RED, Interactive Performance
Cabaret Ravage, La Baraque Gallery, Montreal, QC, Canada, 2012
RED explores the existential meaning of the stereotypes on cultural subjectivities. Recreating the cold war beliefs on Russian identity as militaristic, savage and influenced by excessive alcohol consumption, the performance invites the audience to participate in a number of drinking rituals staged by the artist of Russian descent. While experiencing different levels of alcohol intoxication the artist reflects back the distorted image of the “stereotypical Russian” created in Western corporate media. What the audience witnesses is not so much the cultural identity but its simulation aimed at fulfilling the expectations of the Western audience. (Photo: John Looye)