Scotiabank Nuit Blanche

Zone A Independent Project

Rendering by Johnny Forever using a photo by Henry Chan, 2011

Suitable for all ages

gallerywest/ Marisa Hoicka and Johnny Forever

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Marisa Hoicka - Toronto, Canada
Johnny Forever - Montreal, Canada

Performance Art

Dressed in elegant, vernissage-appropriate attire, and armed with laptops and projectors, the artists seek answers through search engines like Google to questions we ask ourselves in moments of despair. This soul search looms large, projected on the gallery walls.


Questions like "What am I doing with my life?" lead the artists on an endless journey across a digital landscape peopled with lamenting bloggers and self-help scams. Silently typing, Hoicka and Forever make private and desperate questions public. Found answers may be vocalized through the eerie, yet somehow soothing digital voice of Google Translator.


This piece comments on our ever-growing dependence on the Internet. The performers’ demeanor is serious, and questions asked reveal earnest longing; however, reliance on Google-as-oracle suggests both comedy and pathos.

Hoicka and Forever’s surreal, campy performances find humour in desperate and intimate soul-searching, in a suddenly digital and very public world.

Schedule

Performances start at 9 pm and 1 am.

145

gallerywest, 1172 Queen Street West, 416-913-7116

This project is indoors.