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Art as it happens at gallery
by Grania Litwin
Will EBay make life worth living? Is it a master tool to help people avoid massive layoffs?
Andrew Dickson thinks it is, and will try to convince his audience, too, when he presents a tongue-in-cheek look at EBay, at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria tomorrow night.
Hand in hand with the current Fantastic Frameworks exhibition -- which looks at unusual designs for living -- a four-day performance festival called Live Art 2: Time ... Pieces will showcase artists like Dickson as they highlight themes of reality and the time-space continuum. The show is intended to "break down the construct of time and its relationship to the concept of performance," said curator Lisa Baldissera.
Dickson, from California, will embellish his piece with PowerPoint, rock anthems and audience interaction as he looks at the compression of time through globalized economics.
"Will people learn about EBay? Definitely," said Dickson, who hit upon the career of EBay power-selling a couple of years ago. "It allows me to work very little ... and still leave time for creative pursuits."
But the show is also a satire on everything from late night infomercials to get-rich-quick schemes.
"I've done it about 25 times and some people come with pen and paper, don't laugh at any of the jokes, and thank me afterwards for teaching them more in an hour than a six-hour university class."
"Others really just enjoy the laughs, the drama, the interaction," said the performer, who has done the show in England, Scotland and the U.S., and just returned from a six-day stint in the Netherlands.
"It resonates with Europeans because it's almost the worst and best part of America: The optimism and the in-your-face brashness. And I do stress that EBay is not only personally lucrative and important to the future of Canada, but that it is the responsibility of every human being to try power-selling in the interests of world peace."
