Artist finds her
Thursdays inspiration in
HEATRESPORTS
city's rave scene
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& 10:00

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istening to the throbbing
techno beat and sampled
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sound bites, and watching
the surreal video loops and
HEATRESPORTS
8:00 & 10:00 ^;the hypnotic movement of the
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^ d a n c e r s at local raves, Mo-Ling
S LATE
Chui started noticing the links
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between the city's club scene and
performance art.
"The whole rave subculture is
about trying to create an experience," says the 30-year-old video
artist and dancer. "Performance art
is like that, too—it can't be bought
or sold or reproduced; it's really
about creating an entire environmental experience."
* The two scenes will officially combine in an event on October 23,
when Chuj helps bring the Live at
the End of the Century performance-art festival to the club Sonar.
The event, called Notes From the
Lab, will bring together video artists,
DJs, dancers, and the public at large,
incorporating drum 'n' bass beats,
club cams, video monitors, and theatrical turntabling. It's meant not
only as a way to explore new forms
of performance art, but to draw the
attention of a new generation to the
form. Just as performance art had
links to punk rock in the 70s, Chui
says, it can find a new form of.
expression in today's music culture.
"NotesFrom the Lab will also
bring recognition to these urban

from I lie Video In, where she's
completing some of the Imagery to
be projected at the show.
Some of the artists she's collaborating with are electronic-music
composer Jacob Cino; Jeet-Kei
Leung, a Chinese-Canadian rapper
and techno/hip-hop DJ; turntablist
Rocket Girl; and video artists
Robin Yeh and Raul Man ley.
So what will make the event
more than just another rave? Chui
believes performance art is about
rcperforming and reinterpreting
life's rituals. In discussion groups
leading up to the event, she's
asked the participating artists to
think about "mundane daily rituals and going out into an urban
environment—moving from the
private space to a public space".
Chui expresses that theme in one
video segment by showing images
of ever-moving means of transportation—subways, trains, bikes,
buses—spliced witli ants scurrying
at hyperspeed. Even people in the
crowd will be interpreting the
theme: "A group of about 20 people will be performing In the audience, but it won't be obvious who
is or who isn't," says Chui.
The result, Chui hopes, will be an
experience that speaks to a generation raised in the digital age, when
culture is sampled from the films
and music of past eras, and consumed in mass doses on the Internet and TV. Chui's innovations may
be a sign of the future of the art
form. In the 70s, audiences tended
to focus on a single artist; later,
some multimedia elements, such as
video, started to be used. Chui's
vision is suited lo an audience that's
used lo sensory overload.
Despite all the technology used
in Notes From the,Lab, Chui is
most excited about the event's
live, communal side.
"Every one of us sits at home for
20-hour sessions doing our work,
whether that's making music or
video," she says* "It's a really alienating experience, and that'swhy
it's so nice to collaborate with each
other in a live show." •