READY FOR MY CLOSE-UP: By David Romero

“We wanted to take the viewer outside the context of what the body is, and what it is for,” explains Sara Lawlor, one half of the curatorial team behind You’re Too Close: Body Politics, Spatial Relations. Opening this Tuesday, March 10 at Art Mûr (5826 St-Hubert), as part of Concordia’s Art Matters, the multidisciplinary show investigates the ways that “policy and convention dictate how otherwise private bodies perform” in public spaces.

Lawlor and co-curator Robert Vitulano had their work cut out for them, perusing over 300 submissions before selecting their roster. “You have to look at all the submissions,” says Lawlor, which is a lot of work when you are also a full-time student. But such is the democratic nature of the festival. The fruit of their labours is a showcase of seven artists: Adrian DiLena, Lysanne Picarde, Lindsey Fryett, David Romero, Alanna Lynch, Edith Poirier and Gaëlle Lalonde. 

One whose project seems particularly aligned with the exhibition’s themes is photographer David Romero. Seeking to capture his subjects at their most vulnerable, he asked them to undress long before he was ready to photograph them, leaving them naked and stranded in space. “They look beautiful,” laughs Lawlor, “but terrified.”

by STACEY DEWOLFE

Take on him

COMIC TAKE ON SUBURBIA: Stripmalling

Jon Paul Fiorentino’s a smart young literary activist who’s built a following with poignant, politically savvy and laugh-out-loud-funny poetry and short story collections. His new metafictional novel Stripmalling includes poetry, letters, journal entries and comics (drawn by Evan Munday).

“I wanted to construct a literary equivalent of that A-ha video “Take on Me” where he turns into a cartoon and starts dancing,” Fiorentino explains. “‘Stripmalling’ is sort of a neologism for the process of corporate takeover of communities. I wanted to—in a very entertaining and comedic way—discuss what happens to towns like the town I grew up in when the big box stores take over, how they operate. The heartlessness and the lack of community spirit of that kind of enterprise.”

He launches Stripmalling this Sunday, March 8, at 9 p.m at Korova Bar (3908 St-Laurent) with fellow scribes David McGimpsey, Maya Merrick, Sarah Steinberg and Jason Camlot. Free.

by VINCENT TINGUELY

 

Dark side of the moon

by MATT JONES

Fondle the dancer

Please touch. That’s the notion behind Passage, Kondition Pluriel’s latest work that co-founder Martin Kusch says mixes dance, installation and interactivity. He and his co-creator Marie-Claude Poulin invite a maximum of 25 spectators into the installation space where they will come across dancer Catherine Tardiff. Dressed in white, Tardiff sports a leather corset equipped with visible sensors that spectators are encouraged to manipulate.

“The costume helps the public lose their fear of touching the body,” Kusch explains. “It’s like a cushion in between spectator and performer. There’s a fader and everybody knows how to use one.”

Depending on the public’s interaction with the dancer and the trio of interactive objects placed in the room, their actions alter sound, movement, images and light. “The public is composing a landscape or environment.”

Until March 14 at l’Agora de la Danse (840 Cherrier), $18–$26. The installation opens at 6 p.m., but you have to call to reserve your entry time at (514) 525-1500. Collaborators speak with the public after the Thursday night show.

by MARITES CARINO

Is it art?

I HEART ANIME: There’s no denying the artistic genius behind classic anime works like Akira and My Neighbour Totoro, two films that helped popularize Japanese culture and art on a global scale. The fascinating world of robots, the future and colourful, spiky hair has since invaded popular culture and comics, but what does anime mean to Western and Japanese audiences in our contemporary society and what makes something “anime” to begin with?

Guest speakers/professors Jaqueline Berndt and Kaichiro Morikawa will attempt to tackle these questions and more with a discussion and dissection of the art form at Anime and Contemporary Japanese Society, a conference presented by Concordia University and the Consulate General of Japan taking place, tomorrow, Friday, March 6 from 2–5:30 p.m. at the De Sève Cinema (1400 de Maisonneuve W.).

Arts hole

WOMEN SPEAK OUT: In celebration of Women’s day, Concordia’s Simone de Beauvoir Institute and the Women’s Studies Student Association present Feminist Resistance to Israeli Apartheid: The Legacy of Lillian Robinson today, Thursday March 5 from 3–5 p.m. at the Atwater Library (1200 Atwater). Panellists Judy Rebick, Dolores Chew, Fabienne Presentley and Rafeef Ziadah will reflect on their own experiences and historical examples of sexism and racism and how to build a pro-feminist movement to end Israeli apartheid. • TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY: Elizabeth Knox presents photos of India and Laos in her exhibition of the same name, taking place at Wilder & Davis gallery (257 Rachel E.) with a vernissage tomorrow, March 6 at 6:30 p.m.

Artistat

The number of times the Montreal Shakespeare Theatre Company has presented “Shakespeare for Kids,” which they embark upon again this year, taking The Two Gentleman of Verona to more than 40 schools in the area and presenting it to the public March 6–7 at St-George’s Church (1101 Stanley): 8