Taking your
Kodachrome away

BLURRING MEMORIES: A short by Carlos Ferrand

In honour of Kodachrome Super8’s 40th anniversary, Kodak announced that it would discontinue selling its S8 Kodachrome Movie Film. To mark this occasion, Montreal’s Main Film decided to invite 28 local artists and filmmakers to make 30-second loops with the film while there were still labs available to process the stock. The outcome is the dramatic and beautiful Capsule-Mémoire, now installed in the Norman-McLaren room at the Cinémathèque québécoise (335 de Maisonneuve E).

A little bit like a big 28-legged spider, the loops play simultaneously on plastic toy viewers suspended at the end of each leg. Animations, experimental work or a single repetitive take of, say, someone blowing out their birthday candles, are on view by artists such as Nelson Henricks, Nikki Forrest, Anne Golden, Carlos Ferrand and Skawennati Tricia Fragnito, to name but a few. A whole new way of experiencing and looking at film as a spectator, Capsule-Mémoire runs until April 29, info: (514) 842-9768.

by CHRISTINE REDFERN

Notes from the Edgy

WOMEN OF THE WORD: Alexis O’Hara and D. Kimm

“People are free to participate or not, so they don’t have to be scared,” Mélissa Guay of Studio 303 explains with a laugh. Fitting reassurance, given the highly interactive focus of this year’s Edgy Women Festival—which reliably pushes the boundaries of performance art while hanging onto its sense of humour.

New this year: the Edgy Challenge (March 15), with Festival favourites Nathalie Claude and Dayna McLeod. “The show includes a feminist trivia game with the audience and a chance to sing on stage with Choeur Maha,” says Guay.

Further interactive delights include Moynan King’s “The Beauty Salon” installation, the much-loved Edgy Cabaret (March 17) and “Sorrow Sponge” (March 16), where Alexis O’Hara performs using samples recorded during two days of listening to people cry on her exaggeratedly cushioned shoulder.

Edgy Women runs until March 23 at various locations in town. Get tickets ($5–$12), festival passports ($40) and information at www.edgywomen.ca.

by ANDREA ZANIN

Trim down your illusion

SHADOW PLAY: Decouflé

If you caught the opening and closing ceremonies at the Albertville winter Olympics, you’ve already gotten a taste of the imaginative, far-out work of Philippe Decouflé. The choreographies of this French clown-turned-choreographer gained international recognition after this large-scale, prestigious cold-weather stint.

For the first time in his career, Decouflé is scaling down and heading on stage alone. In his intimate work Solo: Le Doute M’Habite, Decouflé creates an autobiographical ambiance with collaborators that intermingles reality and the imaginary with his characteristic mélange of illusion, shadows and movement we saw in Shazam! in 2001.

Decouflé says the motivation behind his creations is atypical: “What sets me apart from other choreographers is maybe my global approach to the show given that I work not to advance contemporary dance, but more to entertain people.” See it March 16–17, 8 p.m. at Usine C (1345 Lalonde), $32–$42, (514) 521-4493.

by MARITES CARINO

Words without meaning

EXPERIENCE IT: Zen time

The current campaign to fund Enpuku-ji, a larger building for Montreal’s Centre Zen de la Main, includes this weekend’s inaugural Montreal Zen Poetry Festival. “A lot of the people who sit in meditation at the centre happen to be poets or writers of some sort,” says the festival’s Talya Rubin. “So it was a logical progression to start a poetry festival.”

Given that Zen wisdom emphasizes direct experience beyond words, poetry might seem counter-intuitive. But consider the theme: Words Have No Meaning. Headliners include Zen Buddhist scribe Joanne Kyger, travelling companion of Beat icons Snyder, Ginsberg and Orlovsky. She’ll lead a workshop and read at an intimate lunchtime gathering, and Vermont poet David Budbill will indulge in some free improv poetics with musicians Lori Freedman, Malcolm Goldstein and others. Early risers can join Centre Zen’s Myokyo for free morning meditation sittings. Schedules, info: www.montrealzenpoetryfestival.ca.

by Vincent Tinguely

Is it art?

SPEED IN A SEED: A tension-taming tradition in baseball and the cigarette-quitting circuit, most people chew sunflower seeds for the relaxing, repetitive routine it requires, as much as the taste. If that’s your bag too, steer clear of Sumseeds; this is the snack of long-haul truck drivers and club kids. The new product comes charged with caffeine, taurine, lysene and ginseng, making it essentially an energy drink in a bag of shells. Extra wholesome sounding is the makers’ claim that Sumseeds’ patent-pending process “helps ensure that those funny-tasting ‘bad seeds’ found in other brands don’t make their way to your taste buds.” While not yet widely available in stores, Sumseeds can be ordered from www.sumseeds.com.

Arts hole

VAGINAL DISCOURSE: An originator of the homo-core punk movement and a gender/queer art icon, Ms. Vaginal Davis comes to Articule (262 Fairmount W.) this Saturday, March 17, to open the new exhibition, The Gays of Our Lives. The evening, which begins at 5 p.m., features a performance by Davis, a selection of video shorts and an informal discussion on queer video. The soirée is followed by an afterparty, beginning at 11 p.m., at le Studio (2111 St-Laurent), $5. The Gays of Our Lives installation moves to la Centrale (4296 St-Laurent), March 21–25. • OEDIPUS PUNK: A young man is fated to kill his father and sleep with his mother in post-punk Britain in Repercussion Theatre’s Greek, Stephen Berkoff’s modern take on the Oedipus tale. It runs from March 20–25 at Théâtre Ste-Catherine (264 Ste-Catherine W.), $20, 1-888-931-2644.

Artistat

Number of short films the NFB will screen in celebration of International Water Day, this Monday, March 19, at 7:30 p.m., at Concordia’s Hall Building (1455 de Maisonneuve W.), free: 11

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