
Gold Rush! Art, Bars & Speculation
The Miss Guides: A Cultural Walking Collective (with Natalie Doonan and Sean George)
This is a 90-minute walk exploring the driving forces of gold, diversion and consumption in Vancouver since its early development. Using the streets as its stage, this ever-changing performance reflects an ever- changing city: one which, for a brief moment in time, is adorned in gold and poised for international pageantry.
This site-specific walk invokes a unique blend of historical tour, performance art and virtual navigation. Vancouver grew out of the Gold Rush of the late 19th Century, the frenzy of which was revisited in Expo ’86 of the following century. Similarly, the rush for gold before and during the 2010 Olympic Games shapes the city’s past, present and future.
Using mobile technologies, the active body, and specific historical and contemporary locations, The Miss Guides will take participants through an engaging sensory experience that will deal with the complex relationships between Art, Bars & Speculation. To cap the evening off, guests will toast the city at one of Vancouver’s hottest new nightspots (so new, it’s still under construction!).
The role of the artist is about prospecting the past, sifting the presence of the everyday and speculating on the future. Come walk the minefields with The Miss Guides.
Artist grant received from the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC). This performance ran for three sold out weeks as part of the 2010 Cultural Olympiad.
5 minute excerpt here: https://youtu.be/IisTSUqKZ00