LIVE Biennial of Performance Art 2005 EVENT SCHEDULE AND BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS NOV. 10-25, 2005 (Ordered by date/time and by programme: first event of a day highlighted in green) Schedule subject to change. All events in association with LIVE Biennial. Thursday, November 10, 8pm Concert: AL NEIL PROJECT Roundhouse Community Centre New Orchestra Workshop Society and Coastal Jazz and Blues co-present a concert featuring Al Neil's ultimate tribute band with legendary Vancouver improvisers Gregg Simpson on drums, Clyde Reed on bass and Vancouver improviser Paul Plimley on piano. Joining them are sampling/electronics artist Giorgio Magnanensi and performance poet Kederick James. Neil's partner, artist Carol Itter, and VJ Krista Lomax will produce images for the event. Info: www.coastaljazz.ca Friday, November 11 th , 7pm Artist Talk: MEREDITH MONK The Ironworks, 235 Alexander Street www.mundomundo.com See biographical information under November 12, 8pm. Saturday, November 12, 2pm DISCUSSION EVENT: PETER CONLIN Installation: BETWEEN ALL AND NOTHING Exhibit runs: November 5th - November 19 Vancouver Access Artist Run Centre: 206 Carrall St., Vancouver / 604-689-2907 BETWEEN ALL AND NOTHING is a gallery-encompassing installation consisting of thousands of text phrases taken from the artist's own collection. During the 3-week exhibition, Conlin will remain in the space during gallery hours, rearranging the installation and interacting with gallery visitors. Movable zones of association will determine the arrangement of the phrases, as will the conversations between Conlin and the public. www.vaarc.ca / Saturday, November 12th, 4 pm K.I.T. AND ROBERT SAUCIER Opening: INFRASENSE Exhibition runs: November 12th to December 3rd grunt gallery, 116 - 350 E. 2 nd Avenue 604-875-9516 www.grunt.bc.ca INFRASENSE is a two-person collaborative sound and robotic installation. Nine plastic and metal molded robotic sculptures, representing the Trojan horse* electronic virus, will move slowly across the gallery space in a straight line, backwards and forwards. Three faster 'Bugs' that are remote-controlled will be maneuvered around the Trojan horses, as if they are trying desperately for some way to hook up to them or discover what they are carrying. INFRASENSE takes concepts from the digital world, renders them in physical sculptural form and then returns control of these forms to the digital landscape of the World Wide Web. The gallery that hosts the project becomes a 'carrier' of the virus, which is adaptable to changes in the location/environment and is, therefore, site specific. The resultant work plays out both on the Web and in real time. This project is in conjunction with Folly Gallery UK th Saturday, November 12 , 8pm Media Contact: Gwen Kallio 604-215-2345 / sisuproductions@telus.net 1 Concert: MEREDITH MONK AND VOCAL ENSEMBLE Chan Centre @ UBC Tickets at Ticketmaster.ca, 604-280-3311 & Chan Box Office (in person) Info: 604-822-2697 or www.mundomundo.com Meredith Monk is a legendary composer, singer, director/choreographer and creator of new opera, musical theatre works, films and installations. A pioneer in interdisciplinary performance work, her ground-breaking exploration of the voice as an instrument, as an eloquent language in an of itself, expands the boundaries of musical composition, creating landscapes of sound that unearth feelings, energies, and memories for which we have no words. She has alternatively been proclaimed as a "voice of the future" and "one of America's coolest composers." During a career that spans more than 35 years, she has been acclaimed by audiences and critics as a major creative force in the performing arts. Presented by International Arts Initiatives and the Chan Centre Sunday, November 13, 2pm Panel Discussion: ALTERED BODIES Moderator: David Khang Panelists: Jason Fitzpatrick (Vancouver), Velvetta Krisp (Vancouver), Zachery Longboy (Vancouver) grunt gallery, 116 - 350 E. 2 nd Avenue, Vancouver 604-875-9516 www.grunt.bc.ca Performance artists have pushed the limits of their bodies and practices by incorporating themselves physically into their work. Piercing, tattooing, inserting or injecting anything is fair game. Some works are endurance-based and lasting, others instantaneous and ephemeral; some are self-inflicted, others are collaborative; some require pain, physical or psychological. This panel will look at various strategies employed by performance artists to produce physical, psychological and/or symbolic changes to their bodies. Monday, November 14th, 7-9pm Knitting Circle Discussion: Special Guest, DONATO MANCINI (Vancouver) Western Front, 303 E 8th Avenue, Vancouver. 604-878-7563, www.front.bc.ca FREE Donato Mancini will inspire a conversation about performative ephemera and detritus. The Knitting Circle is an exciting discussion group that meets monthly to explore performance art. They discuss current trends, issues that are affecting performance art, the work of performance artists past and present - and any other topic that affects this discipline. Activities also include guest speakers, improvisation workshops, watching video documentation, and readings. Open to performance artists, aspiring performance artists and lovers of this exciting discipline. This is a chance to become part of a wonderful support network. Participants are invited to bring knitting or a handcraft they enjoy doing, and a pillow to sit on. Everyone is welcome! Presented by Western Front Performance Art and The Escape Artists Society (T.EA.S) Wednesday, November 16, 4-6pm IRENE LOUGHLIN w/ THE RENFREW GYMNASTICS CLUB Performance: NADIA Waterfront Station - Main Lobby, Water St. at Richards (info: grunt gallery 604-875-9516) This new work by Vancouver artist Irene Loughlin employs video images of gymnast Nadia Comaneci in Montreal in 1976 with a troop of young gymnastic students from Renfrew Community centre in East Vancouver. The work will be performed during rush hour in the lobby of the old railway building at Waterfront Skytrain Station. The performance situates a balance beam in front of a large video projection. A group of young female gymnasts guided by their coach will perform a gymnastics session on the beam while the video runs. A text bar running beneath the balance beam will reference the first score of a perfect ten in history by Nadia, and related statistics concerning the social and political complexity of her experiences as a gymnast. Presented by the grunt gallery. th Thursday, November 17 , 8pm Media Contact: Gwen Kailio 604-215-2345 / sisuproductions@telus.net 2 S. SIOBHAN MCCARTHY Performance: PRIMAL SCREAM 7 Studios, 340-440 W. Hastings St. Info c/o absolute theatre co. 604-263-1859 / www.whoareyoucallingcrazy.com McCarthy's participatory performance is inspired by Dr. Arthur Janov and his primal scream therapy. She invites you to scream at the top of your lungs and lighten your load this evening. Shed some pain and relish your ability to feel. Presented by Absolute Theatre Company in celebration of Addictions Awareness Week. Thursday, November 17th, Time TBA. Location is mobile. PHONO - FELIPE DIAZ and ANNA SCOTT Mobile Performance: 1:1 A PROJECT IN LOCATIVE MEDIA The performance duo, PHONO will be creating new work for Altered States, the LIVE Biennale 2005 entitled, 1:1. This new ambulatory work explores the idea of transformation in perception and place, heightened perception, virtual and transformable architectures, new rituals that have come about in relation to new obsessions for technology, and tele-presence. Using hand-held GPS devices and camera-enabled cell phones, the artists will explore Vancouver's urban landscape capturing and downloading images of remarkable architectures and other points of interest made significant through their ability to command the artists' attention as they journey through the city. Starting from a common point each day, Diaz and Scott will set off in opposite directions, and while the distance between them will increase, the goal will be to stay equidistant from each other. When one party receives a call, the other will attempt to replicate the details of the other's location in their part of the city. During this process, they will communicate with each other via cell phone as a means to exploring the state of alienation and separation and seeking a means to overcome alienation without physical proximity. As a process for seeking meaning from random events, this experiment touches upon the possibility of confronting uncanny coincidences under controlled conditions. The duo will repeat their performance daily throughout the week in different areas of the city. Each day's performance ends when one artist cannot move any farther due to geographical constraints. Presented by the Neutral Ground Gallery (Saskatchewan) www.neutralground.sk.ca Friday, November 18th, 8pm Concert: ELLEN FULLMAN Tickets: $15/$12/$7 Western Front, 303 E. 8th Avenue, 604-878-7563 www.front.bcca Imagine a musical instrument with one hundred wires strung over fifty feet. This is the extraordinary Long String Instrument (LSI), developed over twenty years by internationally acclaimed composer-performer Ellen Fullman. For this marquee event in Western Front's "String Theory" series, Fullman will perform a selection of mesmerizing works on this unparalleled instrument. She will be joined by master improviser-composer Brett Larner and an ensemble of seven guitarists plucking, fretting, bowing and hammering steel strings for Larner's latest creation, the hauntingly delicate "m-7/21-1". Presented by Western Front New Music. Saturday, November 19th, 8pm RADIX THEATRE Performance: EXPERIMENT #1: DISSECTED BODY Please check website for exact location: www.radixtheatre.org An investigation of the body as specimen and spectacle. Inspired by the public anatomy events of the early sixteenth century, Experiment #1 will expoore the notion of what happens when we invent/discover the body as Media Contact: Gwen Kallio 604-215-2345/ sisuproductions@telus.net 3 cadaver, something that can be dissected into its component parts. This will be the first workshop presentation in a trilogy on the modern condition looking at the body, mind and soul. Radix Theatre creates original, interdisciplinary performance events that incorporate dynamic physicality, seductive visual imagery, and provocative content. Engaged in an ongoing experiment with both form and content, Radix is dedicated to the investigation of collaborative models of the creative process. Sunday, November 20,2pm Panel Discussion: ALTERED BODIES Moderator: Irene Loughlin Panelists: Victoria Singh (Vancouver), Rebecca Belmore (Vancouver), Naugus Ramirez Figueroa (Vancouver), Bobbi Kozinuk (Vancouver) grunt gallery, 116 - 350 E. 2 Avenue, Vancouver 604-875-9516 www.grunt.bc.ca Performance artists have been inspired and shaped by issues of identity, whether consciously or not. These issues are not fixed, but insistently fluid overtime. How do changing identities affect the way artists perform? How has post-feminist thought affected the practice of contemporary feminist performance artists? How is racial identity performed in post-ethnic times? How do performance artists carry out social interventions and political activism, while maintaining self-reflexivity? This panel will explore and tackle some of these issues. Monday, November 21st, 8pm A N EVENING OF PERFORMANCE CURATED BY MAYA SUESS Vancouver Access Artist Run Centre, 206 Carrall St., Vancouver / 604-689-2907 Line-up of artists performing: TBA Tuesday, November 22nd, 8pm MAYA SUESS Performance: HELMET PIECE Vancouver Access Artist Run Centre, 206 Carrall St., Vancouver / 604-689-2907 Space-relation travel - every explorer needs a uniform. Using specially-designed helmets created to facilitate a tonal experiment in the relationship between a performer and "hir" audience, the gallery is used as a point of contact. The space will administer both a public display and an opportunity for private aural investigation. Wednesday, November 23rd, Time: TBA Location: TBA Workshop: Time Captures (working title) Participants: Rod Dickinson, Antonia Hirsch (see November 25th: Greenwich Degree Zero) Friday, November 25th, 8pm ROD DICKINSON Opening / Performance: GREENWICH DEGREE ZERO Exhibition runs: November 25 - December 30 Western Front For SET*, Dickinson will present GREENWICH DEGREE ZERO, which focuses on a 1894 attempted anarchist bombing of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich by a member of the Autonomie Club, whose membership included Mirbeau, Signac, Pisarro, Seurat, Blum and Luce. This attempt to 'blow up time' will consist of an invented archive (as if the attempt had been successful, as if time had been altered) and the reenactment of select meetings of the Club membership. In collaboration with LIVE Biennale of Performance Art, two public forum events will extend the impact of the project and tap into an established network of audiences. Participants will include the invited artists, as well as Vancouver artists whose practices involve similar approaches (see October 2T6 and November 23rd) *Presented by Western Front Exhibitions Program and Artspeak SET programme - a coilaboration with UK-based coifective Szuper Gallery. SET is a series of three exhibitions and performance/screenings, a publication and discussion forum events. SET will support a new collaborative work by Judy Radul and Geoffrey Farmer, and bring new works by UK artists Rod Media Contact: Gwen Kallio 604-215-2345 / sisuproductions@telus.net 4 Dickinson and the Szuper Gallery collective to Vancouver audiences. SET stems from an investigation of current performative practices in the work of Vancouver and UK artists working with rehearsal, re-enactment and the formal framework of performance. Friday, November 25th, 9pm Performance: AL NEIL HISTORY TRIBUTE Vancouver Art Gallery An event focusing on Al Neil's history in performance art. Krista Lomax and Carol Itter will use visuals and imagery from Neil's oeuvre of performance art, accompanied by electronic music performed by Stephan Smolovitz and Ben Wilson. The Al Neil Project is a collaboration of grunt gallery, the Belkin Gallery UBC, New Orchestra Workshop, The Western Front and Coastal Jazz and Blues. Funding for the Al Neil Project has been obtained from Inter Arts Office of Canada Council, Imperial Tobacco and The Spirit Of BC. www.vanartgallery.ca Media Contact: Gwen Kallio 604-215-2345 / sisuproductions@telus.net 5