Pousse-Café. Translating literally from the French, you get ‘push-coffee’ — after dinner, post dessert, beyond the beyond. The term refers to a combination of liqueurs of different specific gravities, layered in a glass to produce a rainbow effect. Amazing to look at, but the real trip is drinking it…
This heady folie hints at what we have planned for you. Our recipe brings together eight of our favourite performance artists, each one worth savouring on their own, but for this one evening layered together into what is guaranteed to be a ‘special occasion’.
The smell of chocolate, the weight of history, the sound of breaking glass, the space of distance, the colour of fire, the alchemy of whirling, the wisdom of aphorisms, the sly mystery of the familiar…
Pousse-Café reflects the kaleidoscopic richness of Toronto’s performance art scene, and indeed the city itself. This multi-textured cabaret evening is the perfect sampler of the dynamic range of aesthetics, ethnicities, ages and outlooks shaping the current local resurgence of art’s edgiest genre. While not all of the artists are currently living in Toronto, they are all regular contributors to Toronto culture.
Presented by Mercer Union
in conjunction with the 2nd 7a*11d International Festival of Performance Art
Curated by Paul COUILLARD and Louise LILIEFELDT
Saturday, November 7 8 pm
DeLeon White Gallery, 455 King St W
Shannon COCHRANE (Toronto)
If Wishes Were Horses, Beggars Would Ride
If wishes were horses, beggars would ride — and so would Azed, Omar and me.
Anne-Marie HOOD (Toronto)
untitled
An alchemical experiment using sound and movement as substances.
Johanna HOUSEHOLDER (Toronto)
The Missing Scenes from Last Year at Marienbad
Continuing a series of performance investigations into the annexation of internecine communication by the emotional residue of cinematographic iconography — OR — “The Missing Scenes from Last Year at Marienbad”.
Istvan KANTOR (Toronto)
That’s How I Want to Be Remembered
Worthless monument of dull muddiness commemorating a disastrous moment of absolute grandeur. Site specific gallery crime.
Robert LEE (Toronto)
untitled
A repeat performance
Tanya MARS (Toronto)
Homage to Hannah Wilke and Virginia Woolf
Once again Mars tips her hat to feminist history to create an ironic commentary on the sorry state of “woman’s place” as we approach the millennium.
Judith NORRIS (Vancouver BC)
Holy Dog
On the Similkameen Res. In Toronto. A horse with lightning bots on his legs galloping through time and space. Transportation from west to east and back again, via the north and south. Everything happens in a circle…
Stephen RIFE (St Paul MN)
untitled
Baseball is played with basically three pieces of equipment: the base, the ball, and the bat. The bat in this version of the game is a propane torch. The ball is a bag of flour. The base is somewhat more difficult to define, except to say that it is wherever the spectator has positioned his or herself, psychically and physically.
