InterAccess is pleased to host FADO Performance Centre's presentation, Escapist Action: Performance in Recession, from November 23rd to 29th, 2009.

Curated by Don Simmons

Daily media reports bombard us with the reality of the current worldwide economic situation. We are in the midst of a recession. Businesses are failing and offering discount prices on everything in the store, the stock market is volatile, companies are looking for bailouts, and government agencies are giving away bloated stimulation packages. Despite these tough economic times, some businesses are experiencing a boom. Alcohol sales are up; Hollywood movies are experiencing a surge in attendance and theatres are reporting a rise in audience numbers. During tough economic times, art relating to escapism prospers.

Escapist Action: Performance in Recession is a weeklong series of performance events that investigate personal and public economics by offering the audience alternative methods of exchange. The series culminates in three evening programs: Black Friday, Red Flag Saturday, and Grey Cup Sunday. These programs investigate the mixed emotions evoked by the volatile economic market with live performances that navigate fear, despair, laughter, and hope. The audience is transported from the dark emotions of Black Friday through the humour of Red Flag Saturday, arriving at celebratory Grey Cup Sunday!

Co-presented by InterAccess Electronic Media Arts Centre.

ARTISTS

• John G. Boehme (Victoria)
• Joanne Bristol (Winnipeg)
• David Frankovich (Toronto)
• Tomas Jonsson (Calgary)
• Rodolphe-Yves Lapointe (Montreal)
• Julian Higuerey Núñez (Venezuela)
• Ignacio Peréz Peréz (Venezuela)
• Claudia Wittmann (Toronto)

SCHEDULE

November 23: 2PM to 9PM

Julian Higuerey Núñez & Ignacio Peréz Peréz
Open Barter Market

Join the artists for one day only as they engage the public in the barter and exchange of 72 objects they have brought from their home city to Toronto. Bring something of your own to trade in or you can exchange an object for a one-hour period of your time later in the week during the artist�s performance entitled The Artist and the Beanstalk.

November 24 to 29: Daily from 9AM to 9PM

Julian Higuerey Núñez & Ignacio Peréz Peréz
The Artist and the Beanstalk

After gathering a new set of 72 objects through Open Barter Market, the artists begin a durational performance (6 day / 12 hours each day, the artists creating performances in the moment and trading off each hour) using the various objects and audience's time as material. Drop by anytime to see this on-going process, or schedule a time with the artists to be present for the performance made with your object!

Friday November 27: BLACK FRIDAY

1 to 4PM

Joanne Bristol
Association for Imaginary Architecture
Email info@performanceart.ca to book an appointment or drop by!

Association for Imaginary Architecture investigates the relationship between physical experiences of the built world and how we imagine and internalize those spatial experiences. The performance involves a one-on-one exchange between the audience and the artist where the audience describes an architectural space from memory, a dream, or any kind of space in the built world that is of significance to them. As the space is described, the artist draws a 'plan' of it on the speaker�s clothed back with my hands. Sessions will last no longer than five minutes.

8PM

Performances from Claudia Wittmann, Roldophe-Yves Lapointe, Julian Higuerey Núñez & Ignacio Peréz Peréz

Rodolphe-Yves Lapointe
Nut your way out!a

The intensive use of the spoken word, nonverbal languages and the ingenuous manipulation of props is what typically characterizes Lapointe's Performance Art work ("textactions", in his own words.) But, the thematic of 'escapism' induced a restrained use of expressive means and the Quebec-based artist radically reduces his display of objects to a plain hemp rope, and the flow of words to only two, "Pull it!" In Nut your way out!, as he leads the public through productive time-killer activities (knot-tying), social games (tug-of-war) and skills tests (rescue techniques) until he reaches the "highest stage" of escapism. The end of the performance virtually lies in the spectator's hand.

Claudia Wittmann
My First Witch Piece

Today, my first witch piece exists as an idea that has to do with my body and with escapist acts, which I see as impulses to avoid or to transform a certain system of beliefs. I am fascinated by myths about 15th century witches, and I allow myself to ossilate between believing and not believing that they had unusual abilities, such as "flying" or temporarily depriving men of their male organs. I wonder what kind of consciousness shift I would need in order to commit to their philosophical view of the world, and to see myself become one of them. What are my embodied psychological walls? Doubt? Fear? Judgment? My relationship with death? My goal with this work is to take my audience on a journey that makes visible our resistance to a shift of consciousness.

November 28: RED FLAG SATURDAY

1 to 10PM - Off-site at 3042 Dundas Street West (Junction)

Tom Jonsson
Magpie

In this off-site work, the artists creates a personal engagement with a variety store that has been a long time fixture in the Junction neighbourhood of Toronto, another area of the city whose retail identity is rapidly changing. Creating a dynamic that resisted the usual flow of investment and speculation (eviction/gentrification), Magpie offers an ongoing adjunct redundant economy by selecting, purchasing, sorting and then "reselling" various items on the street to passersby. In place of monetary gain, other forms of exchange are favoured. The objects function as opportunities for discussion about the role and ritual of corner store shopping, the economic and material transformations taking place in the neighbourhood / city, and the determination of value and exchange.

8PM at InterAccess

Performances from John Boehme, Joanne Bristol, Julian Higuerey Núñez & Ignacio Peréz Peréz

John G. Boehme
Calentura (first in the series)

Calentura (first in the series) intends to investigate autobiographical escapist narratives of adolescent disenfranchisement projected through direct akshun.

Joanne Bristol
My Winnipeg Can Be Yours...

In this twenty-minute slide-lecture performance I will describe the advantages of living in Canada's low-budget cultural capital. This performance is especially designed for Torontonians who might like to experience the joys of living an in what is arguably North America�s most affordable city.

November 29: GREY CUP SUNDAY

6PM - Off-site at the Gladstone Hotel

David Frankovich
Grey Cup Party

A team of dandies gathers to honour Earl Grey's Cup over a cup of Earl Grey. The sports bar and the Victorian tearoom collide. Dressed in thrift store finery, they engage in male bonding over tea and biscuits while watching the Grey Cup final. Masculinity is reconstructed through a recession-friendly social ritual.

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About FADO
Established in 1993, FADO Performance Inc. (Performance Art Centre) is a not-for-profit artist-run centre for performance art based in Toronto, Canada. FADO exists to provide a stable, ongoing, supportive forum for creating and presenting performance art. Currently, we are the only artist-run centre in English Canada devoted specifically to this form. We present the work of local, national and international artists who have chosen performance art as a primary medium to create and communicate provocative new images and new perspectives.

FADO is grateful for the generous support of our funders: Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council and Department of Canadian Heritage. We would also like to thank InterAccess Electronic Media Arts Centre for their support and contributions hosting and presenting this event.