Rereading the Riot Act II. Vancouver, June 15, 2011

Lori Weidenhammer performing one of two of her responses at the Performance Art Cabaret @ The Waldorf.

My Unit/Pitt residency project: Rereading the Riot Act. Vancouver 2011.

I have a read a couple of How to Make a Wooden Sign instructions, that were not divinely inspiring. I am curious as to how it will stand and stay upright and thinking of a brick’s assistance. Next I have to consider the proximity the sign will stand to the performance. I am looking forward to talking it all up with wunderbar Lori and am glad to be working with her again after this week’s praiseach.

We laughed so much during our collaboration Big Mamas Ridin’ High for  Chaos at Open Space.

Today is Nollaig na mBan. I filled the teapot many times and thought about the labour of women.

I have to make a wooden sign that is as high as I am tall by next Friday for a performance art event.

This should be fun. In my history of manufacturing I have only succeeded in a multitude of identical wooden shelves, an omelet of reasonable tongue, some cards, a knitted shawl, and an incredibly ropey arrangement above the kitchen sink, which would be impossible to classify beyond a disaster. And the bedraggled greenhouse, which I must sing a hopeful spring is coming, spring is coming to, in more forelorn noticings.

Taxi! makin a stand

“The city will set up 12 late-night taxi stands around Calgary’s core on the weekend to help solve one of the most nagging cab shortage periods.”

On January 14th, 2011, I too shall be setting up a late-night Taxi! stand, albeit in Vancouver, in an embodied exploration and ongoing dialogue with Helen Potrebenko’s 1975 novel Taxi!  Another collaborative moment with the wunderbar Lori Weidenhammer coming soon ….

Chaos 1

First day of the Chaos project here in Victoria with Open Space. Tonight three artists talks at Camosun College (sp?) — a full room of students and community. The artists Sinead O’Donnell, Pauline Cummins and Sandra Johnston gave engaging talks on their work. The prolonged physical component in Sandra Johnston’s work fascinated me and I discussed it with her in the bar afterwards. Both Sandra and Sinead have made actions where the performance takes place in a public place and sometimes people are not aware a performance is even taking place. There were several slides from actions/performances in Romania that were particularly compelling in this regard. It made me think of performance within documentary. Except the documentary is otherwise undocumented moments in life. There was a hearty discussion at the end about documentation and its interference with performance.

But the extent to which these three artists engage in collaborative processes was extraordinary listening and I can only imagine how extraordinary some of this work was to witness. Also hearing Sandra talk about Belfast still operating with an artist run ethos (artists supporting and encouraging other artists, spaces etc) reminded me of how much has been lost on this coast in that regard.

More from my notes tomorrow.

CHAOS

I’m thrilled to be performing mischief with performance artist Lori Weidenhammer, this week, at Open Space in Victoria, as part of Chaos, along with four women performance artists from Belfast and Iraq.

This week I will be finding and uploading links to the artists work: Sinéad O’Donnell (Belfast) pictured, Sandra Johnston (Belfast), Pauline Cummins (Dublin), Poshya Kakl (Iraq). I will also be posting from Victoria as the performances and artist talks and events unroll.

To read more about Chaos click here

Thanks to Lori for inviting me to collaborate with her. Thanks also to Phoenix Gymnastics and Jeremy for video footage and Peter for photos.

Rebecca Belmore: Statement of Defense

Here is a link to a video of a performance by artist Rebecca Belmore outside the VAG yesterday at 3pm

The performance, as I understand it, relates to a lawsuit she is facing from her ex-dealer.

The performance is very moving and I found the sound the plastic makes against the urban sound of cars compelling, it crackles and has a rhythmic sound not unlike money. Even on impact when she drops the parcels with the quilt inside there an interesting and punctuating thud.

There will be more news on this, including a website where people can help out and support her, this information should be available shortly.

Facebook page for Rebecca Belmore Legal Fund now set up here Press release to follow shortly.