Western Front Performance Art is pleased to present Participatory Dissent: Debates in Performance (October 18-22, 2007, Vancouver), an encounter between traditional forms of performance art (endurance/duration) and new forms of social practice and intervention. Produced in conjunction with the LIVE Biennial of Performance Art, the program looks to the overlaps between practices, modes of thinking, and opinions about contemporary performance. Viewers are invited to participate, enjoy and intervene in four days of individual performance art, social intervention, and discussion surrounding performance art practices that forge new relationships between artists, site and community. Facilitating the creation of new work by artists from across Europe and North America, Participatory Dissent: Debates in Performance will consist of individual and collaborative works (situated at the Western Front, online, and in various outdoor locations in Vancouver), online discussions, a round-table discussion event at the Western Front and a panel discussion at Emily Carr Institute. Works will address public intervention, alternative economies, the limits of the body, and cultures of fear in the post 9/11 era. This series of events is organised by Western Front Performance Art. Guest Curator Natalie Loveless.

Participating artists include: Artur Tajber (Poland), Jeff Huckleberry (US), Kevin Hamilton (US), iKATUN (US and Montenegro), Marilyn Arsem (USA), Michael Morris (Canada), Naufus Figueroa (Canada), Paul Couillard (Canada), Roddy Hunter (UK), Sal Randolph (US), The National Bitter Melon Council (US and Japan), Vassya Vassileva (Bulgaria), and Vincent Trasov (US and Germany), as well as a co-curated online performance-intervention event produced with Jeremy Turner of The Second Front, Skawennati Tricia Fragnito (xox Voyager) and James Morgan of Ars Virtua. The Western Front will provide the physical home for screenings of online intervention performances: Second LIVE in Second Life.

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