International Festival of Performance Art

6th International Festival of Performance Art
Oct. 19 - 29, 2006

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ÉMINENCE GRISE

Rita McKeough
éminence grise n. someone who exercises great power or influence secretly or unofficially.

Slipping By (2005)

This program highlights our commitment to bringing forward a lived history of performance work in Canada by presenting an artist who has made a fundamental contribution to the field. The program was inaugurated at the 2002 Festival with the presentation of Bruce Barber, and continued in 2004 with Cheryl l’Hirondelle. This year we are extremely pleased to have Rita McKeough from Nova Scotia.

In the opening performance of her Take it to the Teeth installation in 1993, Rita McKeough chewed up an entire gallery wall, tearing off pieces, tasting them, and spitting them out.

“It was about how memories reside in the body and mind, and how they come out a bit distorted. I used the idea of the digestive system as an interesting way of getting rid of those memories.”

“Humour is something that’s always been there in my work, even if it’s just very subtle.”

McKeough attended the University of Calgary for her BFA, and received her MFA at NSCAD in 1979. Through experiences working at a radio station and as a drummer in a band, she began fusing elements
of sound into her sculptures.

“Being a drummer influenced a lot of my interests... I became interested in installation and performance because it was a way of bringing audio into my work.”

McKeough has taught at ten art schools, including the University of Manitoba and the University of California, and she has been teaching media arts courses at NSCAD since 1999. She has been actively exhibiting and performing across Canada since the late 1970s.

“I always seek to create an environment, it’s the process of gathering information on a search through space.”

Rita will make a new work, The Long Haul, for 7a*11d, collecting evidence of nature in the city to reconfigure the OCAD Professional Gallery., the week of October 23 to 28, with public performances on October 27 and 28. [see feaured events for details]

Slipping By (2005)

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