sadia mir

The participants’vows will then serve as the data for the video installation.

With a goal to have spectators experience this act of symbolic marriage in front of them, we will create a ceremony-inspired environment. Words on marriage and love will be spoken by an officiant. Upon entry into the space, spectators become guests and sign the Guest Book, are given a program and are directed to take their seat to witness the exchanges of vows before them.

New media technology combining MaxMSP programming and video installation lends itself to the project well. First, we hope to create an evolving project – to create an ever-growing collection of vows from a variety of women. Projected in random play, each participant will at times, exchange vows to themselves, or alternately, listen while another recites her own (split between two screens). We hope this will show the individuality of each woman reciting her vows, while potentially, also simultaneously create a community of women sharing this similar experience.

We hope to bring i ME wed to events such as Nuit Blanche and Luminato in 2009 as well as various galleries and public spaces around Canada and the US. At this stage, we will create an on-site Vegas-inspired chapel, where spectators are able to marry themselves ‘on-the-spot’ as part of the installation and their vows are then fed into the database. Spectators become participants, and the i ME wed community grows.

i ME wed is a fun, positive, sassy project with a mandate to provide a space for women to play with commonplace stigmas of singledom, to reclaim identity and to ultimately bring women together to share stories of self-reflection on what makes them loved – by themselves. 

*According to the UN World Marriage Patterns 2000 report, the average age of marriage for women in Canada is 27.4 years.

June 2008 Wedding Celebrations: Andalee Adamali, Elizabeth Anacleto, Enisone Kadiri, Joanne Loton, Zoe Ludski, Natalia Sokolovska.

This day could not be possible without: Steve Daniels, Alex Bal, Pam McNair, DM 8106 Production III: Narrative and Interactive Forms, MFA Documentary Media

i ME wed is presented by Joanne Loton and Sadia Mir.

PLEASE SEE WEDDING PROGRAM HERE.