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Cliquey cabaret
OPEN WIDE: Sword-swallower Miss Behave
A definite hit at last year’s Just for Laughs festival, La Clique, the cheeky, sexy vaudeville-circus act for adults, is back, but this time at a more intimate venue. Now housed in the Just for Laughs Studio (2109 St-Laurent), the same quirky cast of characters (and an added emcee, Michelangelo) invade the space.
First up, sensual London cabaret artist Ursula Martinez mixes up burlesque and striptease. Then, from flesh to steel, Miss Behave, aka Amy Saunders, shows off her skills as one of the world’s two female sword-swallowers. There are antics in the bathtub with acrobat David O’Mer, who demonstrates there’s more to bath time than scrubbing and personal hygiene, and Yulia Pikhtina dances in circles with her hula hoops in unexpected ways. The gangly contortionist Captain Frodo slithers into the mix, and the prim and proper English Gents, a strongman, balancing duo, teeter while sipping tea.
Catch the kooky cabaret that got its start in the International Fringe circuit nightly at 9:15 p.m., from July 3–29. Tix: (514) 845-2322.
by MARITES CARINO
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Vandal at the vanguard
ART RAT: Banksy
A good graffiti book is always a joy, capturing a necessarily ephemeral art for the ages, but Wall and Piece from publishers Century, an overview of the efforts of U.K. street-artist Banksy, is a whole other can of paint. Equal parts prankster and propagandist, Banksy (whose real name might or might not be Robert Banks, born in Bristol in ’74) is known worldwide for his highly effective subversions of public space—where most see grey concrete walls and mundane public utilities, Banksy sees canvases for daring, highly ambitious, shockingly clever and politically potent hit-and-run stencil art raging against cancerous consumerism, morally bankrupt militarism and nefarious neo-feudalism. Whether he’s painting a piece of paradise on the Israeli “security barrier,” criticizing London’s Orwellian security-cams (while evading them) or tagging cows in the countryside, Banksy’s jests and jabs hit their mark.
by Rupert Bottenberg
Next stop Tibet
If you’re standing at Place des Arts and decide that you need to clear your head momentarily from the Jazz Festival mayhem, step inside the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art. Once in, head downstairs into the dark and cool space of the Beverley Webster Rolph Hall, where, for free, you can travel to a far-off land via the video In the Between by British artist Darren Almond.
The three-screen projection depicts a journey by train from Xining, China to Lhasa, Tibet. Sometimes, the three screens show the view of the countryside passing quickly by, as if you’re looking out of the train’s windows. At other times, images from the Samye monastery in Tibet are juxtaposed with the landscape. There is no narrative but the visuals are breathtaking: particularly the prayer flags and the shots of the train at night. The sound of monks chanting mingled with Tibetan horns, cymbals and drums adds to the experience.
The museum recently acquired this 14-minute video for its collection. This newly built railway line, nicknamed “The Celestial Road,” continues Almond’s series of videos on “mythical” trains. In the Between runs until July 8, info: (514) 847-6226.
by CHRISTINE REDFERN
Pushing buttons
Sharing the love, one pin at a time. That’s the premise behind Pindemonium, going down tonight, Thursday, June 28, at Articule (262  Fairmount W.). Artists of all ilk have already provided designs to the Pindemonium people, who have reproduced the creations onto 1.25-inch pins. Tonight, each participating artist, painter, musician, poet and neighbour will get a bag full of their pins. Then the trading begins.
“The idea behind the show is getting people together, and promoting an exchange between them,” says co-curator and total Pindemaniac Lisa Fitzhugh. “It is a pretty friendly evening.”
In the spirit of community, those who haven’t provided designs are welcome too—grab bags of pins will be for sale so everyone can trade. The evening gets underway at 8 p.m.
by MATTHEW WOODLEY
Is it art?
HEAD AT HOME: When you can’t find a bar that feels like a home away from home, you’re probably doing okay. But, if you really want that homey-bar feel, then you can try recreating the bar in your apartment.
Adorn your walls with rusty Molson signs and light-up Coors bottles to your boozin’ heart’s delight, but it won’t taste like a bar if you can’t pour a draught. That’s why we at the Mirror, upon receiving a portable Heineken Co2 draught keg, the first of its kind, decided it was our responsibility to do some investigating.
First step: Co2 handle application. Easy as pie. Second step: Mastering the pour. This proved more difficult. The keg holds five litres, approximately 10 U.S. pints, but with spillage and the half-foam/half-beer ratio we averaged, I would guess we only managed eight.
Findings: Nice mini-keg design. The beer tasted fresh, perhaps bubblier than your average bottled brew and the creamy head topping the pints (in our case, halving) created the bar-feel at home.
Report status: Not complete. The keg claims to keep for 30 nights, once opened. Due to our diligence with the other tests, we were unable to verify this claim.
Arts hole
COMIX PHOTO-OP: Marc Tessier, a comic book writer and designer, is launching his first solo work, Nuages de fumée, on Wednesday, July 4, at Boa (5301 St-Laurent). The book, although laid out in traditional comic-book-style, uses photos instead of drawings to reminisce on the Montreal comix scene from ’87 to ’95. • CULTURAL CRAFTS: On June 30 and July 1, visit Pointe-à-Callière’s (350 Place Royal) Cultural Rendezvous for a diverse mosaic of activities celebrating over 30 different countries with food, music, art and dancing.
Artistat
Number of artists displaying their work on Ste-Catherine (between St-Hubert and Papineau) from June 28–July 1 as part of the 8th Festival International Montréal en Arts: 150+ |
