Open house

JUST LIKE MUM: Domestik

London, England via Alberta ex-pat Sophie Gee and her theatre company, Nervous Hunter, are applying the final coat of paint to their homey event, Domestik (subtitled “One house, four stories, no chairs”).

The stress of owning her first home and its all-consuming work led Gee to think about creating a performance in a house—or as she puts it—“an idea of a house.”

The in-situ event at artist-run centre Eastern Bloc (7240 Clark) starts tonight, Thursday, Oct. 1 at 8 p.m. and runs until Oct. 11, and is a collaboration with indie theatre writers and actors from Montreal, Toronto and New York. There’s a story for each room, with shows looping simultaneously throughout the space.

“I’d like them to have a sense of adventure as they go through the show,” says Gee. “Depending on when they come into the space, they’re going to get a different experience—nobody starts from the beginning.”

Visitors stroll from kitchen to living room to bedroom, encountering a range of freaks like an evil pie-maker, a mis-matched couple who’ve shacked up too soon, a sleepwalker and a guy putting a band together—who has a talking mouse.

by NEIL BOYCE

Expos return!

THE TERMINATOR: Raby’s Jeff Reardon

The fact that the Expos lost their last baseball game 8–1 before being rechristened the Washington Nationals changes nothing in the hearts and minds of many Montrealers. Take Denis Raby, for example.

Thirty year old Raby grew up on the South Shore cheering on the Expos since the age of five. “We were part of an American sporting event, but now we’re lost in the North with no baseball,” he laments. That’s why he’s spent the past year making wood burnings of 17 Expos stars, exhibited in his show Expo des Expos, which spans the team’s history from its 1969 debut up to its 2004 demise. “I also made an artisanal baseball bat,” the artist says.

In the spirit of the Expos themselves, Raby has nobly persisted in the face of failure. “It’s a work that I started in 2008, because in 2005 I made a colouring book called Coloryeah! and it wasn’t that popular. I wanted a project that touches more Montrealers.”

Reminisce with Raby and other diehards tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 2, 7–10 p. m. during the vernissage at Sub-V (5666 Sherbrooke W.), or catch the Expos before they’re taken away once again on Oct. 31.

by DAVID LEVITZ

20 years of Studio 303

Let’s rewind to the Montreal dance scene in 1989, when a trio of choreographers—Martha Carter, Isabelle Van Grimde and Jo Leslie—set out to rent a shared dance-teaching space on Ste-Catherine. Twenty years later, the independent dance space Studio 303 is still around. “It was very tenuous in the first 10 years,” recounts Carter. “But I’m thrilled that it’s kept going strong, like keeping the corner store as opposed to it turning into a 7-11.”

Carter, who four years ago returned to her hometown of Vancouver, returns to Montreal next week to perform in VINGT, a fundraising evening that celebrates the dance space’s two decades of existence.

“It didn’t become one kind of choreography, or one style. The studio is open to a myriad of styles and artists that pass through it. That’s what’s kept it going.”

The evening features 20 mini-choreographies by a mix of established and emerging artists who have passed through the space over the past 20 years. Some of those taking the stage include Louise Bédard, Zab Maboungou, Victor Quijada and Chanti Wadge. Head over to the Cinquième Salle (175 Ste-Catherine W.) on Oct. 6, 8 p.m. For info: (514) 393-3771.

by MARITES CARINO

Family portraits

The travelling exhibition of photos by Gabor Szilasi, Familie, currently housed at the CDN Maison de la Culture (5290 Côte-des-Neiges), is definitely worth the trip across the mountain. First exhibited at the McClure Gallery in 2008 as a celebration of the local artist’s 80th birthday, the collection portrays the Szilasi family over the course of 40 years.

Szilasi has said that he “prefers situations where [his] presence as a photographer is well established” because he likes “to confront people and talk to them,” but the images are candid and unposed in a manner that one generally associates with a more observational approach.

Though one of my favourite pieces is a portrait of the artist practising his recorder in the bathtub, Familie shows its heart in the tender and affectionate images of Szilasi’s wife and daughter.

Documenting a life well-lived, the black and white photographs capture not only the process of growing up and growing old, but also engender a feeling of nostalgia in the viewer. Like the early songs of Leonard Cohen, or the verité documentaries of the NFB, they stir the romantic (and the Luddite) in me, speaking to a quieter time before technology took dominance over our lives.

by STACEY DEWOLFE

IS IT ART?

FOOTWEAR OF THE FUTURE? Leave it to an architect—one who specializes in bridges—to design what might be the most futuristic footwear out there.

London-based Julian Hakes has created the “Mojito,” a high heel that consists of a single component that wraps around the foot, giving support to the heel and ball only. According to the designer, you don’t need support in your arch because the tendons and bones in your foot naturally span the gap between heel and ball.

Made out of springy carbon fibre laminate, to add, er, bounce to your step, it’s then covered with rubber on the bottom for grip, and leather on the top for style.

Without a foot actually in the shoe it’s difficult to see exactly how it’ll fit or just how much air you’ll be able to catch, but we might have that answer soon. According to a Twitter post, Hakes has already been in touch with an Italian shoemaker.

hakes.co.u k

Arts hole

LITERARY LOOT: The Quebec Writers Federation presents Tequila Mockingbird, a literary salon and fundraising auction happening this Monday, Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. at the MainLine Theatre (3997 St-Laurent). The suave affair (James Bond blazers and Zelda Fitzgerald dresses suggested) includes personal items from various literati, including a cigar tin from Paul Auster, a disposible camera from Yann Martel (with undeveloped photos taken by the Life of Pi author himself!) and a piece of the Berlin Wall courtesy of Richard Pound. Tickets $12. • ART AND APPLE PIE: Artists Rachel Crummey and Richard Muller present Object Frenzy, a joint exhibit of Crummey’s diner food paintings, and Muller’s collection of objects culled from his daily consumption, at Concordia’s VAV Gallery (1395 René Levesque W.) until Oct. 9.

Artistat

The amount of money it’ll cost you to check out choreographer Chantal Lamirande’s Projet X, which runs at Agora de la danse (840 Cherrier) from Tuesday, Oct. 6–9 and explores the relationship between dance and light: $20