Videodrome 4/1 & Carolee Schneemann 4/7

MOCCA Spring Events

FameFame: VIDEODROME 2
April 1, 2006 at 9:00 p.m. $5 (Canadian)

Carolee Schneemann
April 7, 2006 at 8:00 p.m. $5 (Canadian)

The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art kicks off our Spring Events series with two important innovators in the field of visual art. On April 1st Toronto media saboteurs FameFame present Videodrome 2. On Friday April 7th, MOCCA, in collaboration with Pleasure Dome and the Loop gallery collective present pioneering multi-media artist Carolee Schneemann in person.

For Videodrome 2, FameFame bring together some of the worlds best image and sound destroyers in a video clash like no other. This international beamer futurist throwdown promises to be a sensory overdose for even the most television-addled brain. Based on the structure of the Jamaican soundclash, rival crews drop a track which is followed up by the other team who must try and up the ante and outdo the previous presentation - just like in 8-Mile only done by nerds who watch too much t.v. MC Pinky Beckles of TV Carnage will whip the crowd into a frenzy, encouraging them to voice their responses to the video offerings, and the cheers and jeers of the audience will eventually decide the winner of the battle. The winner will be awarded the championship belt, a one-of-a-kind stainless steel trophy handcrafted by FameFame's Josh Avery. On Friday April 1st hometown heroes FameFame, winners of the vicious Videodrome battle held at MOCCA last summer, take on current champ V-Atak (who stole the title in November on his home turf in Paris), Electric Method (London), and Madame Chao (NYC).

It may be worth considering that none of these whippersnapper art punks would be doing what they're doing today, if not for the audacious, groundbreaking work by Carolee Schneemann that, during the 1960s and beyond, transformed the dynamics of the body and of installation and performance art. One of the most important and influential artists of the latter half of the 20th Century, Schneemann will present Disruptive Consciousness: a lecture, a unique, multimedia discussion on resistance and radicalization in contemporary art through a presentation of her own work. Using video and a sequence of slides she will examine the unpredictable directives of lived experience, the unconscious and the materials through which her installations, films and videos take form. Her motives for addressing new technologies, social issues and the latent cultural taboos surrounding sensuality will be discussed with the audience.

After spending most of her career in New York, Schneemann has maintained a part time studio in Montreal since the mid-1990s. Her career highlights are too numerous to mention here, however, solo exhibitions of Carolee Schneemann's work will be held at Presentation House in Vancouver this Spring and at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art in 2007.

All programs and activities at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art are supported by Toronto Culture, the Ontario Arts Council, BMO Financial Group, individual memberships and private donations.

Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art 952 Queen Street West Toronto, ON M6J1G8
Public Information: (416) 395-0067 Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Sunday 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. Pay What You Can
For media information contact Camilla Singh: (416) 395-7430 or csingh@toronto.ca