Weekend Leisure

After graduating from Emily Carr University of Art & Design’s Integrated Media program in 2004, Weekend Leisure’s members — Curtis Grahauer, Christy Nyiri, Erich Gerl, and Pietro Sammarco — initially came together to satisfy their mutual desire to craft karaoke videos. Bringing together their respective backgrounds in media art, design, music, and performance art, the group’s repertoire explored video culture through a variety of conventions and formats. Weekend Leisure largely draws inspiration from Vancouver’s gentrified cityscape and the “natural beauty” touted by tourism markets, the enthusiastic do-it-yourself spirit that public access television manages to build through its limitations, and the endearing pretensions found in karaoke videos.

Weekend Leisure screened videos at alternative comedy nights in Vancouver, collaborating with local comedy groups, exhibiting works in contemporary art centres, and hosting a weekly karaoke night at local pubs. The group produced a monthly public access television show that aired on the Novus Network, ten half-hour episodes in all. They co-produced Steel Viper Force, an over-the-top action comedy movie. They’ve hosted karaoke events for the Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver Public Library, PuSh Fest, Fringe, and the Jazz Fest, as well as events in Seattle and Portland.