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 …
By Jenn Snider Eduardo Oramas is already seated when we arrive. Settled and straight-backed at his desk, the artist is dressed in a dark suit with a silver-striped red tie, and he gazes at the door through which the large festival crowd comes. On the table, he has some fixings for a bit of a …
By Alison Cooley What does it mean to receive Radio Equals? claude wittmann broadcasts his interpersonal egalitarian experiment (one-on-one interviews recorded inside a small, closet-like room) over the radio and online. As I listen, I am receiving a private conversation, I am being enfolded into a broadcast moment of incredible intimacy. It is rare to …
By Alison Cooley Here’s a quick look at the bingo after our first night. I worry I have made this too easy.
By Alison Cooley Andrée Weschler moves with the confidence and surety of someone enacting a familiar, precise and practiced routine. Opening Garbage bag & love seeds, Weschler strides into the studio with a chair. She wears a light pink nightdress, stockings, and shoes. Carefully removing her footwear with a nonchalance evocative of the commonplace motions …
By Jenn Snider Éminence Grise Clive Robertson works in mysterious ways. Or rather, his works trouble the mysteries of art as apparatus. This may as well mean the same thing. Over more than forty years, his combined impact on Canadian performance, video, conceptual, and community arts, and on the artist-run centre, has been enormous and …