (Water – 2024)
Claire Savoie (I – 2022)
Evamaria Schaller (Are – 2023)
Tiffany Schofield (You – 2020)
Sam Shalabi (I – 2022)
Lou Sheppard (Water – 2024)
Eeva Siivonen (And – 2021)
Debashis Sinha (I – 2022)
Ruth Skinner (Water – 2024)
Eric Slyfield (You – 2020)
Quinn Smallboy (Water – 2024)
Laura St. Pierre (Earth – 2025)
Sonya Stefan (You – 2020)
Joel Stern (I – 2022)
Jordyn Stewart (Water – 2024)
Alexandre St-Onge (And – 2021, Are – 2023)
Milo Thesiger-Meacham (You – 2020, And – 2021, Are – 2023)
Mark Timmings (Water – 2024)
Jackson 2bears (Earth – 2025)
undo (And – 2021)
Maia Urstad (I – 2022)
Salome Voegelin (And – 2021)
Paul Walde (Water – 2024)
Arielle Walker (Earth – 2025)
Quintan Ana Wikswo (You – 2020, And – 2021)
Michelle Wilson (Water – 2024)
Aurora Wolfe (Earth – 2025)
Agustina Woodgate (You – 2020)
Sadie Woods (You – 2020)
Alternative Space LOOP (And – 2021)
Animals of Distinction (You – 2020)
Antitube (Are – 2023)
Arraymusic (And – 2021, I – 2022, Are – 2023)
artLAB (Water – 2024)
Art Gallery of Hamilton (Water – 2024)
Avatar (And – 2021, Are – 2023)
Centre for Sustainable Curating (Earth – 2055)
Constellation (I – 2022)
CRiSAP (And – 2021)
Crónica (Are – 2023)
Doris McCarthy Gallery (Water – 2024)
Errant Bodies Press (And – 2021)
Fado (And – 2021, I – 2022, Are – 2023)
Forest City Gallery (Water – 2024)
Futura Resistenza (Water – 2024)
Glenfiddich Artists in Residence (You – 2020, Water – 2024)
Liquid Architecture (I – 2022)
Loop (And – 2021)
McIntosh Gallery (Water – 2024)
MetaObjects (I – 2022)
National Indigenous Media Arts Coalition (Water – 2024)
NAISA (I – 2022, Are – 2023, Water – 2024)
Neural (Are – 2023)
OBORO (I – 2022)
Otekhnòtshera Ratirihwisaks Etho:onhwentsyáke (OTEKH) (Earth – 2055)
Other Sights (Water – 2024)
Rad’Art (Are – 2023)
Radio Bloc Oral (Are – 2023, Water – 2024)
Radius (And – 2021, I – 2022, Are – 2023, Water – 2024)
Resonance Extra (You – 2020, And – 2021, I – 2022, Are – 2023, Water – 2024)
Rhizome (Are – 2023)
SAVAC (I – 2022)
School for Advanced Studies in the Arts and Humanities (Water – 2024)
Spira (Are – 2023)
Squint Press (You – 2020, And – 2021, I – 2022)
Thames Art Gallery (Water – 2024)
The Dim Coast (I – 2022)
Trinity Square Video (I – 2022)
Tsonami (I – 2022)
UTSC Dept. ACM (You – 2020)
University of Saskatchewan Art Galleries (You – 2020, Earth – 2025)
WalkingLab (Water – 2024)
Wave Farm (You – 2020, And – 2021, I – 2022, Are – 2023, Water – 2024)
Western University – Department of Visual Arts (And – 2021, Water – 2024)
