Curated and presented by FADO Performance Art Centre in the context of the 9th 7a*11d International Festival of Performance Art.

Ranchero by Jamie McMurry

American artist Jamie McMurry’s epic new performance work, Ranchero, begins inside at Mercer Union and using a moving vehicle filled with audience members moves to a second location.

The cacophonous actions and objects that one encounters in everyday life are not only often absurd but also are the unseen details that define our characters and separate us from all others as individual beings. McMurry’s recent performance installation works as part of the Ego series have sought to make manifest these day-to-day actions and interactions with objects to illustrate a vocabulary with the outside world that has been developed over the span of his life. Ego instalments 1-4 have been presented in Bangkok, Los Angeles, Glasgow and Séte, France and have typically taken place in very small spaces over the course of several hours. This context only allows for a few viewers to see the on-going work for a short period and leaves them with a fraction of a glance into the biography being depicted in these performances, much as we all encounter one another’s biographies in everyday life. With Ranchero McMurry continues to share this language of one’s history through performative acts but instead of having the viewers pass through the work, the work will pass through the viewer.

The Toronto Performance Art Collective (TPAC) is a not-for-profit, artist-driven collective that curates and produces the 7a11d International Festival of Performance Art—English Canada’s oldest ongoing biennial of performance art. 7a11d was established in 1997 by a group of performance artists, collectives, and organizers, eager to develop a forum for performance art in Toronto. The first 7a11d International Festival of Performance Art took place in August 1997 and presented the work of 60 local, national and international artists. The 8th edition of the festival takes place from October 21–31, 2010.

© Jamie McMurry, Ranchero, 2010. Photos Henry Chan.