photo by Noriko Nasu-Tidball
The thirteenth annual edition of Spatial Poetics, a series of curated performances pairing artists from different disciplines in collaboration, was just presented at The Western Front. My review is up on VANDOCUMENT. Check it out.
Trailer for Moyra Davey’s film, Les Goddesses.
My latest review for VANDOCUMENT is online. This one takes-on Moyra Davey’s challenging 2011 film, Les Goddesses, in which she tells the story of a sad, distant time in her past via the biographies of other women: the 18th Century proto-feminist philosopher and literary figure Mary Wollstonecraft, Ms. Wollstonecraft’s daughters (including the writer Mary Shelley), and Ms. Davey’s own three sisters.
One thing about the review bears mentioning. I attempt to take Ms. Davey’s project seriously and therefore offer my best effort to dissect whatever-the-hell might be going-on in the film. Without in any way abandoning criticality, I am loathe to write derogatorily about any of the work I cover for VANDOCUMENT. My objective there (unlike the sometimes-harsh things I write on memestream) is to present a fair sense of a project or event contributing to the current local art scene while being supportive of the artists and institutions who are putting themselves on-the-line and bringing value to the community. So, if I have committed to a degree of non-negativity and intellectual engagement with Ms. Davey’s work in my review, please do not be misled into thinking that the film is any good. It is not.
I’m always a sucker for a well-conceived project, started by passionate, talented people, which has the aim of building community and supporting the creative work of others. That’s why I am now contributing to VANDOCUMENT, the six-month-old brain-child of local arts photographer Ash Tanasiychuk.
VANDOCUMENT is a collective of photographers, videographers, and writers who are endeavouring to capture the exciting vibe of Vancouver’s arts scene in images and words. The aim is both to generate interest, awareness, and support for the art-makers in our midst, and to create a vibrant archive that tells the story, if only anecdotally, of the creative surge Vancouver is now experiencing.
My first contribution to the VANDOCUMENT collection – a review of Nicole DesLauriers’s smart, ambitious take on the fin de sicle absurdist play Ubu Cocu, by Alfred Jarry – is now up on the VANDOCUMENT site, for your reading pleasure.
... because the idiocy of manliness is an evergreen topic.
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... because Canada and the US will celebrate their Thanksgiving holidays and, regrettably and preventably, not 1-cook-in-10 will serve a decent turkey.
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... because everyday is Mother's Day.
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... because the American Dream seems but a distant memory, given the country's dominant ethos of small-mindedness.
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Serenity and Gratitude to Bring in the New Year
... to remind us that not every mix of Tibetans and Western spiritual seekers has to be nauseating.
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... to celebrate the new edition of Infinite Vision published in India.
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Expelliarmus! Harry Potter and the Path to Gandhian Nonviolence
... reprised because military strategy seems more cruel and less effective than ever -- and certainly there is a better way.
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... because cars are ruining Pondicherry, where I live. How badly are they fucking up your Indian town?
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Understanding the Gift Economy
... reprinted because more-and-more people seem want to understand the gift economy. (Yeah!)
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