By Alison Cooley Francesca Fini’s performance space is a theatrical set. Her props and environment impeccably arranged, dramatically lit. Red, white and pinkare the scene’s characteristic colours. There is a bandaged white face on a table, a red suspended platform dripping a red popsicle over a fishbowl, an apron riddled with Eva Hesse-like protrusions. Fini …
By Jenn Snider “Okay, so I’ll go and check the mirror, but can you tell me if my eyes are uneven?”Anya Liftig has just asked me a confusing question, but as soon as I look at her I understand. She’s asking me if her eyeliner looks okay. I bend in and examine her handiwork.“The one …
By Alison Cooley A few ideas stick out from the third Performance Art Daily panel, themed “Approaching Architecture.” I am likely to carry these with me through the rest of the festival. The first is Gary Varro’s initial interrogation of the whole theme of the panel: where does the notion of architecture manifest in our …
Architectural Poetics and Performing Structures (Performance Art Daily) Read More »
By Jenn Snider The second edition of Performance Art Dailies began with an introduction by session moderator, Paul Couillard. He explained the theme of ‘language sound body’ by breaking it down, word for word. Language……..Sound………Body The choice of word order was quite deliberate, Couillard explained— “Language is in somewhat of a black box. So this …
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By Alison Cooley “We have never met. We don’t know each other. Whatever magic happens here has not been rehearsed,” says claude wittmann’s conversation partner today. “I am in a little room with white walls, no windows,” claude describes. “There is a vent on top. My goal is to sit here and exchange something about …
By Alison Cooley Tanya Mars graciously introduced me, last night, to former students of hers who had offered to translate for Chinese performance artist Liu Wei. She suggested I approach them after his performance with some questions. I hesitated, knowing that up until this point I have had limited contact with the artists I have …
By Alison Cooley Simlâ Civelek enters her performance in a beige shift dress and metallic heals: apparel difficult not to read as yuppie businesswear or the garb of a disaffected housewife. (I’m conscious of this hyper-gendered description. Men’s suits signify across various social and economic lines, and I held back comment on John Court’s black …
By Jenn Snider The artist pushes and pulls. He threatens to crack.Please… just touch, just break, just reach, hope…just try.It might be enough this time to make this tension subside. “Is there anyone who is willing to hug?” he asks.Later, “Does anyone want to kiss?” Christian Bujold’s performance constructs intimacy in ways that strategically conflate …
By Jenn Snider Kurt Johannessen probably doesn’t think about fractals, at least not when he’s performing. I don’t generally consider the self-replicating patterns that approach infinity very often either, so I can understand the idea that it’s not at the forefront of anyone else’s mind. Fractals are natural phenomenon of repeating patterns that don’t alter …
“Think about fractals”, I told myself. Then, “don’t think about fractals.” Read More »
By Alison Cooley An accumulation of chalk on the floor, an accumulation of marks on the chalkboard, an accumulation of blisters around the performer’s mouth, an accumulation of time in his stride, an accumulation of dust in the lungs. London-born, Finland-based John Court’s performance builds in steady accumulations. Piloting a long, irregular stool-like construction, one …