>>PREVIEW
M:ST3
Runs until October 31
Various venues
This year, Calgary’s Mountain Standard Time (M:ST) festival sprawls across southern Alberta to include Lethbridge and Banff in what is now one of the most highly anticipated events to showcase performative art in Western Canada.
"The festival has grown at an amazing speed, and I think this is indicative of the dynamic concentration of artists, arts organizations and art-viewing publics in this region," says festival co-ordinator Renato Vitic. "I see the festival continuing to promote southern Alberta as a centre for performative work and dynamic cultural production."
"Performative," as Vitic explains, refers to "practices that arise from a visual arts or media arts discourse and involves the live presence of the artist. These works can include, but are not limited to, video, film, live web-streaming, installation, live action, new media, and audio works."
M:ST3 is the result of local arts organizations teaming up with the Southern Alberta Art Gallery in Lethbridge and the Walter Phillips Gallery at The Banff Centre. "This was a natural progression to the two previous M:ST Festivals," says Vitic. The original festivals were the result of the collaborative efforts of seven Calgary-based arts organizations in 2001, and nine local organizations in 2003. "Now, given the high quality and diversity of arts organizations, not only in the Calgary area but also in communities like Banff and Lethbridge, we felt it was only natural to expand the reach of our festival."
One local group that epitomizes live performance in southern Alberta is scum de terre, with its distinct brand of what it calls "good, uplifting positive free improvised music and performative actions." The scum appear at the Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers on October 21 and at Banff’s Walter Phillips Gallery on October 29 as part of M:ST3’s Performative Audio Series.
The festival’s Performative Lecture Series takes place at the Nickle Arts Museum (on the University of Calgary campus) and the Alberta College of Art and Design.
"Local artist Kay Burns will be lecturing and doing a walking tour of Calgary as Iris Taylor, flat-earth researcher and subjective historian," says Vitic of one of the series’ offerings. The lecture, entitled A View From the Edge, takes place at the Nickle Arts Museum on Thursday, October 13 at 7:30 p.m. The tour, A Walk Through Calgary History, is on Saturday, October 15 beginning at 9:30 a.m., with participants meeting at Fort Calgary Park.
Another core aspect of M:ST3 is the Witnessing Series, which takes place at Truck Gallery on the lower level of the downtown Grain Exchange building. "These works will push the definition of performance and include installation, photography, and public interventions," says Vitic.
One part of Witnessing is an installation created by Toronto-based artist Maria Hupfield at Nose Hill Park and then documented for presentation at Truck throughout the festival. Hupfield, who is of Ojibwa heritage, has created circular markings and floral designs near the teepee rings that remain in Nose Hill Park. Her presentation is called My Grandmother’s Home.
According to Vitic, a highlight in the Performance Series is the upcoming work by Haligonian Rita McKeough at Stride Gallery on Friday, October 14 at 8 p.m. A veteran installation artist and musician, McKeough presents Slipping By, which she writes is performance that aims to "create a suggestion of psychological consequences of the urban environment."
Another Performance Series highlight is Virtual Bodies, a workshop by U.K.-based artist Anita Ponton, running at ACAD from October 17 to 28. She will collaborate with workshop members and present the final result in a Performative Cabaret on October 29 at the Walter Phillips Gallery.
For complete information about M:ST3 go to www.mstfestival.org. |
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