Small worlds
MINI METROS: A still from “mm”
Sarah Jane Gorlitz and Wojciech Olejnik have been collaborating on art projects for the last couple of years and are currently showing two new stop-motion animations in the main gallery at Optica (372 Ste-Catherine W., #508).
Both videos are quite strange to watch. For each, they have built many small-scale figureless maquettes that resemble the generic stairways and platforms we pass through in the metro. The spaces are all invented, but they are so omnipresent and familiar that you feel as if you have walked through them a hundred times before.
The size of the maquettes was determined by the need to fit the camera into them and the materials they found to build the models. I particularly liked how they captured the look of the green tile walls by building them out of Chiclets.
The first video, titled “mm,” consists of moving the camera 1mm/frame through the empty spaces. The second video, “just add water” was created by slowly flooding the models by adding or removing one glass of water per frame. Simple, yet surprisingly effective.
Until April 19, info: (514) 874-1666.
by CHRISTINE REDFERN
Diaspora dance
SURE STEPS: SavoieAfter leaving the Regroupement québécois de la danse as president in 2004, dancer-choreographer Pierre-Paul Savoie wanted to get the creative juices flowing again.
“I didn’t really dance for six years,” explains Savoie, so he came up with a concept that would unite Québécois and Canadian choreographers living abroad. Savoie invited André Gingras (Amsterdam), Luc Dunberry (Berlin), Linda Mancini (New York) and Mireille Leblanc (Göteborg) to create short pieces for Diasporama, a series “that gives a picture of dance around the world.”
Representing Montreal, Savoie choreographed a 25-minute solo “Confidences d’un corps,” which he describes as a “vulnerable piece about truth and trust that looks at the memory of my body and reconnects me with my passion.”
For this piece, Savoie explains he altered his creation process: “Usually I work like a sculptor and look at shapes, but this time I tried to work with the state of the body.”
For the second half of the program, Savoie dances with Vincent Morelle in a duet by André Gingras that was inspired by works by artist David Wojnarowicz. At Agora de la Danse (840 Cherrier), 8 p.m. nightly until March 22, $18–$26. Info: (514) 525-1500.
by MARITES CARINO
Lundun calling
“I’m a half Newfie, half North African, Ontario boy. A Montrealer, Haligonian-born, French-named...why even bother saying where you come from?”
That’s the reasoning behind Lunduntown, an oddball comedic play from writer/comedian/filmmaker Alain Mercieca that explores ideas of immigration and identity of Canadians travelling in London.
It follows man of the streets Charlie Dibbles, a philosophizing world citizen forced to take himself seriously when news of an ailing mother calls him home. In the mix is a pair of backpackers, a lunatic English bard, and a menacing figure targeting tourists called The Face Shooter.
The script arose from a trip to London’s East End where Mercieca walked the same streets that his father and grandfather had travelled as immigrants.
Mercieca, also known from sketch comedy outfits Stag Nation and Les Mont-Royals, ponders whether nationality should even be an important part of identity anymore.
“We are all immigrants of immigrants of immigrants of immigrants,” he writes. “Living in a world where airplanes are buses, cities swallow other cities, and nationalities and bloodlines are so complex that one has to wonder…”
March 20–22, and 26–29 at Théâtre Ste-Catherine (264 Ste-Catherine E.), 8 p.m. (514) 284-3939.
by NEIL BOYCE
Poetry to change the world
Noches de poesia organizer Élizabeth Robert has put together a multilingual event tomorrow, Friday, March 21, which is both Unesco’s World Poetry Day, and the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
Pâtes fraîches, pâtisseries et poésie au Marché Jean-Talon features a feast of  delicacies starting at 5:30 p.m., followed by poetry readings and a discussion on the theme of peace through dialogue by Yellow Door series organizer Ilona Martonfi. Signal Editions editor Carmine Starnino, Quebec City writer Marie Cholette, specialist in migrant literature Angel Mota, and photographer, writer, playwright and activist Ehab Lotayef.
“In my culture, as I grew up, and in Arabic history in general, no other tool has been as effective as poetry has been in changing people’s lives, fighting oppression and changing political norms,” says Lotayef.
At the salle Mandoline, Marché Jean Talon (7070 Henri-Julien, 2nd fl.), $5, tickets must be purchased in advance at www.diffusionadage.com, or at the Marché Jean-Talon.
by VINCENT TINGUELY
Is it art?
HIGH FLYING FRUIT: It’s a bird, it’s a plane, nope, it’s a banana. Or at least that’s what artist César Saëz is aiming for with his latest project Geostationary Banana Over Texas.
Since November 2005, the artist (and former Montreal resident) 
has been researching the science behind suspending a 1,000-foot helium-filled banana (more than three football fields in length! Take that Freud!) 50 kilometres above the sky over Texas.
If successful, the banana, which would stay up for approximately one month and be visible both day and night, would become the world’s first piece of space art.
The team, and the science, are firmly in place; the only thing needed now is the money. In order to make this banana float by the end of August 2008, the team needs to raise $1.5-million by June 15. You can make your donation and read more about the fruity project at www.geostationarybananaovertexas.com.
Arts
hole
ROCK YOU LIKE A HURRICANE: Maison de la culture Côte-des-Neiges (5290 Côte-des-Neiges) presents Ojos del Huracan, a group show featuring the work of Peter Barron, Oscar Camilo De Las Flores, John Graham, Osvaldo Ramirez Castillo and Srdjan Segan. The vernissage takes place tonight, Thursday, March 20 at 5 p.m. • NEW KID ON THE BLOCK: The SBC Gallery of Contemporary Art (372 Ste-Catherine W., #507, formerly the Liane & Danny Taran Gallery) opens its doors for the first time, tonight, Thursday, March 20 at 5 p.m. for its inaugural vernissage and show OIKOS/Habitacles featuring the work of Isabelle Hayeur, Stéphane Couturier and Mark Ruwedel.
Artistat
The number of years Web-based artist Annie Abrahams has been developing her online project Being Human/Étant Humain, from which she will present Le chœur souhaitant/The Wish Choir Wednesday, March 26 at 8 p.m. at Galerie la Centrale (4296 St-Laurent): 12 |
