Red Carpet Walk (video)

The first part of my Red Carpet Walk went without a hitch... Well, almost. Here is a video shot by my lovely friend, Orlando Lopez, of me getting mowed off the road by two Montreal city workers. I guess they weren't into performance art.



I'll be posting my return route (taking place on August 14th) in the upcoming days.

((You can check out more videos of the performance on Orlando's YouTube page.))

Red Carpet Walk (Date and time!)

In my previous post I neglected to mention the time of the performance.

Red Carpet Walk (Allez)

LEAVE MY HOUSE - 14:00
ARRIVE AT GALLERY - 21:00 (if all goes well!)

Rain or shine!!!

Red Carpet Walk

I will be performing a work entitled Red Carpet Walk (Allez/Retour), as part of the Nostalgies du present exhibition at Gallerie CIRCA.

The performance will take place in two parts, the first of which (Allez) will take place on Saturday July 24th, between my home in Verdun and the gallery at 372 Ste-Catherine Street W. I will move from my doorstep to the interior of the exhibition space by walking along a 2-metre long red carpet that I will constantly (re)place in front of me as I go. On Saturday August 14th, I will repeat the performance (Retour) but in the opposite direction, walking from the gallery back to my apartment.

Here is a map and a link to the route for the (Allez) leg of my journey. Come and have a look if you are interested in watching me attempt to become the producer and product of my own fame.



View Larger Map

((I will post a link with the (Retour) journey following the first performance.))

The performance is a version of a work entitled The Red Carpet Treatment, that I performed in Kuopio, Finland as part of the ANTI-Festival last September. In that instance, I walked around the city on the red carpet for 5 days in a row.

COVER (video)

This is an excerpt from my new video entitled COVER. It is currently being shown at Eastern Bloc (7240 Clark) for the SIGHTandSOUND Exhibition - May 24-27.

COVER

v. To place something over or upon to conceal or protect.

n. (music) A rerecording of a previously recorded song; a cover song.

This video explores the play between two definitions for the word "cover". I perform a version of a rock song by singer PJ Harvey, by hugging a set of speakers against my body while the music plays. This gesture changes the sonic character of the music to produce a "cover" of the original song. It also serves to stifle some of Harvey's extreme vocals. By inhabiting this space between between repetition and protection, I hope to raise questions around the nature of performance, authenticity, and control within musical production.

wait

wait for an appropriate moment
disclose your hiv status
wait

Strip Clip

I will not make any more boring art

TextEdit.app; Window width=32"; Helvetica, Bold, 48 pt; Type "I will not make any more boring art."; Repeat until you fuck-up.

right now no bullshit - m4m - 32 (lachine)

my wife has gone to the well never mind where she just gone for the weekend. i spent last night jerking off and i just settled down in front of my pc and redtube ,,, god damn it im tiered of jerking off. so if some one is not to busy and is wanting to cum over suck me off, jerk all over my slightly chubby body im down like right now ill put my cock back in my boxers and wait for you.

ASCIImeo

These are screen shots of my Full Disclosure video which has been transformed into ASCII code through the use of an awesome video player called ASCIImeo. It was designed by Peter Nitsch.

Amazing!

[via today and tomorrow]

Alternorthern Exhibit

So... when did you figure out that you had AIDS? is one of three video works that I will be exhibiting as part of the Alternorthern exhibition at the LAB in San Francisco next month.

Here is an excerpted description of the show from the LAB's website:

“Alternorthern” was conceived in the tension that exists between nationalism, globalization, and individualism: the exhibition is a product of both cultural values and cultural hybridism. The nine artists in this exhibition function similarly in that they use their own identities to make gestures that transgress time and space. Each artist in the exhibition is Canadian, yet each creates work that speaks to issues pertinent to both Canadian and global geographic and political landscapes.

The show runs from February 12th to March 6th. The opening is February 12th from 6-9pm.

Hope to see you there!

new video work

COVER

v. To place something over or upon to conceal or protect.

n. (music) A rerecording of a previously recorded song; a cover version; a cover song.

This video explores the play between the different meanings for the word cover. For the duration of a song I will cover a set of speakers with my body. This gesture will muffle the sound and change the sonic character of the music, in effect producing a "cover" version of the original.

Suomi

Hej då Stockholm!

Tervetuloa Helsinki!

September 22, 2009.
Same trip - different country.

On Tuesday morning I said goodbye to Stockholm and hello to Helsinki, Finland's gorgeous capital located by the Baltic Sea in the south of the country. The weather was blustery and the wind smelled of the sea. I spent my evening wandering through the dark streets listening to The Smiths. Soooo amazing!

Me pre-Smiths listening...

In Helsinki, the signs are mostly bilingual Finnish/Swedish, or trilingual with Russian:



Needless to say, I got a bit lost. Finnish is unlike most European languages and so I found myself relying on the little Swedish that I did know to get around - when there was any Swedish to be found!


Helsinki is beautiful. The rainy weather just gave it an added touch of mystery. Here are some of the pics I managed to snap before it got to dark and wet:










While I was walking around downtown I kept running across these gangs of brightly dressed young'uns drinking out of flasks and making a lot of noise. I was worried that they might try to force me to join in their revelry like some sort of enforced Finnification. I kept my distance but took these pictures...



September 23, 2009.
Day One: ANTI Festival

The next morning I packed up and headed to the train station. On the way I stopped in front of Helsinki's cathedral to take a picture of it in all it's sunbathed glory!


My train left at 11:00am, and me being my usual self showed up 40-minutes early. I wasn't the only one:


The trip from Helsinki to Kuopio was long and sorta boring. The Finnish landscape that we were moving through was very much like the Laurentian forest I grew up surrounded by in Rawdon, Quebec. I read most of Amy Tan's Joy Luck Club while trying to stretch my legs in preparation for my big performance. I was getting very nervous, as my performance started from the minute I got off the train.

When I arrived in Kuopio I unrolled the carpet from the train and touched ground on it's red velvet surface. I was greeted by a man with a blue, two-pronged mohawk (think the guy from Prodigy... you know?... "I am the Firestarter!"?). He introduced himself as Ville. He was to be my personal assistant for the week.

I walked the red carpet around town and then to my hotel, where I had a shower and prepared to go out for an opening party at a local gallery. Much to my delight, La Pocha Nostra were performing at this event and I got to meet the members that night at the bar. So exciting!

Night-time carpet walking.

La Pocha Nostra.

La Pocha Nostra and Ville.

Me with Guillermo-Gomez Pena of La Pocha Nostra.

campfire music

Body Break Vernissage

David and I would like to thank everyone who came out to the Body Break vernissage last night at the Red Bird. If you missed it, then you still have three days to visit the gallery and see our collaborative and individual works. The gallery will be open July 24th, 25th (Friday, & Saturday) from 1:00PM to 7:00PM and July 26th (Sunday) from 1:00PM to 5:00PM.

Below are a few snapshots of the vernissage. We also got a great review on Midnight Poutine, a local (and awesome!) Montreal Arts & Music blog. Thanks to Jasia for coming to the show and chatting with me about the work!

Installation view

Installation view

Installation view - Full Disclosure by Vincent Chevalier

Installation view - Non-Stop Party by David Whitten

Installation view - Shit Piece by David Whitten & Vincent Chevalier

Beard Love!

two-four performance

I performed today at the Red Bird Gallery for a group of close friends, family and acquaintances. Two-four was an intimate and participatory art work dealing with notions of community, coping, rituals of substance use, and personal agency. My audience drank beer from a case of 24 (a two-four) while I read a selection of writing (24 pages) from my medical file at the Addictions Unit. If by the end of the reading there were any beers left in the case then they would be mine to drink until July 24th.

The photos above are picture of me before the performance jotting down ideas/introductory notes and of my assembled audience right before the talk. To see the further documentation of this work, as well as more performances, videos, and installations come to the Body Break vernissage this coming Thursday, July 23rd.

Thank you to all who were able to join me today. I look forward to seeing everyone at the opening!

Roundabout (full version)

2 video works

upcoming show

BODY BREAK: Performative works
by David Whitten and Vincent Chevalier

David and Vincent will be occupying the Red Bird Gallery for the month of July. The fruits of their labour will be ripe for the picking between July 23rd and July 26th. Vernissage: July 23rd, 7:00PM to midnight.

Red Bird Gallery. 135 Van Horne

Finland, ho!

ANTI Festival

mother by son