performance art workshop

PERFORMING FOE

A Workshop with Artist

BRENDAN FERNANDES

Saturday Mar, 28 - Sunday Mar, 29

1:00pm -5:00 pm

Hart House, University of Toronto

This two-part, week-end long, interactive session aims to create dialogue through readings, film screenings and discussions. The material will explore notions of identity through the assumptions and constructions of culture exhibited in the performative aspects of language and accent. The workshop will then conclude with a performance piece engaging with all participants—organized in the form of a vocal choir. For the performance, Fernandes will elaborate on his 2008 video, Foe in which he worked with a dialect coach to teach him to speak generalized Indian, Kenyan and Canadian ‘English-cultural accents’. In the workshop, Fernandes will teach and record the script of his video to his audience in a choir-like fashion, allowing them to adopt these cultural accents. Ultimately, the work intends to question the authenticity of self. This workshop is part of the exhibition South-South: Interruptions and Encounters, curated by Tejpal S. Ajji and Jon Soske.



For registration or additional questions:

Email: FernandesWorkshop@gmail.com

Phone: 416-978-7743

Registration closes Tuesday, March 24th.



*OPEN TO ALL DISCIPLINES AND MEMBERS OF NON-UNIVERSITY COMMUNITIES*

*SPACE IS LIMITED*

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE ARTIST AND WORKSHOP



THE WORKSHOP (further meeting details will be sent after registration)

Schedule

Day 1 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Presentation by the artist and discussion of readings and related themes. Some snacks provided.

Day 2 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Additional discussion of readings and screenings followed by an interactive “choir” performance of Foe passage, led by the artist. (No musical experience necessary). Some snacks provided.



Readings

Stuart Hall, “Créolité and the Process of Creolization” (2003).

Excerpt from Foe by J. M. Coetzee, Viking Press: 1986.

All readings will be emailed to participants after registration.


Video recording

Both days will be videotaped for the purposes of artistic record but will not be commercially released. Day 1 will be filmed by a single videographer and Day 2 will be filmed by a small crew.



Registration/Contact Information

For registration or additional questions:

Email: FernandesWorkshop@gmail.com

Phone: 416-978-7743 (Tejpal S. Ajji, Adjunct Curator of Outreach, JMB Gallery)

To reserve a space, send name and contact information.

Registration closes Tuesday, March 24th.

The workshop is open to all disciplines. Space is limited.

Participants will be informed of their place on the waiting list.

THIS WORKSHOP IS FREE.



Reminders, location and readings will be sent from FernandesWorkshop@gmail.com in the days leading up to the workshop.

Foe (about the project)

The title Foe is taken from the 1986 J. M. Coetzee novel of the same name. The book takes up the classic story of Robinson Crusoe through the perspective of a female castaway named Susan Barton. Fernandes’ reading of Foe centers on the interaction between Barton and Friday, Crusoe’s representation of the ‘primitive’. The artist extrapolates themes of power and silence in the voicing of identity to relate to his own story of multiculturalism and accent. In 2008 Fernandes documented his experience studying the different accents represented by his multinational heritages. For this workshop, the artist will use multimedia and discussion to engage with participants’, their identities and his own, using Foe as a departure point, to map and mine the city of Toronto through accents.


Artist’s Biography

Born in Kenya of Indian heritage, Brendan Fernandes immigrated to Canada in the 1990s. He studied at the Whitney Museum of American Art (2007), and earned his MFA from The University of Western Ontario and BFA (2002) from York University. Currently, he is based in Toronto and New York. Fernandes received numerous grants and exhibits internationally. He has presented work at the Third Guangzhou Triennial (2008) and Beyond/In Western New York Buffalo, NY (2007). Fernandes participated in The LMCC’s Work Space Residency (2008) and Swing Space Residency (2009) programs, and was an Artist in Residence at The School of Visual Arts, NY, (2008). He will participate in the AIM Program at the Bronx Museum and The New Work Residency at Harvestwork, NY.



SOUTH-SOUTH PARTNER INSTITUTIONS:

Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, Hart House, University of Toronto

www.jmbgallery.ca

SAVAC (South Asian Visual Arts Centre)

www.savac.net

"South-South Encounters: Conversations between Africa, the Caribbean, and South Asia" New College (University of Toronto)

http://www.newcollege.utoronto.ca/programs/southsouth.htm

This workshop is made possible by the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the Jackman Humanities Institute Program for the Arts, and New College (University of Toronto).