American artist Jamie McMurry's epic new performance work (which starts at Mercer Union and using a moving vehicle filled with audience members moves to a second location) is presented by FADO Performance Art Centre in the context of the 8th 7a*11d International Festival of Performance Art.

The cacophonous actions and objects that one encounters in everyday life are not only often absurd but also are the unseen details that define our characters and separate us from all others as individual beings. McMurry’s recent performance installation works as part of the Ego series have sought to make manifest these day-to-day actions and interactions with objects to illustrate a vocabulary with the outside world that has been developed over the span of his life. Ego installments 1-4 have been presented in Bangkok, Los Angeles, Glasgow and Séte, France and have typically taken place in very small spaces over the course of several hours. This context only allows for a few viewers to see the on-going work for a short period and leaves them with a fraction of a glance into the biography being depicted in these performances, much as we all encounter one another's biographies in everyday life. With Ranchero McMurry continues to share this language of one's history through performative acts but instead of having the viewers pass through the work, the work will pass through the viewer.

7a*11d International Festival of Performance Art
October 21 - 31, 2010
www.7a-11d.ca

Photo credit: Track 16 Gallery, Santa Monica, USA. March 2009. Photo by Lever Rukhin.