Tag: Golden Book 5

Canada
www.daynarama.com

Dayna McLeod is a practicing performance and video artist working in Montréal, Canada. In 2014, she was the recipient of Le Prix Powerhouse, an award presented by La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse that celebrates mid-career women artists who have significantly contributed to the cultural life of Montréal with determination and without compromise.

Within her practice, Dayna has staged over three dozen independent performance art productions and cabaret works, have twenty-five single channel videos in distribution, have designed video sets for theatre companies and dance productions, collaborated with choreographers, and consulted on artist projects.

Dayna is PhD candidate at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Society and Culture at Concordia University pursuing an interdisciplinary degree in Humanities that combines studies in performance art, feminism, queer theory, age, and research-creation practices. Dayna’s dissertation research examines how over-40 feminist performance artists use the body (their own or bodies-for-hire) within their practices and work in relationship to mainstream mass culture. As part of this research, McLeod embarked on a one-year durational performance piece that investigated and lived the stereotypes of a ‘cougar,’ a woman over-40 who aggressively demonstrates her sexuality, by wearing nothing but animal print clothing, 24/7 (archived at: www.CougarThis.com).

“Great acoustics, but shitty seating.”
“Honestly, WHY? Just WHY?”
“The faint sounds of ovarian partying.”

Curated by FADO Performance Art Centre and co-presented with SummerWorks

You are invited to sing your favourite karaoke songs in this performative installation that examines vulnerability through the site of my body. Wearing headphones that contain your voice and requested karaoke song, this mix is wired via 50-foot cable into my vaginal canal, which acts as the stage for the audience of my uterus. Other listeners are invited to eavesdrop on your performance through the flesh of my body via stethoscope.

Intimate Karaoke, Live at Uterine Concert Hall transforms the site of the theatre into a social space where an awkward karaoke party minus the amplified music shares the intimacy of the artist’s body as it is offered up as the venue where dialogue around the cultural and political expectations of bodies marked female and a critique of medical surveillance, reproductive rights and the aging Queer female body collide.

Intimate Karaoke, Live at Uterine Concert Hall is a durational performance. Audience members are asked to purchase tickets to arrive for one time slot but are welcome to stay until the end of the night.

Stay as long as you want!
Sing your favourite karaoke song for Dayna McLeod’s uterus!
Live at Uterine Concert Hall!

Credits:
Curated by FADO Performance Art Centre
Co-presented with SummerWorks
Conceived and Performed by Dayna McLeod
Technical Direction by Adrien Whan
Attendants: Rhainnon Collett, Theo Gallant, Cara Spooner, Athena Trinh

THE GOLDEN BOOK
Pick up your copy of FADO’s on-going pocket essay series, the Golden Book, at the performance. This time, the Golden Book has a blood red cover in honour of Dayna’s performance. Essay entitled, From Specular to Speculative: Intimate Encounters @ Uterine Concert Hall by Alanna Thain contained within. Alanna is the Director, Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies; Director, Moving Image Research Laboratory; and Associate Professor, Department of English at McGill University.

This performance is part of the SummerWorks Presentations programming – offering you a snapshot of contemporary performance in 2018. A vital collection of theatre, dance, music, and live art works from across the country.

SummerWorks supports work that has a clear artistic vision and explores a specific theatrical aesthetic. It encourages risk, questions, and creative exploration while insisting on accessibility, integrity, and professionalism. This year’s 11-day Festival (August 9-19, 2018) featuresover 30 unique projects as part of SummerWorks Presentations and SummerWorks Lab. New this year: we’re teaming up with an incredible group of arts organizations to bring you the SummerWorks Exchange, a new stream of the Festival that features artist workshops and professional development opportunities.

Image © Dayna McLeod, Uterine Concert Hall, Montréal, 2018. Photo Helen Simard.

The Golden Book series is an irregular limited edition book/lette series containing a single text, photo essay, interview, or abstract didactic about a forthcoming performance project. Each Golden Book is designed by Lisa Kiss Design.

Editions in the series include:

Golden Book 1 (2013)
Film: Rope by Francesco Gagliardi
Dangling That Rope, essay by Andrew James Paterson

Golden Book 2 (2014)
Duorama 1–4
Photo essay on the works of Duorama performance series by Paul Couillard and Ed Johnson

Golden Book 3 (2016)
PULSE by Mary Coble
Workbook and key for Coble’s 2016 MONOMYTHS performance of the same name

Golden Book 4 (2018)
x for staying here with us now by Sheri Hay
An interview between FADO and the performing object in the work of Sheri Hay

Golden Book 5 (2018)
Intimate Karaoke, Live at Uterine Concert Hall by Dayna McLeod
From Specular to Speculative: Intimate Encounters @ Uterine Concert Hall, essay by Alanna Thain

Golden Book 6 (2019)
Performance Club: The Syllabus
The Syllabus contains everything you need for your Performance Club 4–6 experience (including that pesky homework).