LIVE Biennial of Performance Art 2005 EVENT LISTINGS Week 1: October 13-20 (Ordered by date/time and by programme) Schedule subject to change. All events in association with LIVE Biennial. Friday, October 14th, 6pm OPENING CEREMONIES grunt gallery, 116 - 350 East 2nd Avenue, Vancouver Opening remarks and welcome to the festival Friday, October 14th, 7pm Marching Band: BAND OF THE FIFTEENTH FIELD REGIMENT, ROYAL CANADIAN ARTILLERY Coordinated by BILIANAVELKOVA Part of the opening ceremonies of LIVE, the band will march from the ceremonies at the Grunt Gallery to the Western Front. Presented by the OR Gallery. Friday, October 14, 8pm Concert/Performance: NIHILIST SPASM BAND Western Front, 303 East 8th Avenue, Vancouver 604-876-9343 www.front.bc.ca The world's oldest noise band, a legendary collective from London, ON formed in 1965 by seven musicians who simply thought it would be much more interesting to play instruments rarely found in a traditional symphony orchestra. Fresh off their successful tour throughout Asia and Europe! John Boyle, kazoo, kalimba, percussion; John Clement, bass, guitar, percussion; Bill Exley, vocals; Murray Favro, guitar; Tim Glasgow, guitar, percussion; Aya Ohnishi, kazoo, percussion; Art Pratten, Pratt-a-Various, water pipe. $15 at the door Saturday, October 15, 8 pm Concert/Performance/Screening: THEAL NEIL PROJECT Western Front, 303 East 8th Avenue, Vancouver A tribute to Al Neil with documentation, performance, readings and music featuring Kate Hammett Vaughan and her Trio. Vaughn will vocalize texts by Neil with/accompanied by Ron Samworth on guitar and Coat Cooke on saxophone. Also included: a reading from Neil's work by Michael Turner and a screening of archival footage collected by The Al Neil Project, and visuals featuring Neil's work produced by Carol Itter and VJ Krista Lomax. $10 at the door Saturday, October 15th, 1 PM MARGARET DRAGU Performance. BIKING WOMAN: (NO) REFUGE FROM METAPHOR Richmond Art Gallery, 770 Minoru Gate, Richmond 604-231-6457 www.richmondartgallery.org This project has been initiated as part of the celebration of the Richmond Art Gallery's 25th Anniversary. (No) Refuge From Metaphor is the kick-off to the anniversary exhibition 25 Years/25 Artists. The performance, a remembrance of Dragu's 2003 performance Walking Woman, explores ideas around journey, struggle, celebration and providing for others. Ten-second clips of the artist's journey will be recorded by her companion, and the video will be screened upon her arrival at the Gallery, where she will complete her journey and engage the viewers in the piece. Free Sponsored by the Richmond Art Gallery Sunday, October 16, 6pm SUSANNE CLAUSEN AND PAULO KERESTEY Performance/Special Screening: THE EXTRAS Vancouver Public Library, Main Branch, 350 W. Georgia St. SET* will present video documentation of Szuper Gallery projects during October, and the visiting Szuper Gallery Collective members, Susanne Clausen and Paulo Kerestey will present a special performance and screening of a Media Contact: Gwen Kallio 604-215-2345 / sisuproductions@telus.net 1 new site-specific work titled "THE EXTRAS". Drawn from a series of short scripts written from the perspective of extras at specific film sets, the collective will be 'inconspicuous' actors, moving in the background and living in suggestion', yet retaining extravagant moments, moving through the repeatedly-represented public spaces of Vancouver. Free * Presented by Western Front Exhibitions Program and Artspeak SET programme - a collaboration with UK-based collective 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 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. Monday, October 17, 7:30 pm HANS WINKLER Opening and Panel Discussion: T H E N O V A LIBRARY Alice Mackay Room, Main Branch, Vancouver Public Library Meet the artist: 6 to 7pm Exhibit: October 17 to November 30 Level 2, Main Branch, Vancouver Public Library, 350 Georgia St. Free Working with a number of Downtown Eastside organizations and individuals to collect book title suggestions, artist Hans Winkler has created a "social sculpture" featuring a display of hundreds of diverse titles representing a range of writers, themes, and ideas. Named after William Burroughs' novel Nova Express, the Nova Library attempts to share the creative process with the community - and represent the spirit, ideas, and creativity of drug users and ex-addicts in the Downtown Eastside. Reading behind the statistics, this project sheds new light on this often misunderstood and misrepresented community. Free Produced by the grunt gallery, co-sponsored by the Portland Hotel Society, Vancouver Public Library, VANDU and Vancouver Coastal Health, and part of an ongoing exchange between the grunt gallery and Nuova Icona Gallery in Venice Italy. Funded by the Vancouver Foundation, Canada Council and Heritage Canada. Wednesday, October 19th, 8pm LINDA RAE DORNAN Performance: OUT SET WE 536 Site Space, 536 East 20th Avenue 604-872-7773 In "Out Set We", Linda Rae Dornan reads excerpt from her book about her ten years of care-giving for her partner. Dornan's writing is about the frustrations of care-giving, the sorrows of loss and of disability, and the joys of sharing and giving. Dornan will be presenting the book excerpts backwards, with singing and soundtracks incorporated into the performance, in the living room of the locally-known Arts Collective at 536 East 20th Avenue. Presented by Struts Gallery Artist-Run Centre (Sackville, NB) Plus: JASON FITZPATRICK. Performance: 536 STAFF SECURITY As a performance piece and as a member of 536's "STAFF", Jason Fitzpatrick will be providing security for Linda Rae Dornan's reading at the 536 Site-Space. FREE Thursday, October 20, 7pm DANIEL OLSON Artist Talk: DESK JOB Contemporary Art Gallery, 555 Nelson Street, 604-681-2700 www.contemporaryartgallery.ca In conjunction with Twenty Minutes' Sleep, Daniel Olson's solo exhibition at the Contemporary Art Gallery, the Montreal-based artist will talk about the relation between his material production and his performances. Olson often uses performance as a means to ignite his material production, while at the same time uses his interest in performance as the impetus for the production of many of his objects, videos, sound works and installations. In this manner, the playful and somewhat informal qualities of Olson's objects, which he makes by slightly altering existing objects, is reflected in his performances, which are in turn simple gestures that respond to already established parameters. FREE Media Contact: Gwen Kallio 604-215-2345 / sisuproductions@telus.net 2 Thursday, October 20, 9PM ANTHONY SCHRAG Performance: OUR BODY IS IN THE WORLD/IT HAS ALL GONE TERRIBLY WRONG Helen Pitt Gallery, 102-148 Alexander Street, 604-681-6740 www.helenpittgallery.org Meet at the gallery at 9pm for a par cours tour of Gastown led by Anthony Schrag. By climbing up, hopping onto, and flipping over pedestrian obstacles and urban furniture, Schrag promotes a phenomenological understanding of the urban environment while unnerving audiences. The tour returns to the Helen Pitt Gallery for something unexpected! FREE Friday, October 21, 8 pm THE NOVA LIBRARY/AL NEIL PROJECT presents Author Reading: UNDER THE INFLUENCE: BRINGING TOGETHER WRITERS FROM THE DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE Alice Mackay Room, Main Branch Vancouver Public Library Curated and hosted by Michael Turner, this event features readings by Maxine Gadd and Kevin Chong. "Under the Influence" is a series of readings from the Downtown Eastside that looks at Vancouver writers, starting with Malcolm Lowry and Al Neil, writing about alcohol and drug use. The Nova Library consists of a reading room where all the books have been selected by members of Vancouver's drug addicted communities. FREE (See also: October lfh, 7:30pm for information on the Nova Library. Nova Library Exhibit: October 15 to November 30, Level 2, Main Branch, Vancouver Public Library, 350 Georgia St) Friday, October 21, 8pm Opening: JUDY RADUL AND GEOFFREY FARMER in collaboration* Exhibition: October 22 - November 26 Artspeak, 233 Carrall St. 604-688-0051 www.artspeak.ca Judy Radul and Geoffrey Farmer collaborate on a new work resulting from their excursions to Vancouver courtrooms. The artists will examine the "cultural performance" that takes place within the court of law, a fertile 'stage' because the court (like the theatre with which it has historical links) is both an architectural environment and a set of behaviours and performances that are conducted in and through that space. As jurors view evidence held up to a camera which appears on their screens, the use of media occupies the role of intermediary in this theatre - a theatre that is literally trying to find the truth of the performance. FREE *Part of SET project program (see Sunday October 16) Media Contact: Gwen Kallio 604-215-2345 / sisuproductions@telus.net 3