Milton Lim & Patrick Blenkarn (Vancouver, BC): asses.masses
multimedia performance
You may remember Milton Lim’s work okay.odd from our 2016 Risk/Reward Festival of New Performance. Flashing slides. Breathing. Thumping. Remember? Milton Lim is back with a fresh piece in collaboration with fellow Vancouver phenom Patrick Blenkarn with a piece about “we.” These explorers of multimedia and digital performance examine questions of labor and values… and YOU are the ones who get to play the game.
PERFORMANCE SYNOPSIS
Equus asinus—the ass, the donkey—has played a central role in religion, colonialism, warfare, and the economics of almost every major civilization since its domestication over 5000 years ago. It has symbolized everything from power, strength, and stupidity, to wisdom, piousness, and fertility. In recent years, however, the utility of the ass has been made superfluous in post-Industrial societies and the animal is being ‘transitioned’ to produce other forms of value. In light of these transitions, the contemporary status of the ass presents a particularly potent context for understanding the state of labor in our current era, as well as a reminder of the deeply anthropocentric features of philosophies of labour and emancipation.
asses.masses is comprised of a series of short games, each documenting the specific and real contemporary conditions of donkeys in seven distinct countries, industries, and contexts of value.
BIO
Milton Lim is a Vancouver-based artist whose output spans performance, new media, dance, installation, and video art. His work is engaged with global politics, the cataloguing/archiving/indexing of public data, and resource allocation. These thematic interests are bolstered by a continued interest in game mechanics, typography architecture, and high-frequency content. He holds a BFA (Hons.) in theatre performance from Simon Fraser University. He is Co-Artistic Director of Hong Kong Exile, an Artistic Associate with Theatre Conspiracy, the recipient of the 2016 Ray Michal Prize for Outstanding Body of Work, and the recent Artist-in-Residence with PuSh International Performing Arts Festival (2016 – 2018). miltonlim.com
Patrick Blenkarn is an interdisciplinary artist and director. His recent works feature sustained investigations into the history and function of the book, the politics and imperialism of the English language, and the history of labour and value. His projects have recently been featured in film festivals, galleries, and performance festivals, including the RISER Projects (Toronto); SummerWorks Performance Festival (Toronto), the rEvolver Festival (Vancouver), and the Festival of Recorded Movement (Vancouver). Patrick has a degree in philosophy, theatre, and film from the University of King’s College and an MFA in interdisciplinary art from Simon Fraser University. Patrick is currently a term lecturer at SFU for experimental performance. patrickblenkarn.comB
ASSES.MASSES VIDEO INSPIRATION