L I V E
For Immediate Release: August 30, 2005
Media Contact: Gwen Kallio 604-215-2345 / sisuproductions@telus.net

LIVE: Biennial of Performance Art
LIVE 2005: ALTERED STATES

www.livevancouver.bc.ca
October 15 to November 25th, 2005
Various venues

"Maybe it's the mountains, maybe it's the sea or maybe it's the drugs, but for whatever reason, performance
art in Vancouver is accepted and celebrated as a meaningful and historical part of that city.
The LIVE biennial ebbs and flows like the tide over the course of six weeks and features a marathon of
performances, symposia and social events curated and programmed under the festival umbrella by a
plethora of galleries across the city."
Randy Gledhill from "Spotlight: The New Exhibitionists: Performance Art in the 21st Century".
Canadian Art, Summer 2005 Issue.
The LIVE: Biennial of Performance Art is Vancouver's six-week immersion into the world of performance art. From
October 15 to November 25th, the fourth installment of LIVE presents a stunningly innovative range and variety of
diverse and exciting events. Curated and hosted by Vancouver's artist-run centres, LIVE includes concerts,
performances, installations, readings, screenings, discussions and more - over 35 events featuring the work of local,
national and international artists. From events on the world wide web, galleries, libraries, lobbies and the great
outdoors to the stage of the Chan Centre - LIVE is one of Vancouver's most vital, adventurous and creative
festivals.
The theme for LIVE 2005 is Altered States, performance art incorporating the irrational, the subversive, the
spiritual, the intuitive, the confrontational and the traumatic. It focuses on the artist as prophet, as shaman, as
masochist, as addict, as anarchist and as provocateur. It explores altered states of consciousness and the altered
political map. It looks at performance art in the context of shifting social and political borders among cities, nation
states, "real" and virtual communities. It situates itself between the bacchanal and the riot, in a place where old
things die and new things come into being.
Altered States LIVE 2005 honors the life and work of Al Neil as the seminal figure within Vancouver's New Art
practices. Working in jazz, performance, writing and visual art his work celebrates the West Coast aesthetic. Neil,
interdisciplinary to the core, developed and defined many of the concerns that still influence new practices here
today. LIVE 2005 explores and pays tribute to his longstanding contribution with a series of events held during the
festival.
In addition to artists from Vancouver and across Canada, LIVE includes innovators from the Netherlands, Germany,
Great Britain, Mexico, the United States and Afghanistan. Al Neil will be in attendance along with Afghani-born film,
video and performance artist Lida Abdullah.
An additional special feature of LIVE: two evenings of performance presented by International Arts Initiatives in
association with the Chan Centre at UBC and LIVE. On Saturday, October 22nd, direct from Mexico City, cabaret
diva-comedienne and performance artist Astrid Hadad and her group Los Tarzanes take the Chan stage.
Visionary New York performance artist, singer, composer and choreographer Meredith Monk and Vocal Ensemble
visit the Chan on Saturday, November 12th.
For details on LIVE festival performances, visit www.livevancouver.bc.ca.
• For info on Chan Centre performances, go to www.mundomundo.com or www.chancentre.com
Tickets for Oct 22nd and Nov. 12th are available at the Chan Centre Box Office (in person only),
Ticketmaster.ca or by calling 604-280-3311