Artists' outreach

"The emphasis is on taking away the barrier between artists and audiences," says Festival Art Action Actuel director Josée Tremblay of this two-week long celebration of performance art and its many guises. "The audience become both friend and witness," Tremblay continues. "All 42 participating artists work differently within this type of interventionism, to communicate."

Take Ma Luiming, for instance, who just might paint his face like a woman's, bare his naked body and cook you dinner (May 4 at Studio 303). Or Christine Carson and Charlie Ringas' "Numb/Hum," in which 35 singers will be standing on a Sherbrooke Metro platform, humming (May 7-11). "The goal is to link performance and theatre with interactive communication, to spur dialogue," says Tremblay. The festival runs through May 14 in over a dozen venues around town. Call 849-1835 or visit www.fa3.org for info.

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