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VIVO Media Arts Centre is excited to host 'How Far Can A Marked Body Go?', a performance by Ghinwa Yassine, and a talkback session.
How Far Can A Marked Body Go? sheds the light on what the bodies of Lebanese women, marked by war and patriarchy, are capable of enacting. In this performance, Ghinwa Yassine aims to reinsert the body of women into the Lebanese historical narrative by portraying an agentic gesture, one in which a body is acting and not being subjected to. Through an interplay between re-enactment, archival images and animation, she tells a story of using one’s embodied agency in the public arena and asks questions around boundaries, safety, appearance, and disappearance. How Far Can A Marked Body Go? insists on an incompleteness, repetitively shifting between the modes of lecture, performance, and video installation. Ultimately, Yassine is writing a story in space.
We look forward to the insights and discussions that will emerge from the experience. Join us for an evening of storytelling and exploration of the marked body.
Animation and technical direction: Conor Provenzano and Arman Paxad
Technical assistance: Elke Dick
Photo credit: Elke Dick
Archival photos by Sam Tarling, Nabil Ismail, and Richard Hall.
VIVO is located in the homelands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples in a warehouse space at 2625 Kaslo Street south of East Broadway at the end of E 10th. Transit line 9 stops at Kaslo Street on Broadway. From the bus stop, the path is paved, curbless, and on a slight decline. The closest skytrain station is Renfrew Station, which is three blocks south-east of VIVO and has an elevator. From there, the path is paved, curbless, and on a slight incline. There is parking available at VIVO, including wheelchair access parking. There is a bike rack at the entrance. The front entrance leads indoors to a set of 7 stairs to the lobby.
A wheelchair ramp is located at the west side of the main entrance. The ramp has two runs: the first run is 20 feet long, and the second run is 26 feet. The ramp is 60 inches wide. The slope is 1:12. The ramp itself is concrete and has handrails on both sides. There is an outward swinging door (34 inch width) at the top of the ramp leading to a vestibule. A second outward swinging door (33 inch width) opens into the exhibition space. Buzzers and intercoms are located at both doors to notify staff during regular office hours or events to unlock the doors. Once unlocked, visitors can use automatic operators to open the doors.
There are two all-gender washrooms. One has a stall and is not wheelchair accessible. The other is a single room with a urinal and is wheelchair accessible: the door is 33 inches wide and inward swinging, without automation. The toilet has 11 inch clearance on the left side and a handrail.
To reach the bathrooms from the studio, exit through the double doors and proceed straight through the lobby and down the hall . Turn left, and the two bathrooms will be on your right side. The closest one has a stall and is not wheelchair accessible. The far bathroom is accessible.
Ghinwa Yassine (Lebanon/Canada) is an anti-disciplinary artist, based on the unceded Territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-waututh people. Her mixed media work includes film, installation, performance, sound, text and drawing. In her art, Yassine confronts the ideological and patriarchal systems that she grew up in while exploring collective feelings and what it means to be a marked body. She seeks a radical historicizing of individual and collective traumas where embodied memories manifest through story, ritual, and gesture. She pursues community-based research around embodied writing and the healing potential of autobiographical art.
Yassine holds an MFA in contemporary art and interdisciplinary studies at Simon Fraser University, an MA in Digital Video Design from the University of the Arts Utrecht, and a BA in Graphic Design from the American University of Science and Technology in Beirut.
Mandana Mansouri is a displaced Kurdish artist and writer. Her exile started long before moving anywhere. She started forgetting her mother tongue when she went to school in 1988. Now she is remembering. As a physical being, she is an uninvited guest on the stolen land of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw, and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ First Nations. In her mind, she is dancing with her people in front of a fire.
