As you read this article, only one thing
is required of you—that you think of
socks: Are your feet bare or are they
clad in sports socks, toe socks, trouser
socks or glittery hose? Are all of your socks happily coupled or is there a bag of widowed socks
in your closet, interned there by your vain hope
that their mates will return?
Toronto-based artist SANDY PLOTNIKOFF
could probably deliver a partner for each of
those socks, should he be so inclined. Great
mounds of socks insulate his room; the sofa is
nearly obscured by piles of them. "You might
want to move those out of the way," he says as I
eye the sofa, wondering where to sit.
These—er—foot sheaths have a range of
purposes; though the most compelling is starring
in videos. Plotnikoff pulls sock after sock onto his
feet until the layers become serpentine deformities. It's a funny, but unsettling process
that, when inverted, becomes an intimate
revelation: the colourful snakes shedding to
reveal a shockingly bare and vulnerable foot.
I
"No, I don't have a foot fetish," says Plotnikoff, wearied by a question that wasn't yet
asked. True enough, his interests extend above
the ankle. One series features hats festooned
with snaps and then joined as streamers; another work is a series of photographs of Plotnikoff wearing hoodie sweatshirts, set against
complementary or discordantly coloured elements in the background.
Why clothes? Perhaps Plotnikoff's drawn by
the intimacy of the materials; perhaps he uses
socks simply because nearly everyone has bags
of widowed ones to donate.
"I don't often steal them," offers a grinning
Plotnikoff. "But I have been caught with some I
When the first performance
artists hit the streets of urban
Italy a century ago, a pissed-off
public, alarmed by the "revolutionary" antics, threw fruits and
veggies grabbed off nearby market stalls. These days, smallscale stagings generally attract
only the most worshipping, but
once in a while, performance
artists try to win over a wider audience. This fall, for example, marks
the return of the LIVE BIENNIAL OF
PERFORMANCE ART, a joint effort by 14 of
Vancouver's arts organizations. That's LIVE as
in rhymes-with-hive, as in art that walks,
talks and even hangs from a fire escape.
Though this is only the biennial's second incarnation, Van Groovy's love affair with performance art dates back to the 1960s, when the
first batch of risque work was unleashed. "The
reason Vancouver does the festival," says Grunt

Vancouver, home to Greenpeace,
grow-ops and Wreck Beach, is a world
of its own. Glorifying this "otherness"
is the scrappy, lefty, fortnightly indie
newpaper THE REPUBLIC OF EAST
VANCOUVER.
East Van is the only area in British Columbia
that consistently elects NDP members, federally
and provincially and the Republic reflects that
in its coverage and editorial stance.
While occasionally alarmist (witness the
headline "Rolling Black-Outs for BC by August?") and fond of picking easy targets (Conrad Black's attempt at Barony, Stockwell Day),
the Republic is strong, smart and filled with actual news and opinions, instead of condo and
beer ads. Recent issues have reported on everything from the continuing leaky condo fiasco, to
how NAFTA might affect B.C. Hydro, to the cultural stagnation caused by the Beatles.
E"K::~,

don't have permission to take." Ever the gentleman, Plotnikoff even leaves an explanatory booklet in exchange for the socks he takes. "Really,
though, people usually just hand them to me."
Then, from an overflowing closet, Plotnikoff
withdraws an envelope that's packed with—
wait for it—socks. From deep in the bag he retrieves a note caught in the jumble, the word
"enjoy," scrawled across the jagged scrap of
paper. "See," he says, as if defending his grand
collection, "people like to give me their socks.
They really do." To find out about upcoming
shows, or donate socks, send an email to sandyplot@yahoo.com —BuffyChilderhose

Gallery's Glenn Alteen, "is because the galleries
recognize a certain performative tradition that
exists here." Artist Vincent Trasov, for one, ran
Mr. Peanut as a mayoral candidate in 1974. The
city's First Nations community has spawned a
fair share of performers, too. Alteen also points
to performative elements in the work of photobased artists Jeff Wall and Stan Douglas, two of
Vancouver's hottest exports.
Continuing the tradition at LIVE are more
than 20 local and international artists, includ-

Given that the city's tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum dailies are (or were) both owned by
Southam, and alt-weekly fixture the Georgia
Straight continues to accept Hollywood press
junkets, the need for tough-questions journalism has never been more pressing. The power of
the press belongs to those who own one, wrote
A.J. Liebling—and The Republic clearly belongs
to the community that inspired it. For subscription information email magpie@lynx.bc.ca or
phone (604) 253-6413. — Ryan Bigge
ing Rebecca Belmore (Canada), Alvin
Tolentino (Canada), Victoria Stanton
(Canada), Robert Ashley (U.S.) and
Lorena Wolffer (Mexico).
Wolffer will work a double-shift at
this year's LIVE. The cultural activist
and artist is curating a performance
art fashion show at Western Front (a
veteran supporter of live art) and
staging her own piece, a critique of
^^ft^isfe, the North American Free Trade Agreement's effect on Mexican women. Other muchhyped pieces include Lisa Deanne Smith's
white-on-white Bliss and Radix Theatre's Sniffy
the Rat 10th Anniversary Bus Tour. Something
about a rodent-rescue scandal. You'll have to
figure it out yourself.
LIVE launches October 13. Participating organizations include Western Front, Video In, Artspeak, Or Gallery, and the Helen Pitt Gallery. For
more information, contact Grunt Gallery at 604875-9616 or www.grunt.bc.ca. —Janina Fogels
september/october2ooi THIS
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