Itziar Okariz: Dream Diary and Ocean Breath

Western Front is pleased to present an evening of live performance by the Basque artist Itziar Okariz, offering an introduction to her artistic practice ahead of a workshop series with students and recent alumni from Emily Carr University of Art + Design. The evening will feature two works that explore language, sound, and the body, built from small linguistic units and signs that generate meaning through reiteration.

In Dream Diary, Okariz continues her practice of recording dreams. In the month before the performance, she keeps a diary of recollections written immediately upon waking—brief impressions that often take the form of vivid narratives or fleeting images. During the performance, these texts are transformed through fragmented, cyclical readings: phrases are multiplied, inverted, and connected, with each reading carrying the last word into the next. Gradually, the full dream emerges.

The program concludes with Ocean Breath, a collaboration with Izar Okariz. Drawing on ujjayi breathing—a yogic technique reminiscent of ocean waves—the work amplifies breath through microphones as two performers inhale and exhale, sometimes in sync, sometimes not. This accumulative chorus of breaths shifts between abstraction and figuration, evoking the rhythm of the sea.

Itziar Okariz is an artist based between Bilbao and New York whose work centers on action and performance, exploring how language and signs define us. Through vocal performances, spontaneous actions, videos, installations, and text pieces, she investigates the intersections of architecture, territory, the body, ritual, sexuality, and semiotics. Her practice is often associated with feminist approaches, punk aesthetics, and queer critiques of normative gender constructs.

Izar Okariz works across plaster, wool, clay, oil paint, photography, paper, and pencil, among other materials. Trained in Fine Arts, she brings a strong interest in theatre to her practice. Her live works include How to be Both and Day Bed Bowie, and her recent projects explore the use of puppetry. She is a member of the Kikeku collective (Haurreskola) and also writes short stories.

Western Front's performance space, the Grand Luxe Hall, is located on the second floor , which is accessed by a flight of 26 stairs. While plans for a full building upgrade to facilitate access for wheelchair and scooter users are still underway, events in the Grand Luxe Hall are made available virtually via high-quality livestream here. Further details about accessibility at Western Front can be found here.

Presented in partnership with Libby Leshgold Gallery and Emily Carr University of Art + Design support from the Government of Canada. This project is funded in part by the Government of Canada.

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