Visual DJ

MANIPULATED SOUNDS: From Différence, Répétition

An exhibition of recent work by local artist and sometimes DJ Sébastien Lapointe opens tonight, Thursday, March 26, at 7 p.m. at Push Gallery (5264 St-Laurent). Entitled Différence, Répétition, the show stems from Lapointe’s desire to see what would happen if he displaced the methods used by DJs and music producers, applying them instead to the production of visual art.

Exploring what Lapointe describes as “the mechanisms of repetition, looping and breaks in the flow of events that happen in the context of everyday life,” the show is comprised of video, photography, and what you might describe as more sculptural works. The photographs in “Tranches” are installed as a series of moveable, self-contained objects. “Records are objects manipulated,” Lapointe explains, “played and replayed in so many different arrangements and contexts. My images of used record spines can be related to that idea.”

They have a sort of sculptural materiality and become activated by their usage. In fact, at a recent show in Chicago, people started taking the pieces and moving them around. “That was quite surprising,” says Lapointe. “They were doing what I do: playing some kind of visual DJ set.”

by STACEY DEWOLFE

New theatre
company gets active

BRINGING THE ELDERLY TO OUR FUTURE:
Patrick Charron and Joanne Sarazen in Drag on Jaded

Another month, another new company—haven’t folks heard that English-language theatre is supposed to be dead in this city?

Montreal actor/writer Joseph Bembridge has assembled a dozen like-minded souls to form the Carney Collective in order to create, “Edgy work for theatre and non-theatre people who are young and cool, like all of us.”

An impressive 14 projects are already planned, beginning with Drag on Jaded by Ryan Hurl, which plays nightly at 8 p.m. until Saturday, March 28 at lab.synthèse (435 Beaubien W., #200).

In the play, Eddy, an old man on his last legs, meets Lucy, a university student. The pair try to find a bridge across cultural and generational gaps to form a friendship. “I think everybody working on the project was affected by it,” Bembridge says. “In our culture, we don’t acknowledge the elderly as being a part of our future.”

New works with socially relevant themes are what counts for the group. “Everybody has to be active—we find theatre as our activation.” Bembridge says, “We all go through that transition when we finish school and wonder, ‘Now what are we doing?’ This is a way to keep us together in the city and working.”

by NEIL BOYCE

Words and music moved

The licence-related shutdown of shows at Casa del Popolo left Ian Ferrier’s long-running series, Words and Music at the Casa, without a home. That is, until le Cagibi (5490 St-Laurent), just a few blocks up the street, stepped up to the plate. “Yan from the Cagibi was super supportive about bringing the show to his place,“ says Ferrier. “Which I thought was real neighbourhood solidarity and really generous of them.”

This Sunday, March 29, inaugural Words and Music at Cagibi, features out-of-towner David Bateman, a spoken word performance poet whose creative writing thesis was all about the monologue.

“I do some of my work in drag and refer to identity issues around gender and sexuality a lot,” Bateman says, “but of course, doesn’t everyone nowadays?” There’s also sets by Anishinaabe performer Emilie Monnet, Mohawk poet Kary-Ann Deer, Throw Collective member Jason Freure and poet/double bassist Jason Milan. Show starts at 8 p.m. tickets, $5.

by VINCENT TINGUELY

Dance on FIFA screen

Although it’s the last stretch of the Festival International du Film sur l’Art, there’s still time to catch some dance-related screenings before it wraps up. Tonight, Thursday, March 26, get a glimpse into the lives of dancers Anik Bissonnette, Louise Lecavalier, Naomi Stikeman, Ingrid Proulx and choreographer Dave St-Pierre in two episodes from the ARTV television series Heure de pointes. The free event at the Grande Bibliothèque (475 Maisonneuve E.) will be followed by a discussion with Lecavalier herself at 6:30 p.m.

In dance for the screen, check out some other Canadian dance shorts in the Diagonals series that features choreographic works by locals Ginette Laurin, Dana Michel, Victor Quijada and Julie Châteauvert. The final screening takes place Saturday, March 28, 4 p.m., at the Musée d’art Contemporain (185 Ste-Catherine W.). For details, see artfifa.com.

by MARITES CARINO

Is it art?

ART IMMITATING LIFE: Artists have always incorporated their personal lives into their art. In 1999, British artist Tracey Emin exhibited her unmade bed, complete with used condoms, dirty underwear and an empty vodka bottle. Now, Alex Humphreys, a 23-year-old art student, wants to take things further and has set herself the challenge of finding Mr. Right.

Marrying her need to complete a final school project with her desire to find a man, Humphreys, whose interests include “sitting about, fabulous moustaches and Jesus memorabilia,” created The Husband Project, a blog and de facto dating service to help her narrow down the possibilities.

With only three months to finish the project and fall in love, she’s complied a list of 45 questions from various dating sites to help her pick an ideal mate. Though she states “no one is under an obligation to marry me,” she’d love to have a marriage certificate to add to her final exhibition. Potential husbands/art projects can apply here: joyfulcynicseekssimilar.blogspot.com

Arts hole

POETRY AND IDENTITY POLITICS: Tony Award-winning Palestinian-American poet Suheir Hammad questions our idea of ethnicity and identity with her work, which braids together the narratives of Native Americans, Hispanics, Africans and Arab-Americans. She takes the stage thanks to the Simone de Beauvoir Institute and Messa McGill, this Monday, March 30 at 8 p.m. at Club Lambi (4465 St-Laurent). • INK PARTY: Grab your Lucha libre masks Saturday, March 28, as Cirque de Boudoir presents the wrestling-themed Body Slam featuring DJs Omni, Davide and Cherry Cola. The party gets underway at 10 p.m. at the Just for Laughs Studio (2109 St-Laurent). A sporty, kinky dress code is in effect, no effort, no entry, $20.

Artistat

The issue number of Toronto-based arts magazine Bad Day, which launches its latest edition featuring work by Parra, Lukas Geronimas, and WZRDS GANG at the Emporium Gallery (3035 St-Antoine W., #74) this Wednesday, April 1 at 7 p.m.: 4