Re-LIVE Vancouver

Re-LIVE Vancouver takes an experimental approach to investigating performance art history by considering the act of re-performance in a particularly local way. Six emerging Vancouver-based artists have been commissioned to creatively respond to significant performance works created in this city over the later half of the twentieth century.

September 9th to October 22nd, Street Level Windows
The first iteration of Re-LIVE addresses the expanded field of performance in the form of a film-based installation. Brian Lye's Training a Fool is Not a Joke (2011) is a looped film that takes inspiration from Rodney Graham's Vexation Island (1997). It will screen in the street level windows of the Satellite Gallery from September 9th until October 22nd. For directions see: http://www.satellitegallery.ca/about.html

Sunday, September 25th, 7:00 PM
The majority of the works created for Re-LIVE will be presented through an evening of performative gestures and installations at VIVO starting at 7:00 pm on September 25th, 2011. Drawing inspiration from influential local precursors, Raymond Boisjoly, Curtis Grahauer, Francisco-Fernando Granados, Elizabeth Milton, and Ron Tran present works that trouble understandings of authorship and acknowledge the impossibilities of re-creation, through varied approaches including performative outsourcing and playful gestures working across media. The artists in Re-LIVE take inspiration from works by Kate Craig, Margaret Dragu, Rodney Graham, Glenn Lewis, UJ3RK5, and others. http://www.vivomediaarts.com

Re-LIVE is presented by LIVE Biennale of Performance Art Society in partnership with VIVO and the Satellite Gallery. Curated by Jesse Birch.

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Re-LIVE artists' bios:

Raymond Boisjoly

Raymond Boisjoly is an Aboriginal artist based in Vancouver, BC. Since completing a BFA at Emily Carr Institute (now University) and a MFA at The University of British Columbia, Boisjoly presented The Ever-Changing Light at Access Gallery (Vancouver, BC) and has participated in numerous group exhibitions and projects including How Soon Is Now at the Vancouver Art Gallery and House Systems: Fort Club at the Hedreen Gallery at Seattle University. Boisjoly has produced two projects for the public realm: Contingent Matters (2011) at the Vancouver Public Library and All That Was… (2010) at Access Gallery (Vancouver, BC). Boisjoly was awarded a Fleck Fellowship from the Banff Centre for the Arts in 2010 and participated in the thematic residency La Commune. The Asylum. Die Bühne. at the Banff Centre in 2011.

Francisco-Fernando Granados

Francisco-Fernando Granados is a Guatemalan-born artist and writer working in performance, installation, video, and cultural criticism. Through his practice, he aims to create temporary spaces where socio-political contexts can collide and co-exist with intimate narratives. A recipient of the Governor General's Silver Medal for academic achievement upon graduating from Emily Carr University in 2010, he is currently working on a Masters of Visual Studies degree at the University of Toronto with the support of the J. A. Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship. His work has been exhibited at the Vancouver Art Gallery, the LIVE Biennial of Performance Art, and in artist-run centres in Vancouver and Toronto. He has contributed texts for Fuse, Front and Factory Magazine.

Curtis Grahauer

Curtis Grahauer is a Vancouver based artist and filmmaker. He received a Bachelor of Media Arts from Emily Carr Institute in 2004 and has exhibited his own work nationally. In addition to his involvement with the performance-based group, Weekend Leisure, he has curated Public Access: 1999 & Beyond for the Helen Pitt Gallery in Vancouver, collaborated with Vancouver comedians and performers on various internet shorts and contributed to the website ShitHarperDid.com. He has a project at the 2011 Scotiabank Nuit Blanche in Toronto, and upcoming performance dates in Portland, OR and Seattle, WA and residencies in Dawson City and Iceland. He is currently working on his first feature-length film, Steel Viper Force: Fiero's Redemption, a deadly serious comedy inspired by direct-to-video action movies.

Brian Lye

Brian Lye is a Vancouver-based filmmaker and artist who uses imagination and humour to reflect on life experiences. He has lived, worked and studied in Canada, Japan, Uganda, Australia (where he attended the Sydney Film School), and the Czech Republic (where he attended the Film and TV Academy of Performing Arts in Prague). His films have been included in numerous national and international festivals and screenings including The Worldwide Short Film Festival, Toronto (Official Selection), Sundance Film Festival (Official Selection) and The Melbourne International Film Festival (Official Selection). He was the winner of The Ellen - Filmmaker to Watch award at the Aspen Shortsfest in 2011.

Elizabeth Milton

Elizabeth Milton is a Vancouver-based performance and media artist who explores the construction of individual and collective identity through character-play and collaboration. She holds an MFA in Studio Art from the University of British Columbia (2007) and a BFA in Visual Art from Simon Fraser University (2003). Elizabeth currently instructs courses in Digital Media, Photography and Contemporary Culture at Simon Fraser University, Emily Carr University of Art and Design and Langara College. She was granted a Visual Art Development Award from the Contemporary Art Gallery and Vancouver Foundation (2004) and sat on the Executive Board of the Unit/Pitt Society from 2009-2011. Her work has been exhibited throughout Canada and developed through residencies at Access Gallery in Vancouver and at the Banff Centre.

Ron Tran

Ron Tran is a Vancouver-based artist born in Saigon. Tran studied Integrated Media Arts at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. He works across various media, from performance to sculpture. Recent exhibitions include his solo show A Way To Go at the Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver (2011). Tran has an upcoming residency at the Museo Experimental el Eco, Mexico City, and a forthcoming solo show at Hunter and Cook, Toronto.