Canadian Performance Art Legends

2000, 2004, 2006

Since 2000, FADO has been celebrating Canada’s senior performance artists with this multi-faceted series. Featured artists are asked to create a major new work, which is followed by a (text and video) publication documenting the artist’s history in performance. The series curator and publication editor is Paul Couillard.

Canadian Performance Art Legends has honoured:

Margaret Dragu
Cleaning and Loving It (performance, 2000)
La Dragu: The Living Art of Margaret Dragu (publication, 2002)

Tanya Mars
Tyranny of Bliss (performance, 2004)
From Ironic to Iconic: The Performance Work of Tanya Mars (publication, 2009)

Alain-Martin Richard
The Route to Rosa (performance, 2006)
Alain-Martin Richard: Performances, Manoeuvres and Other Hypotheses for Disappearing (publication, 2014)

Works

Performance
The Route to Rosa by Alain-Martin Richard

The Route to Rosa is a subjective and ever-changing portrait of the city, in which the artist, a stranger, encounters ethnically diverse inhabitants, using people’s hands as a starting point.
Performance
Tyranny of Bliss by Tanya Mars

Inspired by a variety of sources ranging from the 14th Century frescoes of Ambrogio Lorenzetti on the Effects of Good and Bad Government to Fellini’s Satyricon, Tanya Mars constructs a modern day social satire with a cast of 30 performers.
Performance
Cleaning and Loving (It) by Margaret Dragu

This performance art-slash-parade is a celebration of small-scale community ritual and of International Cleaning Lady and performance artist Margaret Dragu’s long-standing love affair with cleaning and laundry.

Engagements

An Interview with Margaret Dragu

FADO archive resident Jordan King interviews Margaret Dragu about archiving, parades, the domestic, and her 2000 performance Cleaning and Loving It. This interview is one in a series of three interviews by Jordan Beley with select artists about their work at FADO and the archive.
Tanya Mars Publication Launch

“Ironic to Iconic gives the reader a cogent and too little-known background to Mars’ career and her role in the development of performance art in Canada.” ~Jessica Bradley

BOOKS & OTHER EPHEMERA

Book
Alain-Martin Richard: Performances, Manoeuvres and Other Hypotheses for Disappearing

Dive into the unique creative journey of artist Alain-Martin Richard with the launch of an impressive new bilingual monograph. This book provides a comprehensive picture of Richard’s career and practice, from his theatrical experiments of the 1970s to his global “manoeuvres” in the 2000s.
Book
From Ironic to Iconic: The Performance Works of Tanya Mars

Anthology of Tanya Mars’ body of work, published in 2009, featuring essays, photos, and DVD with video documentation.

Book
La Dragu: The Living Art of Margaret Dragu 

Published in 2002, this monograph includes articles by Glenn Alteen, Paul Couillard, Andy Fabo, Debbie
O’Rourke and Sarah Sheard; chronology by Brice Canyon; PLUS story & collages by Margaret Dragu.

FADO Performance Art Centre
445-401 Richmond Street West
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M5V 3A8

416.822.3219
info@performanceart.ca

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Series Purple

An ode to FADO's history, Series Purple is composed of a collection of purple fragrance materials dating back to the Roman Empire. Dense, intense, and meandering, this fragrance tells us non-linear stories.

Top Notes

huckleberry, violet

Middle Notes

cassis, lilac, heliotrope

Base Notes

orris root, purple sage, labdanum