LIVE AT THE END OF THE
CENTURY: ASPECTS OF
PERFORMANCE ART IN
VANCOUVER
edited by Brice Canyon
Visible Arfs Society: grunt gallery, 2 0 0 0

184 pp., b&w illus.

During October 1999 a
performance art festival under the
rubric of Live at the End of the
Century was presented at eleven
Vancouver venues—the most
recent manifestation of an art
genre that traces its origins to the
legendary 'happenings' of the
1960s. Now, thanks to
Millennium funding, grunt gallery
has published a compilation of
essays, commentaries, narratives
and whimsical scripts that offer a
insider's look at performance art
in Vancouver, along with chronological marginalia identifying
performances and performers
from 1965 to the present.
As someone who views
performance art with askance (if
not downright avoidance), I
wasn't prepared for the enjoyment
of reading Live at the End of the
Century. Among the book's highlights is Tanya Mars's instruction
manual, Performance Art Starter
Kit™, which recommends, among
other handy tips, that performers
use alienating or intimidating
body language, sound tracks that
imply impending disaster, and the
use of bodily fluids. "Urine
continues to be shocking, despite
our daily familiarity with it," she
notes.
Other of the book's texts,
such as those by artists Margaret
Dragu, Aiyyana Maracle, and

Judy Radul focus on the many
motivations behind performance;
among them, the desire to shock
audiences and to use one's own
body as a vehicle for rage.
Authors Ivan E. Coyote and Kiss
& Tell offer self-deprecatory and
humorous insights into the developmental process of individual
performance pieces. More sober,
analytical views of performance
art's relationship to artist-run
centres come from curators Karen
Henry, Todd A. Davis, and Glenn
Alteen.
Aside from gathering a few
friends together to read aloud
Glenn Lewis's punning Mondo
Artie radio script, perhaps the best
summary of experiencing performance art is found in a few sample
lines from the poetic dialogue in
Paul Wong's Various Definitions
of Performance Art, Oct. 13,
1999:
It was great.
It could have been shorter.
Everyone loved it.
You were really good.
How long have you been doing

this?
How many years?
Really, this was the first time?
Done without rehearsal?

available from:
grunt gallery
1 1 6 - 3 5 0 East 2 Ave.
Vancouver BC V5T 4R8
www.grunt.be.ca

SPRING 2001 ARTICHOKE

53