LOST IN TRANSIT: From “Transfer Point” by Jenny Lin

This Saturday night, July 26 at 8:30 p.m., cinematic and natural wonders conspire to produce an evening of topical, tropical delights when local purveyors of all things video and woman, Groupe Intervention Vidéo, present the 17th annual Vidéo de femmes dans le parc at Théâtre de Verdure in Lafontaine park.

Comprising 17 new experimental works by female video artists (with a few male collaborators) from Montreal and elsewhere, the program explores the relationship between picture and sound, specifically the nuanced role that music plays when combined with the video image.

From light-hearted animated sequences to compelling personal narratives, the show acknowledges the conventions of the music video genre without confining itself to these formal references.

Jackie Gallant and Nelson Henricks’s whimsical “Untitled (Score)” is a multi-frame composition of sound, image and text, while Divya Mehra’s musical interlude “Wet Girl” strikes a teasing tone with its genre-biting performance.

The evening’s most provocative and disturbing work is “Les gens du village” by Micheline et son Caporal (Nathalie Derome and Michel Giroux). Here, a series of first-person narrations are given new weight when the speakers’ faces are manipulated and deformed into haunting grotesqueries.

by STACEY DEWOLFE

24 minutes and
four seconds

CAPTURING THE ORGANIC:
“Tissue #5,” topped with tofu, on a pillow

The passage of time is at the centre of the work of Chih-Chien Wang, an artist who moved to Montreal from Taiwan in 2002. He’s currently part of a two-person show alongside photographer Isabelle Hayeur until Aug. 23 at Pierre-François Ouellette Gallery (372 Ste-Catherine W., #216).

Featuring three videos and nearly a dozen photos that use soft, organic shapes and colours, Wang’s work is a gentle exploration of the fact that any attempts to capture or frame time are, at best, allusions and metaphors.

The 24 minutes and four seconds of the three videos, for example, came about when Wang was peeling the beans that compose the first video and a photo work.

“That’s how long it took me to peel them,” he says, “and so when I made the next video, it had to be that long. I thought: If my body was a machine, how did it experience these 24 minutes?”

Through the machine of his art, Wang lets us experience this same feeling—the slow, relentless and yet hauntingly beautiful passage of time, of moments that are as fleeting as the anonymous and endless traffic we see in one of his videos, passing by in a city rainstorm.

by LORNE ROBERTS

Together ÀPART!

This summer, the folks at Skol (372 Ste-Catherine W., #314) turned over administrative duties to three guest facilitators: Gina Badger, Adrienne Mak and Amy Novak.

Their task: organize and oversee ÀPART!—a collaborative workshop bringing together a group of artists from Montreal and beyond to explore existing borders between artists, their practice, their audiences and the spaces in which they create and exhibit.

MIRROR, MIRROR: The participants

On display until Aug. 15, the pieces are works in progress, with an explicit goal to make manifest the processes of artistic creation and the pedagogical methods used in the workshops.

According to Mak, thinking about end results was strongly discouraged during the one-week intensive, and visitors themselves are invited to engage as participants.

Though boundaries are created in the space, dividing the installations and separating the viewer from the work, a video loop illustrates how ephemeral these borders actually are.

A series of moving images in which the participants respond to some unseen hilarity happening off-screen functions on two levels: as an object of contemplation whose mysteries and subtle movements resonate on an aesthetic level, and as a document that engenders curiosity and delight.

by STACEY DEWOLFE

 

Enter the dragon boat

In 278 B.C., Chinese poet and statesman Qu Yuan committed suicide in the Miluo river protesting a corrupt emperor of the Zhou dynasty. Saddened, the villagers paddled out in fishing boats to save his soul, beating gongs and drums to frighten away evil ghosts.

ROW, ROW, ROW:
Dragon Boat Race ’07

Since then, annual dragon boat festivals honouring the poet’s virtue and patriotism have spread throughout China and the world, especially in Canada, home to the biggest dragon boat races outside Asia.

The 13th Montreal International Dragon Boat Race Festival this weekend, July 26–27, will have hundreds of teams from around North America competing for sport, charity or solidarity (it’s popular among breast cancer survivors). The long, narrow boats carry between their dragon’s head and tail teams of 20 paddlers, a steerer and a drummer, pounding out the crew’s rhythm.

Throughout the weekend, catch free shuttle buses at La Gauchetière W. and St-Urbain to the Olympic Basin, Parc Jean-Drapeau. every 30 minutes, from 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Also featuring live music, food and activities for kids, and no cover charge. www.montrealdragonboat.com

by NEIL BOYCE

Is it art?

FREE TO PEE: Summer is vacation season, so what better time to introduce the TravelJohn, a disposable urinal pouch.

Ideal for both men and women—the pouch is fitted with a plastic lip designed especially for the female anatomy—the compact john unfolds into a tube lined with revolutionary LIQSORB crystals, which solidify liquids into a gel, simultaneously making the contents spill-proof and odour-free.

Sold in packs of three at pharmacies throughout the province, the TravelJohn is ideal for peeing just about anywhere; in a car, on a plane, on a boat or a train, allowing you to forgo trips to public restrooms, wooded areas or unlit back alleys.

It’s also biodegradable and can be disposed of in any waste bin, making it perfect for outdoor festivals and concerts. Adios port-o-potties.

www.traveljohn.ca

Arts hole

FROM POSTERS TO PAINTINGS: Known for her twisted and psychedelic gig posters, artist Alex Snelgrove shows her softer, nostalgic side with Weak Brave Light, a solo show of her latest paintings at the Emporium Gallery (3035 St-Antoine W., #74). The vernissage takes place tonight, Thursday, July 24 at 7 p.m., and runs until July 30. • PROFIT FOR POETS: Director of the Montreal Public Poetry Festival J.J. Locke offers free advice and coffee this Saturday, July 26 at 11 a.m., at the Second Cup Cafe on Claremont and Sherbrooke. The “Raising the Festival Application Fee” workshop teaches you how to raise the $50 application fee for the Public Poetry fest, by fearlessly peddling your poetry on the streets. RSVP at publicpoetry@gmail.com

Artistat

The number of poets who will be banding together to beat the heat with some cool words at the Arts Café (201 Fairmount) this Saturday, July 26 at 7 p.m. presented by Vallum contemporary poetry: 5