Tanya Mars
Performance
With signature delightful theatricality, one of Canada's most renowned performance artists, Tanya Mars is joined by Gale Allen to present In Pursuit of Happiness, a continuous twelve-hour performance based on Mars' epic 2004 work The Tyranny of Bliss. A provocative meditation on excess and consumption in city life, In Pursuit of Happiness constructs a modern day social satire looking at the human condition from both utopic and distopic perspectives. Two women in lavish hats hold court at a table set for an opulent all-night party complete with cake so decadent as to incite debauchery.
Inspired by the medieval fresco of Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Allegory of the Effects of Good and Bad Government on the City Life, Federico Fellini's Satyricon, Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Sea, Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthy Delights and medieval Miracle plays, Mars presents a single spectacular tableau vivant (a "living image") juxtaposed with Toronto's urban landscape.
Tanya Mars is a performance and video artist who has been involved in the Canadian art scene since 1973. Her work is often characterized as visually rich layers of spectacular, satirical feminist imagery. For this performance she is joined by Toronto-based video and performance artist Gale Allen.
Image: Tanya Mars, The Tyranny of Bliss: Gluttony, performance, 2004
Performers: Louise Liliefeldt and Julia Fiala
Photo credit: Miklos LeGrady
Map location 6
University Avenue median (South of Dundas Street)
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