RECIPROCITY/RÉCIPROCITÉ COLLECTIVE

ReciproCity/RéciproCité Collective
(Shannon Cochrane, Paul Couillard, Margaret Dragu, Tagny Duff, Kirsten Forkert, Benjamin Muon, Songs of the New Erotics, Victoria Stanton, Josée Tremblay)
Saturday November 9 8 pm

An experiment in simultaneous performance (inter)activities. The ReciproCity/RéciproCité collective began as an invited collaboration of artists from Vancouver, Montréal and Toronto interested in site-specific performance actions. Since presenting initial projects in Montréal and Toronto (2001), the group continues to explore formats for collaboration while responding to the elements of time, space, experience and relationship that unite and separate us.

Shannon Cochrane is a Toronto based performance artist. Some of her work has been presented by A Space, Mercer Union, YYZ, The Power Plant, Money House, Archive, The Cleveland International Performance Art Festival and Artemisia Gallery in Chicago. In 1998, known as one half of “me and me”, she co-created a year-long performance project with Keith Manship. Shannon is a founding member and curator of the 7a*11d International Performance Festival. In November 2001, she presented the world’s biggest game of badminton at The Art Gallery of Ontario in a performance entitled 100 Love, as part of the gallery’s Centennial Anniversary. Shannon’s work frequently incorporates the participation of non-performers and seeks to alter the role-play/role played by the audience. Shannon often employs sports imagery, contest etiquette and game rituals.

Paul Couillard has been working as an artist and curator since 1985. Focusing on performance art with forays into theatre, writing, holography, installation, film and video, his work has been presented around the world. His collaborative DUORAMA series with partner Ed Johnson will travel to Regina in January 2002. He is also working on upcoming solo performances for the Contemporary Art Centre in Kyiv (Ukraine), the St Norbert’s Arts and Cultural Centre (Winnipeg) and the Art Gallery of Hamilton. Paul is the Performance Art Curator for FADO, a Toronto-based, artist-run centre for performance art, and he is a founding curator of the 7a*11d International Performance Art Festival.

Margaret Dragu is celebrating her third decade as a performance artist. She has presented her work in galleries, museums, theatres, nightclubs, libraries, universities and site-specific venues including parks, botanical gardens, and public parade routes across Canada, the west and east coast of the United States, and in western Europe. Margaret is also a film and video artist, writer, choreographer, actor, and radio broadcaster. She is also a fitness instructor and personal trainer at community centres and hospitals in the city of Richmond, BC, specializing in clients with heart/stroke history, osteoporosis, arthritis, and for the visually impaired as well as clients requiring post-rehab and post-surgery programmes. Margaret’s recent performance work is a series entitled CONSCIOUS CORPUS. It is a series of investigations of the body that draws upon a holistic lexicon from both her fine arts and body arts practice.

Tagny Duff is a Vancouver-based interdisciplinary media artist and producer working in performance, video, audio and text. She has created numerous site-specific performance works and video works since receiving a Fine Arts Degree from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design (1997). Performance works from The Elephantiasis Ears Series, Audio Tour Performances, Latent Spaces and Scene and Unseen have taken place in various public spaces with the support of artist-run centres and festivals across Canada.

Kirsten Forkert is a Vancouver based artist working in installation, performance and text. Her work, which is often site-specific, focuses on questions of commonalty, especially alternate ways of conceiving of this. This summer, she presented “Entre nous deux…”, an installation/performance for a Montreal movie theatre. She recently presented “Implicate”, an installation in a Vancouver storefront dealing with gentrification and how we situate ourselves in relation to urban space. Kirsten has a BFA from NSCAD and a MFA in interdisciplinary studies from Simon Fraser University. She has taught at Simon Fraser University and University of Victoria, and is currently teaching at Emily Carr Insitute of Art and Design. Upcoming projects include a public art project in collaboration with Peter Conlin, and a series of performances involving direct interactions with individuals.

Benjamin Muon (aka Éric Létourneau) is an intermedia artist practicing concrete performance art, live electronic music and performative projects for radio and mass media. He studied musical composition and theatre with artists from the National Academy of Fine Arts in Indonesia, Roy Hart Theater and Zaj. He has an MFA in electronic arts from UQAM (Université du Québec à Montréal). From 1999 to 2001 he worked for the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), producing concerts, recordings and radio programs about new music, sound poetry, audio art and radio art. He also produces performance art works for alternative mass media such as digital radio and corrupted Web streaming. Létourneau is a frequent contributor to publications and catalogues about performance art, and has written for Canadian art magazines including Inter, Parallelogramme and Esse. He currently teaches art history at Collège André-Grasset and works as an independent curator. Since 1987, he has presented more than 50 performances in 10 different countries. A monograph of his work was published in 1997 by AKI in Enschede (the Netherlands) as part of the visiting artist program “Pepinières Européennes”. In 2000, he toured the United States with his performance piece Table. His first solo music CD will be released by Squint Fucker Press in 2002.

Songs of the New Erotics is an experimental music and performance project, formed in 1991 and headed by Toronto-based artist William A. Davison. The project is an extension of Davison’s work with Recordism, an artistic ideology founded by Davison in 1984 and rooted in a re-evaluation of chance and automatism. Davison studied at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and has been engaged in the production of music, film, performance, writing, and visual art since the early ’80s. He has exhibited and performed nationally and internationally through numerous solo presentations and a long list of collaborative projects; has received grants for music composition and for performance art; and has curated or co-curated a number of workshops, exhibitions, and events – including most recently, the “7a11d Festival of Performance Art”. W.A. Davison is also the founder of the International Bureau of Recordist Investigation, possibly Canada’s only organization following along currents of modern Surrealism and Fantastic Art.

Victoria Stanton is a text-based multidisciplinary artist who works both solo and collaboratively (Fluffy Pagan Echoes, 1994-1996; Officious Little Students, 1996-present; Play Group, 1999-present). Her creative work includes performance, public intervention, artist-books, zines and most recently, video. Her spoken word and visual performances have been presented in Québec, Ontario, British Columbia, New York State, France and Italy. Her performance texts have been broadcast on regional and national radio as well as recorded for various spoken word and music CD compilations.

Josée Tremblay has been working as an artist, curator and arts organizer since 1989. After her studies in fine arts and literature, her curiosity has drawn her to experiment with a diversity of artistic forms (dance, theater, video & visual arts) through performance and media arts. She has exhibited and performed in several events and venues, in Montréal, Paris (Polysonneries: International Festival of living art May 2001), Belgium (Festival du Jamais Vu, May 1997), Cuba (Tombolita, Holguin, July 2000) and Italiy (Interazioni, June 2001). She has worked as a curator for special projects such as Nuit Blanche sur Tableau Noir for SIDAC (Montréal, June 1998), InterAzioni Festival for Teatro Arka (Italy, June 2001), and ReciproCity/ReicproCité for Studio 303 (Montreal) and 7a*11 d (Toronto) (Canada, October/November 2001). Josée is the founder and organizer of the biennial performance festival FA3 (Festival Art Action Actuel, Montréal, October 1999, May 2001).