FUSE: Revolution Counter Revolution
Friday, November 14, 2014, 8pm–1am
Vancouver Art Gallery (750 Hornby St.)
November 7, 2014, Vancouver, BC – FUSE, Vancouver Art Gallery’s enormously popular quarterly event where art, music, performance and drama collide, will be reinvented on the night of Friday November 14, 2014. Guest curated by multi-media maestro Paul Wong and produced by MediaLab, FUSE: Revolution Counter Revolution will be an unforgettable evening that riffs and mashes new ideas with old traditions, inspired by the Gallery’s current exhibition The Forbidden City: Inside the Court of China’s Emperors. In addition, FUSE-goers will have the opportunity to see Unscrolled: Reframing Tradition in Chinese Contemporary Art, a major exhibition featuring three generations of Chinese artists, prior to its official opening day (Saturday, November 15, 2014).
FUSE’s extraordinary lineup of artists, musicians and performers will fully engage visitors’ senses throughout the Gallery. Four floors of the exhibition space will be transformed with radical idealism and injected with iconic revolutionary figures, including:
Madam Mao – Enacted by Cara Sui, this tragic heroine/villain, wife of the Chairman, architect of the Cultural Revolution and leader of the Gang of Four, will engage the public and critique on art and culture.
Red Guard Ballerina – Taking cues from the ballet created during the Cultural Revolution in China (1966-1976), Carolyn Chan will strike heroic poses and pirouettes in her military gear.
The Monkey King – Dancer Michael Kong will be the mythical trickster depicted in Chinese folklore Journey to the West. He will pose, perch, hide, observe, intermingle, peek and bounce around in his new kingdom, the Gallery.
Emily Carr’s Psychic – This fictional figure, brought to life by Cindy Mochizuki, will read visitors’ fortunes in a seemingly private setting that is made public via live audio/video feed.
The cast will also include Beijing Opera diva Catherine Li as the Drunken Beauty, ArtCart Rickshaw by Ken Lum, Velvet Steele and team parading in a Sedan Chair, performance video by Catherine Chun Hua Dong, movement artist Sandra Moore, street portrait artists, Tea Master Olivia Cheung, the Flower Factory and Smoking Lily. DJ Kevin Shiu and DJ Don Chow will duel it out in the side-by-side Art Bars that feature proletariat beer and bourgeois cocktails, with clashing live visuals by Leó Stefánsson of Hybridity Media using social media platform #generateapp.
In addition to performances, FUSE-goers can also see the following exhibitions:
The Forbidden City: Inside the Court of China’s Emperors
Jock Macdonald: Evolving Form
Emily Carr and Landon Mackenzie: Wood Chopper and the Monkey
Tickets: $20 (+tax) | Free for Gallery members
Website: http://vanartgallery.bc.ca/events_and_programs/fuse.html
Event Hashtags: #fusenight #generateapp
About FUSE: Since its inception in July 2005, thousands of FUSE-goers have converged at the Gallery for this unique adult event. Live performances and music in the Gallery spaces, DJs, eclectic Gallery tours, contemporary dance and unexpected surprises have made FUSE Vancouver’s favourite art party—a place to see and be seen.
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MEDIA INFORMATION & EVENT PASSES:
Debra Zhou, Communications Specialist
dzhou@vanartgallery.bc.ca, Direct: 604-662-4722, Mobile: 604-671-2358
About the Vancouver Art Gallery: The Vancouver Art Gallery is a not-for-profit organization supported by its members, individual donors, corporate funders, foundations, the City of Vancouver, the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council, and the Canada Council for the Arts. We thank everyone for their continuing generosity.