WESTERN FRONT – Piranha Farms

Description:

Piranha Farms is an underwater fantasy by Hank Bull, Jane Ellison, and Eric Metcalfe involving dance, music, costumes, video, and shadow play. The thirty-minute video opens with a scene featuring Metcalfe peering through a set of binoculars accompanied by the sounds of war films. Following this is a vocal performance by Bull as Clammy Clones, who is later joined by Jane Ellison as Vertical Venus for a dance duet. They are in underwater-themed costumes designed by Carol Hackett, J. Reinhardt, Gretchen Perk, Maxine Young, and Kate Craig; with Clammy Clams donning a shell-shaped headpiece, and Vertical Venus in a yellow mermaid tail. The pair return shortly after with a sing-song dance routine as The Tootaloonies.

Other performances include the three artists singing a song about meat with Metcalfe holding a gun, as well a vibraphone performance by Metcalfe as the character Piranha Farms, equipped in piranha garb. The video is punctuated by a collage of clips drawn from war films, television advertisements, and aquatic-related video segments.

Presented by the New York Corres-sponge Dance School of Vancouver, the piece toured Canada and was performed at The Kitchen, New York. Piranha Farms was produced by Bruce McCrimmon and Patrice Palmerino; and with support from BCIT TV Crew 1979, Canada Council, Josephine Rigg, Patrick Ready, John Kemp, Brian O’Neill, and The Music Gallery, Toronto.

A black-and-white photograph of a television monitor showing Eric Metcalfe playing xylophone. He wears a piranha costume and has a wild smile on his face while holding xylophone mallets in each hand.

A black-and-white photograph of a television monitor showing Jane Ellison standing with her arms outstretched in front of a projected image of the Hindenburg. Ellison is topless and wears a mermaid tail.

A black-and-white photograph of a television monitor showing three topless women wearing mermaid tails lying on the floor with their legs propped up against a wall.

Captions:

Hank Bull, Jane Ellison, Eric Metcalfe, Piranha Farms (1977). 30 min. 8 sec.
Eric Metcalfe in Piranha Farms (1977).
Jane Ellison in Piranha Farms (1977).
Jeanette Reinhardt, Kate Craig, and Jane Ellison in Piranha Farms (1977).

Western Front is a non-profit artist-run centre in Vancouver.

We acknowledge the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations as traditional owners of the land upon which Western Front stands.