Workshop: Performance and Activism in Everyday Life
curated by Joanne Bristol
Sat Oct 21-Mon Oct 23, 10-6 pm, presented by Western Front Performance Art

(Workshop enrollment now filled)

303 East 8th Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V5T 1S1
Gallery Hours: Tues-Sat, 12 - 5 pm PST
e: exhibitions@front.bc.ca | p: 604.876.93439 | f: 604.876.4099 | w: http://front.bc.ca

facilitators: Pond (Marisa Jahn & Steve Shada), Cheryl L'Hirondelle (Vancouver), Adrian A. Stimson (Saskatoon), and Lori Blondeau (Saskatoon)

This 3-day workshop proposes to expand ideas of performance art practise in relation to collaboration, community, and activism.

The workshop will focus on the development of performance-based interventionist strategies using voice, movement, space, objects, writing, costume and the creation of personas. It will also include an examination, from a range of cultural perspectives, of interactive and collaborative relationships between performers, audiences and communities.

The workshop will include full group exercises and presentations, smaller group discussion sessions, site-specific labs, and field trips.

Cheryl L’Hirondelle is a halfbreed interdisciplinary artist working in a variety of disciplines: performance art, music (voice, percussion, songwriter, arranger, producer), theatre (actor, writer), performance poetry, storytelling, installation art (site-specific, earthworks) video and new media (net.art, pirate radio, audio art). She was recently appointed as an Associate Researcher with SmartLab/University of East London, London, UK.

Lori Blondeau is a Cree/Saulteaux/Métis artist and curator based in Saskatoon. She is a co-founder and the current director of TRIBE, one of Canada’s most innovative and exciting Aboriginal arts organizations. Her performance, photo, and media-based works have been exhibited nationally and internationally. She is currently completing her PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Saskatchewan.

Adrian A. Stimson is a member of the Siksika (Blackfoot) Nation in southern Alberta and a Saskatoon-based interdisciplinary artist. He has exhibited and performed nationally, and is a sessional instructor at the University of Saskatchewan. Adrian was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2003 and the Alberta Centennial Medal in 2005 for his human rights and diversity activism in various communities.

Marisa Jahn and Steve Shada are co-founders of Pond: art, activism, and ideas (www.mucketymuck.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to showcasing experimental art. Through international gallery exhibitions, special events, lecture series, and various public art projects, Pond has fostered an environment that presents critical artwork in an accessible environment. Both Jahn and Shada are also practicing performance and installation artists and have exhibited internationally. Jahn is currently attending a Masters Program in Visual Studies at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Shada is currently involved in various grassroots relief efforts in communities most harshly affected by hurricane Katrina.