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White Cane Amplified is Carmen Papalia’s improvised process in which he replaces his white mobility cane with a megaphone as he navigates an unfamiliar route in the city. White Cane Amplified is one in a series of related projects in which the artist temporarily adopts a new system for his mobility in an effort to reclaim a sense of agency while distancing himself from institutional support services. A demonstration, primarily, of failure, White Cane Amplified depicts Papalia performing the social function of the white cane, speaking into a megaphone as he stumbles to find the words to communicate his nuanced and emergent needs.
Papalia’ enacted White Cane Amplified for WalkingLab in July, 2017 in Vancouver and followed the performance with a talk at VIVO Media Arts Centre.