So if you don’t have a heinous cold like me, here’s what I recommend you do tonight. Start out at the Khyber ICA at 7pm for Lisa Lipton’s performance and installation. Lipton is one of those artists with a seemingly bottomless well of artistic talent–not to mention that whole i see rowboats thing.
Anyway, High on a Hill, according to writer Tanya Busse, synthesizes “sculpture, painting, performance, video, and architecture into a dynamic environment in which space seems to expand and collapse, fluctuating between the two and three-dimensional. Against the iconographic Appalachian Hills Miss Heidi and an unnamed young man goatherd cross the landscape of the gallery; traversing the floor, scaling the walls, and hanging high from the ceiling. As the saga of the young pair intensifies, Lipton inserts poignant but fictitious inventions to highlight states of loneliness, isolation and miscommunication. With the melting of snow comes the cooling of hearts and the degeneration of ideals—the ideal of young love set in an untouched landscape.”
Then head over to the Dal Arts Centre at 8pm for Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg who tackles social stereotypes with physical satire with Nick & Juanita: Livin’ in my Dreams. Get tickets ($23.50/$16.50) at 494-3820. Here’s how it’s described: “Hilarious! Half actor, half stand-up comic, and 100% dancer, Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg, whose satirical character-driven solos are garnering raves across the country, is nothing less than a phenomenon. In this, her latest work, you’ll meet slick talk-show host Nick and lovelorn Juanita as they navigate the minefields of lust, desire and love. Friedenberg will amaze you with her dexterity, both as a dancer and as an actor, as she leaps between characters and genders with finesse.” There you go. And I’ve seen a kagillion <A HREf=”http://www.liveartproductions.ca/main_stage.html#” target=”_blank”Live Art productions, and they’re always fantastic and one-of-a-kind.
This article appears in Oct 9-15, 2008.