Dossier

Join Wendy Michener, Joyce Wieland and Michael Snow as they walk through the cold winter streets of New York City in search of a warm cup of tea, a bowl of soup and some herbal distractions. Together this giggling group of friends and artists express their joint desire to get out of the city and go on a vacation. They reminisce about old times and describe how wonderful it would be to take a train trip across Canada, each of them taking turns at every stop to project films; at 25 cents a pop they could bring in some money and entertain all of the bored passengers. Woven into this TransCanadian plan for a travelling cinema are a mix of stories from their past about their individual experiences with the railway. This includes Michener’s trip across Canada when she was a young girl and could only afford to feed herself on bread and cheese, and Wieland’s solo excursion on the train which turned into a psychedelic evening where she redecorated a train car. As an an entirety, these sound bites provide a delightful behind-the-scenes look into the lives of a group of friends who, among other things, will open up the hilarious and unexplored creative potential of the Canadian Railway – all the while gossiping about the goings on of the New York/Toronto art world and their experiences with psychedelics and photography. (Vanessa Meyer)