By Jessica Karuhanga A conversation between Jessica Karuhanga and Michelle Lacombe M. Having seen some previous editions of 7a*11d, what, to you, distinguished this one from other incarnations? Did it feel representative of the festival? J. I have attended the last three iterations of 7a*11d so I will speak to these experiences. What I know …
Après Niagara Falls By Michelle Lacombe The first time I saw Doyon/Demers perform was only a few years ago. I was enthralled by their playful use of technology, their physically imposed loss of control, and their shared accountability in the work. Simultaneously absurd, corporeal and intimate, I find their performances to be like a romantic, …
By Michelle Lacombe Crash Pad Cindy Baker has been occupying OCAD University’s Anniversary Gallery for three days. The space itself is a small glass room with a carpeted floor inside a slightly larger room with white walls. Offering two spatial perspectives on the work, the context is odd but appropriate. From a hallway, you can …
By Michelle Lacombe Body Traps All week Johannes Zits has been crafting his performance object at the Theatre Center café. His presence is casual and welcoming and because I return to the site almost daily to see the 7a*11d panel discussions, he becomes a reliable social anchor. He greets me and other festival regulars with …
By Michelle Lacombe What Does it Mean to Forget? Despite the countless talks and panels addressing the relationship between performance art and the museum I have attended, as I sit in the Art Gallery of Ontario to watch Louise Liliefeldt perform, I realize that this is actually the first time I have seen contemporary performance …
NSA By Michelle Lacombe Mikiki’s work is difficult and demanding for its audience. It is the kind of performance that challenges visibility, being as much about how your body responds to what you see as what you see, or don’t… When we come into the space Mikiki is piling raw cabbages into a pyramid in …
By Michelle Lacombe Daylighting Walks Despite actually arriving early, the first time I attend Elizabeth Chitty’s Daylighting Walks I manage to miss the introduction, which frames the action for participants. Consequently, I do not participate at all in the way that is intended. I chat the whole time, excited to see friends I have not …
By Michelle Lacombe Brush, Paper, Scissors I totally love to see a performance and, as I watch it, to realize that I have seen this artist’s work before. This happened with Sue Murad, who I had met in Chicago a couple of years ago at an event that was buried far away in my memory. …
By Jessica Karuhanga VERB FRAU TV Season 5: 7a*11d I have just returned from the kitchen with Michelle. We were guests on the last episode of the fifth season of VERB FRAU TV. Well, it was more of a follow-up to close the season. The idea behind our debrief was in essence to unravel and …
By Jessica Karuhanga 150 Blows On a Saturday afternoon I arrive in a corridor shaped like a waiting room for a spa or treatment centre. An assistant greets me at a desk and asks if I am here to see Adrian Stimson. I am immediately implicated in the performance and wilfully assume my role of …