FADO is pleased to present a trio of new performance works by Sakiko Yamaoka. Her work is presented in the context of the 7A*11D International Festival of Performance Art.
Sakiko Yamaoka is a Japanese performance artist, and since 1990 her work has been presented and exhibited in Asia, Europe, and North America. Her work is elegant and often darkly humourous. About her work Yamaoka says, “I define my art-works as sculptures depicting action and time and relationship between artist and audience, artist and materials, in which I attempt to create an example of the human condition.”
Best Place to Sleep
October 27 @ 12:00pm-5:00pm, various locations
Between 2007 and 2012, Best Place to Sleep has been performed in various cities including Tokyo, Warsaw, Boston, Zagreb and Toronto. In this intervention into public space, the artist (sometimes alone and sometimes with a group of willing participants) occupies space in banks and bank machine kiosks by lying down on the ground and attempting to take a short nap. The performance is immediate and often short, ending when the artist is asked to leave the premises.
Wind From Sky
November 1 @ 8:00pm, XPACE Cultural Centre, 58 Ossington Avenue
Sakiko Yamaoka will be performing a new performance work in the context of the 7a*11d International Festival of Performance Art.
Becoming a Plant
Various times & locations
Yamaoka rounds out her time in Toronto by performing another public intervention entitled Becoming at Plant, at various local flower shops and variety store locations where flowers and plants are sold. In this intervention the artist occupies space, close to and around flowers and plants, sitting alone and silently, attempting to become a plant herself.
7A*11D is a not-for-profit, artist-driven collective that curates and produces English Canada’s oldest ongoing biennial of performance art. 7A*11D 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 7A*11D International Festival of Performance Art, in August 1997, presented the work of 60 local, national and international artists.