Part of Fall 2002
A co-presentation with 7a*11d International Festival of Performance Art (Oct. 30 – Nov. 10 www.7a-11d.ca)
This exhaustive programme of video and live performance, chosen from over two decades of material, deconstructs Istvan Kantor’s totalitarian assault of machines, sex and militancy. Through rare videographic works, the white noise dissipates and sexual intimacy and gentle irony emerge. Kantor’s tumultuous career as an internationally notorious performance artist, videomaker, musician, founder of Neoism (1979, Montreal), and proud recipient of many jail sentences for unwanted blood-x interventions in museums (banned from the National Gallery [Ottawa], the AGO [Toronto], the MOMA [NYC], and the Ludwig Museum [Koln/Germany]), has seen his work overlooked and rejected by critics and institutions – indeed, much of it is hardly known even by the local art community.
This event introduces his passionate, revolutionary vision, highly experimental video, risk-taking philosophy, and radical ideas on a very personal level. The evening’s multiple-screen barrage will include a performance of the Machine Sex Action Group, early street and club performances, vintage video works, blood, transvestitism, proto-porn, animal and durational experiments, his family, and found footage, as well as a live expanded music/video performance of his 80s Neoist hits. Rare vinyl LPs, CDs, videos, printed matter, blood and other special items will be on sale!
