Istvan Kantor
Video and performance
Revolutionary Song pays tribute to the cinematic mayhem of video clips. Through recollecting memories from a 1966 visit to Paris, of a haircut obligation and conflict with his father, Kantor comments on his favourite subjects: authority and rebellion. He puts video back into revolution! On the way to the hairdresser, under a "hopelessly blue sky" and in an epoch described by Kantor's lyrics as "a time of the rising hippie scum", the 16-year-old boy prays for "instant disaster, destruction and fire." In an all encompassing "Neoist" editing style, Kantor commemorates the unpredictable and ecstatic nature of insurrections, from the 1956 Hungarian Revolution to the May 1968 uprising in Paris. He combines anthem-like vocals and dramatic noise, historical facts and ironical statements, propagandistic images and plundered film footage, heartbreaking violin sound and spoken words, ecstatic rhythm and church bells. "Long Live the Spirit of Sweet 16 Rebellion!" he concludes.
Chanson a mourir is a video-song that was produced during a visit with the artist's aging parents in Surany, Hungary, in 1989, in the garden of their old summer-house. The song recalls Kantor's first real meeting with death in a hospital in Budapest.
The video screenings are extended by a revolutionary fashion show by Kantor's performance group. Istvan Kantor, recipient of the 2004 Governor General's Award for Visual and Media Arts, lives and works in Toronto.
In association with Baywood Homes.
Photo credit: Istvan Kantor
Map location 8
Bohemian Embassy, 1171 Queen Street West
