2016 Festival

Francesco Gagliardi

Francesco Gagliardi performing Some Reconstructions at Geary Lane

By Jessica Karuhanga Some Reconstructions The room is book-ended by two boards on wheels. Stacks of vertically placed card-stock lean against these dividers. These piles are organized by colour or shade. Their surfaces are black, cream, grey, brown and blue. Francesco Gagliardi emerges on the stage and begins an elaborate and thoughtful choreography of spatial …

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Serge Olivier Fokoua

Serge Olivier Fokoua performing To dare is to do at Geary Lane

By Jessica Karuhanga To dare is to do Serge Olivier Fokoua has stated the objects he uses in his performances are diverted from their original context to achieve the effect of collision. After witnessing his utilization and re-framing of materials it is clear this process of assembly and disassembly are gestures which hope to invoke …

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Annie Onyi Cheung

Annie Onyi Cheung performing How I can—well-enough (or showing my work) at Geary Lane

By Jessica Karuhanga How I can—well-enough (or showing my work) Every. Every time. Time. Overtime. Overtime I plan. Overtime I plan to go home. Plan to do. Plan on. Plan on returning.Your precious daughter. Your darling daughter. Precious jewel. Only jewel. Valuable. Daughter. Annie Onyi Cheung has reconfigured the performance space. I have been noticing …

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Kevin McKenzie

Kevin McKenzie performing The Nihilist at Geary Lane

By Michelle Lacombe The Nihilist Please play while you read. Like many of the other performances, before Kevin McKenzie enters the space, a stage (for lack of a better word) is set. Most prominent is a freestanding wall that has been there all night. On it, three metal frames have been added and the installation …

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Selma Selman

Selma Selman video performance at Geary Lane

By Michelle Lacombe Untitled We are told that Selma Selman, a young Roma artist currently attending university in the USA, is not at the festival. She was denied a travel visa from the Canadian government. Twice. Disappointed by the circumstances but wanting to nonetheless share her work with the public, Selman and the 7a*11d collective …

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Kate Barry

Kate Barry performing Justice (After Margaret Dragu) at Geary Lane

By Jessica Karuhanga Justice (After Margaret Dragu) Kate Barry’s Justice (After Margaret Dragu) is imbued with symbolism. Barry, maintaining a direct meandering gaze, leads us through a cycle of potent gestures. Her gaze is defiant and unwavering. Throughout these rotations there is a ritualistic pattern of sampling and allusion. She is looking back and onward …

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Brianna MacLellan

Brianna MacLellan performing Abandon the chicken but continue to dance at Geary Lane

By Jessica Karuhanga Abandon the chicken but continue to dance Brianna MacLellan enters the stage. She is wearing a black blouse, black pants, slicked back hair and she is soaking wet in red heels. Her hair and her clothing glisten in the spotlight. She turns to face the audience poised and gazing into some distant …

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Randy Lee Cutler

Randy Lee Cutler performing SaltWalks: Two Movements in Toronto's Chinatown

By Jessica Karuhanga SaltWalks: Two Movements IMAGES by Henry Chan A few memories of salt. There is an image taken by my sister of my uncle’s hand holding salt from a mine in Uganda. All the moments tears have streamed down my face and into my mouth. As a child when its winter I wipe …

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Graciela Ovejero Postigo

Graciela Ovejero Postigo performing compelled to the unanswerable / before language there was the earth at Geary Lane

By Jessica Karuhanga compelled to the unanswerable / before language there was the earth IMAGES by Henry Chan Graciela Ovejero Postigo poetically describes her work as a departure from the “in-betweens and peripheries”. As a diasporic subject myself I often describe my body as my homeland borne of the migrant sediment of my parents and …

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