WESTERN FRONT – Marie Chien Noir

Description:

This video production is a triptych of performance works Marie Chouinard: Mimas, Lune de Saturne (1980); Plaisirs de Tous Les Sens dans Tous les Sens (1981); and Marie Chien Noir (1982). Over the course of the forty-three-minute video, Chouinard performs a variety of gestures: she dances with a skeleton, bobs for a green pepper in a bucket of water, masterbates, dons an oversized wolf mask, and reads from a giant picture book.

Marie Chien Noir was shot and edited by Michael Brodie. The work was performed live on May 16, 1982 at the Firehall Theatre as part of Western Front’s Independent Choreographer Series.

Video documentation available upon request.

Seen in black and white, a performer stands, pointing their index fingers downwards, dressed in a white sweat suit and black underwear over it. They wear a large dog mask over their head, feet bare on the stage.

Seen in black and white, a performer crouches, pointing at small hills set in a line, with national flags sticking out. The performer’s body, dressed in a white sweat suit and black underwear over it, is illuminated by a spotlight, while their face is shrouded in darkness.

Seen in black and white, a performer holds a picture book half their size, while paging through. The book shows a black circle enveloping one page, and a handwritten, French poem on the next.

Seen in black and white, a performer sifts through a picture book, half their size, with a spotlight illuminating the book’s geometric patterns on the left page and the French, handwritten poem on the right.

Seen in black and white, a performer pages through a picture book half their size. A spotlight illuminates the pages, darkening the background. On the left page is shown a black spiral with black waves underneath, and to the right a handwritten French poem.

Related People

Michael Brodie (Editor)

Related Events

1982

Independent Choreographer Series

Captions:

Marie Chouinard, Marie Chien Noir, photo documentation, Jun 30, 1982.
Marie Chouinard, Marie Chien Noir, photo documentation, Jun 30, 1982.
Marie Chouinard, Marie Chien Noir, photo documentation, Jun 30, 1982.
Marie Chouinard, Marie Chien Noir, photo documentation, Jun 30, 1982.
Marie Chouinard, Marie Chien Noir, photo documentation, Jun 30, 1982.
Marie Chouinard, Marie Chien Noir, photo documentation, Jun 30, 1982.

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.