If walking around the city all night during Nuit Blanche is not enough for you, the Zombies in Condoland performance by Canadian artist Jillian McDonald is looking for participants. Of course, most people look like zombies when this long night is over, so maybe participation is natural here.
If you find yourself in Toronto on October 4th, please come participate in Zombies in Condoland my new performance in which anyone can take part! Please forward to anyone you know who may be interested. Special starring roles available for anyone who asks.
October 4th to 5th, 7pm to 7am (all night long)!
Zone A College Park
Performance: Zombies in Condoland, a large scale performance commissioned by curator Gordon Hatt for Nuit Blanche Toronto, continues McDonald’s interest in the horror film genre, grafting it on to the phenomenon of urban gentrification. Referencing Toronto’s rich history of zombie movies, the Toronto Zombie Walk, the condoization of downtown artist communities, McDonald directs a legion of zombies who will perform in various late night film scenes in Toronto’s College Park. Zombies in Condoland is a series of night actions that mimic a film set for a low budget horror film such as those by director George Romero whose latest film, Diary of a Zombie, was filmed in Toronto. Zombies achieved cult status in the past few years, with their popularity growing steadily. Enormously popular zombie walks and pub crawls occur annually in cities like Toronto, Montréal, San Francisco, Austin, Vancouver, and Liverpool. Zombies are instantly recognizable and carry a metaphoric reference to the working class. The Zombies in Condoland are responding to gentrification, moving in on an area which is rapidly changing.
Website: The Zombies in Condoland website solicits participation and provides information and buzz about the project. Zombies are encouraged to come in character – nurse zombie, business person zombie, geek zombie, sports zombie. They are encouraged also to do their makeup en route, in cafes, bars, and mass transit to garner attention. Zombies will also be created on site by trained volunteers, therefore no experience is necessary. Instructional videos are included on the website.
Background: The zombie, unlike other horror monsters such as vampires and werewolves, is the definitive horror creature thanks to its abject existence — robbed of identity, neither fully dead nor fully alive, neither clever nor resourceful, it is driven only by its hunger for flesh. The central dilemma of zombie films is that the survivor must outrun and therefore outlive the zombie. Victims turn into zombies, therefore to be caught and find oneself zombified is the most horrifying outcome. The genre plots survivors on the move and ever vigilant, or temporarily holed-up and sleeping with one eye open. Zombies do what they are told in the manner of slaves and are unresponsive to their surroundings. Zombies are everywhere and relentless. It is impossibly difficult to escape zombies, despite the fact that with little exception they move agonizingly slowly.
Artist: Jillian Mcdonald is a Canadian artist, based in New York, whose work infiltrates film genres such as horror in part to tap into the fan culture that fuels them.
4 comments
How much will you pay me to walk like a zombie?
More than those Bumvertizers I hope!
Wow, this seems like a very tired concept for a Nuit Blanche piece. I hope other artists are a little more original!
His latest film was Diary of the Dead.
Just for reference.
ACTUALLY,
Just for reference, the newest film he is working on IS Diary of a Zombie, which has been filimed in the sourrounding area.
Diary of the Dead was the last movie he RELEASED, smartass.