Timothy Comeau

Transcript

Okay so um start with your name

Okay, I'm Zoe Stonyk

...and a little bit of your your artistic background.

Yeah um I'm primarily a performance artist.I also work in sort of video installation. Um I've graduated a couple years ago from OCAD in the integrated media department working in film and video and focusing on performance art.

And so what type of uh in terms of recent works have you been involved in?

Well, do you want what, a description ...

... an idea of what your work all about?

Uh like do you want a vague description or something more specific?

How about you describe your last ...

Okay. I did uh a piece as part of uh TAFI, the Toronto Alternative Arts Fair, in which I was dressed as kind of a Catherine Hepburn-asque sort of world traveler in a sort of a suit in a fur stole with a big hat, and I was sitting in alone in a room that was roped off as though it was like a museum exhibit. And I had a large projection behind me of intercut scenes between The Shining and Last Year At Marienbad, so it was all these scenes of these long tracking shots down hallways of opulent hotels, and I just sat silently in this chair and read No Exit by Jean Paul Sartre to myself over and over again, and the nice thing about that is the setting was actually in the yoga studio of the Drake Hotel. So it was sort of commenting on this ... the almost sinister potential of these transient spaces of of like a hotel or something like that. So yeah, so I've often incorporated things from films and popular culture and television pop music into into my work.

So how would you rate your popular culture knowledge?

Pretty high. I try to sort of stay on the ball. I find the attitude of sort of, oh, I don't watch television or whatever, to be a to be a bit narrow minded, actually. Some people think that they're sort of not polluting their minds with the garbage on television, but end up kind of being out of touch, I think, in a cultural way. And I think that it is important to at least know what the values and mores of our society are, whether or not you choose to agree with those is up to your own decisions. But if the rest of society thinks that shows like The Bachelor are a good idea, you're still operating within the society that has that attitude. So it's kind of a 'know your enemy' sort of scenario in a lot of ways.

So how much TV would you say you watched before you ever met Timothy?

A fair amount. I'm, you know, I ... my television had uh suffered a trauma of sorts so that it only received two channels. But it's amazing how much I was able to suck out of those two channels. I got the CBC and I got CTV. And so CTV shows all of the the great sort of hottest crap. And the CBC, I like a lot of the the CanCon stuff that it has and I like getting my news from a Canadian perspective and stuff. So I haven't rejected those as media sources, even though now I have a whole rainbow of choices.

And what would you say are your 'must sees'?

I'm definitely The Daily Show with John Stewart ...

Oh sorry, I mean ... oh is that on CTV?

It's on CTV, oh yeah, yeah oh, it's at uh 12:05 right after the news. Yeah, um a friend of mine got me hooked on The OC, which is a guilty pleasure. Um the uh oh, what else um the uh the next generation of DeGrassi I got to say being an original DeGrassi fan and seeing repeats of the characters in the new show. That was a favorite and I'm blushing now. I'm all like embarrassed talking about. Like it's such such a guilty secret because it seems so declasé to be, you know, into television. But uh yeah ... then I watched the news generally on a daily basis.

Why did you ... [recording interupted]. Well okay why don't we start there; so why did you describe The OC ..

Back to that... Um gee, I guess because I don't really associate myself with that target audience. I mean, since it is a show geared towards teenagers and ... and it is a something that's not considered, I guess ... oh, I don't know how to word what I'm trying to say. [long pause] I guess it's trying to appeal to a mass audience and that I like to think of myself as somewhat more of a cultural elitist that that I'm you know I want to think that I'm too good for ... for that which is targeted towards the the masses in general and especially the sort of 16 year-old girl masses. But but heck, I mean, it's it is a well-written show and it's amusing and I guess I shouldn't feel guilty about that. But but yeah, I think that there is an element of cultural snobbery in that that I want. I and I also think it's a product of sort of growing up at the interest in kind of the alternative culture, whatever, that I don't want to like things that are popular, that I I fight against that, that I I don't want to have any any real dealings with the mainstream, but, you know, it's that's a bullshit, really.

Well, in your in your opinion, would you say that art is specifically not popular?

That's I mean, that's a tricky thing that I think that we've moved from thinking that art isn't a popular thing into thinking that art can be, but that generally, there there is still, I think, an element of elitism there, that even though we like to think, oh, well, this can appeal to it to everybody. Like everybody isn't interested. And as much as it attempts to not be elitist, it still is, I think. I think that there's there's only a select part of the population that that cares about art. And often it's people that are that are also cultural producers that are educated people that that I think that it does still have a sort of an a niche market.

So can you explain to me the process by which you became involved in this project?

The process by which I became involved, how I project in this cable project? That I I don't really know that, as I was saying earlier, I was coming out of a coffee shop one day and Timothy was sitting outside and uh and he stopped me and said hello and I didn't know who he was. I sort of doubled back and said, like, I don't think we've met before and he said that we hadn't, but he gotten my name through someone else and that he was trying to get me cable television. So just kind of out it really happened out of the blue.

And you had no reservations about getting the cable?

Oh, well, actually I did. I've had cable before and I had quite an addiction to it. My worst addiction was to professional wrestling. I got really badly into that and as a result I had to I had to cut myself off from cable. I was getting all of the pay-per-view events. I started getting magazines and going to live events. And it got really out of hand and I was spending I was spending a lot of money on it and at one point I actually came home from work exhausted, ordered up a pay-per-view, fell asleep on the couch and realized that I just slept through a $30 TV show and after that I cut off the cable.

What was it about wrestling that you liked?

Oh, it's the storyline. It's the total melodrama. It's like a like a a soap opera, but with physical confrontations of such a magnitude. It's yeah, it definitely like I still get together with some friends and watch like like the pay-view events, but uh but I try to, you know, one a time I I flip past it. I don't want to fall back in the old habits.

So how long have you had cable now?

Oh, how long has it been? It's been about a month.

And what package do you have?

I don't know. I have 70 channels, so I don't know what that it's it's not as many as my parents have, but you know, it's it's still it's more than enough.

And are you watching more TV now?

Oh, I totally am, definitely. But I think that that's also in part to the fact that I since I've injured myself, I'm pretty much housebound. And so I I now know things that I never knew before. I now know that SpongeBob is on at six o'clock. And yeah, I can say I've been watching a lot of television.

Are you able to give me your viewing schedule?

Oh, um Well, I don't see that's it. I don't really remember my schedule at all because yesterday I remember I was flipping channels sort of halfway through a show and realized that there was another better show that was on and that I should have been watching that and um yeah, I uh I don't know. I I try to hit as many of the uh the kind of the the the hour long crime dramas, the CSI and the law and orders and stuff. I really enjoy those. So I try to keep a keep a grasp on when those are on and uh oh, and they're showing all the episodes of uh of My So Called Life again. I think that's on at eleven that's try to try to make that ...

Which one was that?

... with Claire Danes, then like the totally nineties, um I don't know, like I guess it was like a like a kind of a soap opera drama kind of thing.

[unintelligible]...younger kid?

No, it was teenagers. It was teenagers and there was this sort of the nerdy boy next door and there was the dream boat that she was in love with. And it was the, you know, it was so nineties. The dialogue in the show is just riddled with "like, you know", "so, whatever", and a lot of slouchy big plaid shirts and oh, just it's yeah, it definitely.

So I guess I guess saying that I'm I'm into The OC now and that I'm all embarrassed about that. I mean, having been into My So Called Life in the nineties, I guess I've always been secretly, really into bad teen dramas.

So you're stuck at home basically?

Pretty much, yeah.

You think that you're watching more TV than you would have if you just had your two channels?

Oh yeah, definitely.

Are you watching TV instead of what you watching TV instead of doing?

Well, I don't think that it's really instead of doing anything because I don't just really sit and watch TV. I've never been that kind of person who just sort of zones out in front of the television that I'm always doing something else while I'm watching television. Like I I made all of my Christmas cards a couple of days ago. I've been doing sewing and knitting projects that I'll I'll draw on my my sketchbook or whatever. I'm always doing something else while I'm I've got that like I'll just have the television on while I'm cooking or while I'm doing other things. So I'm not just sort of sitting and zoning out in front of the television.

In terms of your artistic outlook, do you think it's having any any effect at this point on your this point?

At this point I'm still trying to wrap my head around a lot of stuff. Um generally the way that I that I'll work in all of my products is there'll be something in that I'll that I'll find either through a movie or through television or whatever that will get stuck in my head, that'll become like like a broken record the way a song would get stuck in your head, but it'll be a concept and idea. 'How come people really seem to gravitate towards this idea?' Like the motif of in a high school cafeteria that the popular kids always sit at the one table and that you really want to be invited to that table? And I'll try to think about what that means and that a piece may come from that idea. It may not, but but that it'll be an idea that starts really haunting me and then I'll realize that I want to explore that within an artistic context. So nothing's really jumped out at me yet as an idea that I want to pursue, but I'm I'm pretty much sure that something will because that's usually the my modus operandi for coming up with artistic ideas.

So overall then how would you rake the effect of cable TV on your life thus far?

As a double-edged sword, I think in some ways, it it's it's good in in that I know that a wealth of inspiration will come from that, whether it's immediately apparent or whether it takes some time to gestate. But but also, I mean, I like I could be reading a book. I could be doing other stuff and and that uh that it's it may be really distracting me from things that that I could be doing otherwise. I don't feel quite so bad about it since since I've got this injury and, you know, I can justify it that way. But uh but that it it always does seem like kind of it's it's sort of an anti-ocial activity that sitting and watching television doesn't you know, you're not you're not out there being part of the the real world and you.

So at this point, keep it in mind that you have this foot injury. How many hours a day are you watching?

Gee, with this injury, I'll honestly say about five, which is way more than I normally would. Normally I'd sort of watch maybe two on a big TV day. So, yeah, I'm definitely watching watching more.

Okay ... [unintelligble]

No, I don't think so. ... Okay. I have a friend who opted out of doing the project. I think that she'd been approached as if she wanted to be one of the artists to have the television and said that you know she thought about it and thought that it would be too much of an intrusion on her life and that she would just become too focused on that. She's done some really brilliant pieces that have used actual footage from television, sort of manipulated to make some really interesting comments on the values in our society and stuff. And so I just thought that was interesting that even though she's used television as actual material in her artwork, that she didn't want to be part of the project because she felt that it would really consume too much of her time and that I guess that she has a different relationship towards television than I do, as I was saying before, how I when I'm watching television, I like to do other things while I'm watching. She's the kind of person who definitely just sits and watches television. And I can understand that being something that you wouldn't necessarily want to have around, that it can really, being inundated with that much stuff. I mean, if you've just got sort of whatever your antenna can pick up, then that's what you're getting and you can kind of process that much stuff. But sometimes it is really difficult to process how much stuff is coming through 70 channels of television that, you know, you that you can flip from watching like an infomercial for some slimming girdle device to watching CNN and then to watching kids shows and rock videos and what. Like it's it's such a barrage and that sometimes it really does make your brain do backflips.

And actually in terms of I have you on, in terms of news, do you like the CBC News you have different news sources

It's funny like on the election night in the states, I was just flipping like crazy through every channel like that I would mostly out of frustration that I would sort of I sticked with CNN for for a long time and then I sticked - I stuck with this with CNN for a while and then like eventually it would just become too frustrating. It would really ... So the commentary was just getting really frustrating and trying to I think it was a desperate hope that if I flipped enough channels that I would somehow get the result that I wanted to hear, which was just obviously futile, but that if you start to realize the subtleties in the spin and that even if you can't get the result that you want, maybe you can hear a more sympathetic angle on things that's more aligned with what your viewpoint is. I thought that it was really interesting just this morning on the radio hearing that uh the CRTC is trying to figure out whether or not the Fox Network, the Fox News Network should be allowed in Canada. And there's a lot of debate over whether or not like a right-wing American news station should be allowed on in Canada. And the debates on both sides of that well, 'it should be up to us to decide whether, you know, whether or not we agree with this'. But then also, as Canadians, we have bodies like the CRTC in place to to decide what what is appropriate to be on Canadian television. So that's an interesting debate. And uh and it's it's amazing the the difference in in slant of of news stories out there that that it's not just a presentation of information that it's so much more than that. And it's really interesting to be able to to see that that subtle variance in having so many voices to choose from.

Transcript

Did you make notes?

I do, I was just going to kind of go like this for a while.

Well, if I could start by asking who you are and your background artistically.

Okay, my name is Lex Vaughan. I've been living in Toronto for about five years. I'm an expat from the US and I've just been really into this art scene in Toronto. It's so hot. It's like I lived in San Francisco for 15 years and then I lived in New York for about a year and moving to Toronto is like the best thing I could have done. It's like right in between the two cities. So I used to do a, I was a co-founder of Bucky and Fluff's Craft Factory. It's like this multimedia tag team duo with Allison Mitchell and we did a lot of in Installation art and lo-fi, you know do-it-yourself art and artifacts and Was with Second City for three years. So do some performing as well as like visual art things like that I drum with a band called the Hidden Cameras And just kind of just take advantage of all the you know, the multimedia stuff that's going on in Toronto. So So yeah, I started I guess that's all for there. Yeah, sorry.

Well, so can you give me an example of your sort of more multimedia art? Maybe the latest thing that you've...

Well, my latest... I've been fortunate enough to be hooked up with Katherine Mulherin Gallery, and she's been really beneficial to my art making in that she did a lot of Bucky and Fluff shows, And then I just had my first solo show with her which was called Peanut Brittle. It just happened in August and it was basically a performance slash installation of recreating a old man's bachelor pad like a pensioner in the gallery. So I made like his living room, bedroom, shop, and bathroom, and then this is character of this old man who time has passed by, named Peanut Riddle, who inhabits the space, and that's this character that I have. And so he basically just invites people into the space and hangs out and tells all these stories. And then I have a lot of paintings that I've done of this kind of faded glamour in men, and all these like, style-y old men in their various stages. And so those are all over the walls for, you know, purchased work. screen printed a bunch of ties with his face on it for like cash and carry I was trying to include like an element of interaction or you know instant gratification with people so a lot of my performances are really interactive based and really thematic and kind of character based work.

Was TV involved?

The only part of television that was involved in the in the peanut brittle installation was the last three days that I was sitting in the gallery as him. He was watching the Olympics for three days on this like old black and white TV that I found from the early 60s and yeah he just had like a little soup and sandwich lunch on a TV tray and watched TV as people came in and you know people had a choice of interacting with him or not but he...

Do you consider TV interactive?

Well that's what I'm trying to focus on right now is TV is mostly a, it's a passive form of entertainment. You know people, people get lazy watching TV. There's, you know, people just, it's a, you know, they veg out or you block part of yourself off when you watch TV. In another way it can be, you know, obviously interactive like when people share loves of shows and blah blah blah and sports and stuff. But it really is such a sitting and kind of spacing out activity. So what I'm proposing is to make it an active form of entertainment to basically use all the elements of repetition and using all the elements of repetition and confines that TV uses. You know, there's a certain diet that we have as viewers of television, like when the arc of a narrative is at its peak, when there's going to be a commercial break, when we can leave and get snacks, when we can pee, etc. So I'm kind of taking advantage of all these systems that are in place with TV and then using them as basically cues for me to be active. So let's say every time one of the women characters on Friends touches her hair, I have to do 10 push-ups. Every time there's a car commercial on, I do whatever, 20 crunches every time there's a, you know, an animated logo or you know, or you see a celebrity that you haven't seen for 10 years. Like I'm making all these lists of things like that you see constantly on television and making that be my exercise regime. So basically just in six months being like from chair to champ, you know what I mean? So documenting what my body is going to be looking like if I interacted with the television rather than just had it feed me information or misinformation.

How did you get involved in the project?

I got involved in the project by my friendship with Timothy Comeau. I've seen a lot of Timothy's work and when he worked with Instant Coffee, I worked with him a little bit on that in Josh Burston Gallery, so he had talked to me about it and some other Instant Coffee people had said, oh yeah, just ask Lex to do it. So I think he's familiar with my work and I am with his.

What was your reaction?

Oh man, I mean, to, Timothy, his whole platform is about raising media literacy awareness in artists just because I think a lot of you know a lot of artists can tend to be kind of isolated or come from like an art school background and not so much into pop culture especially just like what's being churned out every you know 48 hours on the television and and so I think it is really important to to have that awareness and so when I work at Second City you know all of our homework basically is just it's topicality so you really have to know, you know, what the kids are into, you know, like, all like top 10 songs and so you can get the laughs. And so I think that it can work in the same way of just like, you can really create art that's, you know, just just on in status quo, and And there is some value to that. So I lost my train of thought.

What is the value of pop culture in itself outside of art reflecting it?

Well, yeah. I think when you're just in touch with what's going on, whether or not you agree with it or whether or not you agree with the end product, you know, what we see constantly. I think it's important to engage with it, it's important to critique it, you know, not only for yourself of what you're subjected to, but I think, you know, we're all affected by it in some way, whether or not even if we participate in it, it's what's going on. So I think it's really valuable to formulate some sort of, you know, dialogue between people.

What were your TV habits before you got the cable?

Oh, man. I grew up as a TV kid. I was really into video games and stuff like that and had a single mom who worked at night. So my sister and I watched a great deal of television and I've always been kind of on the ball with what's going on and watching a lot of movies. But I've definitely weaned myself off of it. I haven't had cable for about two, two and a half years and it's been great. I've gotten so much more done. I find that with having just like basic seven channels, if you watch TV for 48 hours, You know in a 48 hour period you can pretty much be on top of everything that's going on So I sometimes just would just kind of click in for a little while and see what's going on plus You know internet is like television anyway, so it's pretty hard to avoid. I've had it about three weeks. So yeah, I've had to... it's been kind of a weird relationship of getting back into it because the way I've... my routine has been so much like out of the house or creating within the house like just with music on or in silence like I use my kitchen as my workspace and so I don't really like... it's really distracting for me to have it on unless it's like a baseball game or something like that. But I like watching. I like to act, participating or actively watching television. So yeah, it's just, it's been kind of scary because I find myself sitting down a lot or spacing out and that's why I want to create something where I'm just active with it. Because otherwise you just get kind of brain dead and and sometimes that's totally peaceful. I mean I'm sure there's some sort of chemicals that are released in your brain with these kind of, this the flash and the repetition. Like you do get lulled into some state so maybe I'll work in some exercise that you know allows you a cool-down period or something.

Did you have any favorite shows before you got cable back?

Oh like when I had cable before? Well the good thing about syndication is that you know you can watch your favorite show on any crap channel so I mean I'm always a big fan of The Simpsons and I watch that pretty religiously and since it's on you know the smaller channels I can get that and ... oh no no you know and I always kind of like to tune into Speakers Corner and stuff too like Canadian broadcasting in well City TV I mean it's pretty decent broadcasting even though it is you know what it is it's you know you would never find something like like, Speakers Corner in the States or something, so that's cool. I find now I'm watching, I love, I find now that I'm watching lots of videos. I really like BET a lot. But I'm just trying to really vary it up. I'm trying to go up into the upper channels now, like Vision TV, Oxygen, things like that, like just a lot more of the like public access. It's way more interesting and uh, pretty unloved so given it some love

So you're actively sort of trying to explore your cable package?

Yeah, I'm trying to break certain patterns that I have of like, I know that, you know, the first five channels I go to, I know what they are. And so I'm trying to like, yeah, break a pattern like, okay, I'm just going to watch channel 14. Okay. What is, what is CFTO all about? What is APTN? You know, just finding all these different channels or watching something I normally wouldn't and seeing what kind of reaction I get. usually pretty vile, like watching like Everybody loves Raymond or you know like a home decorating shows drive me insane but I know I'm gonna have to kind of give in sooner or later.

And are you, is it affecting your relationship with others or is your conversation changing?

Well, by having the TV, I've basically, with this project in particular, I wanted to talk about it with people, I wanted to dialogue with people, so I'm having TV watching parties with people who I'm good peanut gallery friends with, who I enjoy watching TV with, because I do have a lot of friends who don't, you know, they're just like, uh, or they just don't get the same kind of kitsch value out of it sometimes, So I'm trying to just surround myself with people who I know have a good time watching television and just dissecting it. It really is everywhere and you have to kind of deal with it. So we're just trying to have fun with it.

And I guess, finally, you were describing to me earlier your intended project with cable TV. Can you just start by that?

Yeah, sure. So for six months, I'm going to I had a nice I had like these two sit Well for six months I'm going to document my body's changes From doing exercises based on certain patterns I see in television so for instance If you see, let's say you see a reality participant in tears, then I will do a certain exercise, like I'll do 50 jumping jacks. So basically certain parts of TV are going to give me certain exercises to do and I'm going to document my body and how it has changed. Fuck.

Have you started already?

Oh, I'm just, right now I'm just getting it together. my mom was like she's like well that sounds good you know doing exercises sounds great but like you need to do some when you're lying down she's like you know do some kegel exercises and i was like oh yeah i could i could like squint i could do like five you know ass squint is every time there's a reported death on cnn and she's like oh god your asshole would be the size of a volkswagen you know it's just so we're just like it's a good time but it's uh... Um, fuck, what was I gonna say? God damn it!

This sounds like it has potential for, like, a new...

Reality show? Well, not really a reality show, but like exercise regime. Well that's why, okay, so yeah, so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna set this video camera on the TV and it's gonna, I'm just gonna shoot myself in like, um, basically probably taking like three hours a day, um, either in a whole three hour chunk or separate throughout the day, You know, I'm gonna be watching TV, I'll give myself a list of the things that I'll be looking for. Maybe like five things. And then I'll just watch TV and when those things happen, I will just do the exercises. So, you know, I'll probably get, within three hours, I'll probably get a good, let's say, hour workout. And then I'll just change it up so then the next week will be, in that three hours of TV, a whole different set of exercises and a whole different set of visual cues. And so then I'll be taking photographs of my body and certain body parts. It's all about the charts in the end because I'll be using before and after photo, different measurements, bar graphs and things like that. And yeah, just documenting how the process is. And so I'm attaching weights to my remote control, having little chips and snacks, having an outfit, you know, the whole thing. Like it's, yeah, it's just kind of like a TV Olympics, basically. Yeah.

Cool. Great.

I think that's a good start.

Transcript

All right, I think that's gonna be good. Just, uh, what'd you have for lunch just now?

Uh, leftovers from last night's dinner. I made a chicken with pineapple dish type thing.

Yeah, if you can sort of talk like that, just...

Okay , is it really loud?

No, breathy.

Okay. What about now? Is that okay?

Oh, yeah, it's perfect.Can you start with just your name and your status as an artist?

Okay, my name is Kotama Bouabane. I graduated from OCAD last year. I went to grad school briefly to do my MFA in Chicago. I was there for a couple months and decided that I didn't want to be in school anymore. So I took the year off to travel. I went to visit a friend in California for a couple months. Came back to Toronto, didn't know what to do with myself. So I went traveling again to Southeast Asia for a couple months and moved back to Toronto and I'm here just working on stuff in terms of financially being able to support myself for month to month and then just working on my own stuff on the side.

So how would you describe your art?

How would I describe my art? I guess I would. I started off as a photographer. I went to school for photography. And it sort of evolved into doing more photo-based work. So photography integrated with installation. I took some installation classes and some painting classes. But I guess right now I'm sort of venturing off into doing more video and sound installation work.

Can you describe for me then your last sort of multimedia video installation or piece?

Yeah, the piece that I actually submitted to Timothy's cable project was my first sound piece that I was doing. when I moved back into the city I was living in a place where they had cable and I hadn't had cable in a couple years just because of the places where I was living but I kind of got sucked into watching too much television but I got addicted to those Trading Spaces and While You Were Out shows so what I was doing was I was recording the last two minutes of each episode where the contestants sort of reacting to their new rooms. So it was sort of, and then I added them all together. So it was maybe like a half an hour to an hour piece of all the reactions of the contestants. And basically it was just sort of like this mismatch of sounds, people yelling, people screaming, people crying. And you sort of didn't didn't know what was going on. So, and I guess a lot of my my photographic work before that had to do a lot with absence and presence so the way that I sort of imagined showing this piece would be in a blank gallery and just having the sound and people sort of visualizing where certain objects would would be placed because they sort of tell you with a sound like the armor in the corner or the lamp for there or the mirror over there which which I kind thought was funny because the person was able to visually sort of project where things would be. Yeah, sorry, I lost train of thought. But yeah, so the idea of absence and presence, people visually able to connect and put things together in their heads. But I also think that it's the same when you sort of go to an art gallery, people sort of fun over these inanimate objects in a different type of way not as kitschy or annoying as the ones in television, but Yeah

How long before you got cable from Timothy did you have cable? How long did it then?

Half a year? Five or four months?

And what were your TV watching habits like in that six months?

Um, sporadic, wherever, if it was at a friend's place, it was at a bar, I'd sort of be able to glimpse, like, was unable to really go in depth or watch it at all. So...

You didn't see any favorite shows or...?

Um, no, no, maybe. Um, I can't... Like the whole reality trend thing is sort of... It can get addictive, but it can also get really annoying too. So I think it lost its stigma really fast.

So how much TV do you watch now?

I find that I get really annoyed with watching television. I can maybe watch like a show and then and then turn it off. It's the flipping aspect of it too many channels too Many choices not being able to commit to anything

So you're not watching TV at all right now?

No, no not really Yeah, I can't really Get into it right now at this moment.

How much would you say you actually watch?

A day? A day? Maybe an hour tops maybe?

Do you see that changing?

I find that it's getting more and more, yeah, that I'm watching it more maybe because of the weather, maybe because it's getting colder and I don't want to go out and I'm habitating a lot more. So, and yeah, I don't like how the television is so large and that's the central focus on the room too, so I find that everybody's sort of drawn into it, or the room sort of modeled around the television, which sort of bothers me a lot. It's not my television. I had a smaller television that a friend lent me and then my roommate got a larger one and I'm still not very happy with that.

What was your reaction to Timothy's offer of cable to you? What was your whole project and what were your first thoughts?

Well, I was on the akimbo site and I saw the free cable project. I was like free cable because I was moving and I was like financially I couldn't afford cable. cable and I felt like I needed cable as an outlet to escape because I think a lot of people are able to turn on cable just sort of you know drift off and go into another space but I wanted it in the beginning totally for that fact just to be able to zone out but and also just sort of trying to be in touch with pop culture because I don't like to be out of the loop of pop culture because I think that's funny too. But yeah, I know I thought it was a great idea and I knew that ideas and other things could flow from images that I've been seeing on TV.

So do you have any plans specifically with regard to the cable project, with regard to a possible art piece?

Yeah, yeah, I sort of, I sort of, the sound piece was the first piece that I actually done where I was using television as a means of creating art. But I sort of was thinking about going back to the way that I photograph things or sort of making these sort of images that are very ambiguous. So there was this project where I wanted to document sitcom houses. But yeah, no, it sort of wasn't sure if I was going to shoot them directly off the television or go on websites and get the actual photographs but I think it's funny to like go into a room and have pictures of these houses on the walls but not knowing quite where you know that house from but it's sort of in the collective conscious of a lot of people who sort of grew up watching television sort of like the Full House or like the Bauer house but but sort of not giving it all away sort of having it in the title like the Tanner family or like not not referring to the actual sitcom name but the house or the people that actually live there so that was sort of an idea that I've been playing around with and then I was thinking like if I could get a grant then I'd actually go to like where the houses are and then shoot them because I know that when I was on a couple websites they sort of remodeled houses after specific houses that actually existed so I thought that was really interesting as well so yeah.

Like fans would do that?

No, no like that's where that I guess the the show producers would sort of get their ideas from okay we want this house is the house for the show so they'd give one address where it actually is and the other address where they sort of built it or she did from or whatever.

Okay I think that's good.

Transcript

So, if you want, you can hold it. You want me to hold it?

Is that okay? Hello.

Just kind of keep maybe like that far away. Just going to give you pops and stuff. And then you just tell me who you are and a bit of your background in the arts realm.

Okay. I'm Keith Cole and I'm an artist, drag queen and performer. And I guess, I don't know, I've been doing this for many, many, many years, 20 years now.

How does an old media fit into your...

Pretty much everything. Like my background is in dance and theater and then also and then maybe later in my like mid-twenties film became sort of a big part of my world but really I was like trained as a dancer as a kid then I went to theater at York University and then to graduate there was only one way I can graduate and that was to do a huge project of theater dance and film and so I did that and then I sort of fell in love with all three and trying to put all three together as like a performance.

So can you give me an example of sort of a later, or maybe your latest piece that would involve some multimedia aspects?

I guess the latest piece I did was this piece called Sunflower, and it's a dance piece that is now a film called Sunflower. So it was me dancing around this huge sunflower outfit, and it was shot on Super 8, and we blew it up to 16, and now it's this little beautiful seven minute film that's like going around the world.

Would you say that modern television and commercial television, popular television, on media has a larger influence on your work?

I think so. Now with the cable. Because before I just had rabbit ears and so I would get maybe seven, eight channels and not that clear. And then as soon as the cable, it's like a whole other world. It's just like, I've just like before, I'm a tap dancer as well. And so before I would go to my tap classes and I would get, I would watch Newlyweds and then I would watch, what was it right after it? Oh, that Paris Hilton and Nikki in Simple Life. So I watched Newlyweds, then Simple Life, and then I would have 10 minutes to get to my tap class. And that sort of was my way through. I loved those shows, and I would go and tap the night away at my tap class.

So you watch ...

I sort of have a rule with myself that I don't allow myself to watch TV during the day. Rarely, rarely, rarely. When I didn't have cable, I think maybe once or twice. I rarely watch TV in the day because I would just take my whole, like I watch like all those kind of shows and now that I have cable I have to really like make sure I don't watch TV because I'll just like waste my day.

So you keep the same rules?

I do keep the same rules, yeah. So would you say you end up watching about the same amount of TV or more now? Well more now, like especially late at night. The thing I have to do now, excuse me, is I have to finish everything I have to do before I turn the TV on because if I don't, I'm doomed. Like I won't move. I'll just sit there and flick and flick and flick and watch and watch. And then before I know it, it'll just be like, oh man. So I do have to do everything that I'm supposed to do in a day and then when I'm done, I can turn the TV on because if I don't, I won't get up. And I'll just be like four o'clock in the morning staring at it still.

And do you have your favorite shows?

Yeah. now that I have this cable. All the court shows, like Judge Judy, Judge Joe Brown, People's Court, Divorce Court, Friend Court, Singles Court, Texas Justice, Celebrity Justice, like any court show I'm like totally hooked on. Judge Maybelline, whatever she is. And E! True Hollywood Stories, I love. And then also just to keep up in like the, you know, pop music world, like videos. So it's like much music, much more music. What's the other one? VH1 stuff, like all that kind of stuff. Like just trying to keep up on like, you know, Britney Spears' new movie or new video and all that kind of stuff. So yeah, like all those kind of shows. Before it was just like, you know, TVO and WNED, like all the public broadcasters, you know, it was like all educational stuff. Now it's junk.

How is it, or if it has yet, or ever will, how has it influenced you in your daily life or your interaction with friends?

Certainly like I don't need to go out as much. Ha ha ha. And I'm more than happy just to watch TV. Like I am, it's, it's, I just sit there and I have like 71 channels now. Like all of a sudden I'm just so happy. And it comes in, everything comes in clear. And it's just, and also these home and garden, like all those renovation shows and all that kind of stuff. I'm finding just mesmerizing. I'm just like, wow, look at all those things. Like I would never, I'm not a handy person at all. And like there's all that kind of stuff that gay people were supposed to get, like good fashion and, you know, home design and, you know, I never got any of those genes. So, but I just watched these shows and I'm like, wow. Like, you know, look what they did with that couch. and I'm blown away by all those renovation shows and not so much a big reality TV person. I'm not like, you know, like survivor and all that kind of stuff. I never really got into that, but certainly like those home and garden shows and I'm just like whoa, reno shows and all that stuff.

So if you step back and see yourself are you a little afraid of what's happening here with the TV or do you?

Totally. Because I'm just, I cannot believe that how easy it is for me to get hooked on it. Like I'm just watching and I just like flick And before I know it, it's like four in the morning. Kind of like the other night I was watching all these TV shows and then just like, my eyes were killing me. I was like, what the fuck time is it? And I was like, it's like four AM. I must have been on the couch for four hours just watching absolutely nothing and yet everything.

And what about your performance art? Do you think that it has potential to or that it might be already influencing what you might do?

Like and certainly like with like fashion and like just seeing like what people are wearing and stuff like that. And then it's also like watching these home rental shows. is like the joy of a glue gun and stuff like just like what they can do with a glue gun. I'm like, I'm going to get a glue gun. Like it's amazing. But the only thing is like I rehearse a lot on my own and I have, like I can rehearse here in my apartment a little bit and I have rehearsal space somewhere in the building and I have to like rehearse on my own before. If I don't, if I, oh, just watch an hour of TV, then I'll go rehearse. It won't happen. So because I rehearse alone, like there's nobody with me. I have to force myself not to watch TV because I have a VCR and a DVD player But I rarely rarely ever watch anything on that. It's just now that I have the the cable I Find it for me is like detrimental But I mean I'm loving it now for whatever six eight months, but I won't miss it I don't think I don't know because I'm just I just it is getting in the way of me getting shit done

You'll milk it for as long as you want.

Oh, yes. Every ounce of excitement. And then if only I want to leave, sadly it leaves, but I'm not like addicted to it yet. And I'm sort of catching up on everything. And then what I'll do is like maybe in two years catch up again. But right now I'm sort of like just trying to catch up on what everybody's doing.

Can you describe to me the process by which you came to the involved in the project?

Basically, I got a call from Timothy Comeau and he just said he wanted to offer. Actually, Andrew Harwood called me first and he said, oh, this guy named Timothy Comeau is going to be calling you about free cable. And I thought, oh, what the hell's that? Andrew Harwood, because you're crazy. And then Timothy called me shortly thereafter and he sort of told me a little bit about the free cable thing And I thought, that's fine, as long as I don't really have to do anything or pay anything or whatever. And then it sort of, I think it was months ago that he asked me about it. And then it took like four or five months for it to actually get connected and stuff like that. By the time Timothy said, okay, I'll be here tomorrow and just be home between noon and two.

Excellent. And... Yeah, I think, you know, I can be covered back down and all that.

I love it, I'm happy with it, but I'm also just, it is like, It can just, it could just like take, I mean it's not even, it's so nice out right now too, so it's not like, even if it was like crappy, crappy weather it'd be just like watching it even more, but.

What were your thoughts on the actual project itself in terms of its significant service value other than the fact that you were getting pre-cable?

I think it's a great idea and just, I mean, I, and what you're doing too is like sort of documenting it, but I, you know, hopefully he will somehow put put something together with all like I don't know what his Timothy's long-term goal is but I mean if part of the thing is like does TV affect your life it certainly does and the biggest way it affects me and I don't know about the other people is just like sucking away my time I really feel it just like and if I don't shut the thing off I'll just be like trapped just trapped but you know It's just and I yeah, so hopefully I don't know if other people you know gotten from it like he certainly there's ideas and inspirations and stuff like that but but And like you know certainly fashion and you know stuff like that But there's not really any nothing really like you know in the world realm of filmmaking or anything like that Is it like I like that shot or isn't that interesting or I'm gonna copy that like there's nothing like that There's a lot of bad TV like Unbelievable. The other thing I noticed too, I'll say this, is that if you have a hit show, like say for example like Friends, like it has to be, like now I kind of get that concept, like it has to be that incredibly massive because there is so much TV. And so if your show, whatever show it is, can be at the top of the list for five or six years, whatever. Like that's amazing because there is so much TV and I'm never one of those people that's like, oh Thursday night I watched this, this, this, this. I mean, I don't know when certain shows are on. If I stumble across Sex in the City or something like that, it's like, oh great, Sex in the City is on. But I never know when it's actually on. If somebody said, oh what time is it on, I was like, I'm not really sure. Or what channel it's on either, I have no idea. I just sort of find things by clicking through it fast. So that's the other thing I learned too, is if you have a hit TV show, because there's so much TV, it's unbelievable. So it must be pretty fucking massive for those like real hit shows to get your way to the very, very top. So that's another, that's a little thing I learned too. And I think, yeah, that's fine, but I'm loving it, but I won't be sad to see it go. And I'm glad Timothy's paying for it, and I don't even have to see a bill, because I don't know how much it's costing. Like I have no, I don't know if it's 70 bucks a month or 20 bucks a month, I have no idea how much it is. So, but yeah, I'm happy with it.

Transcript

Okay, so back to

...the artists.

You know what, the oven's going to ding at some point and I'm going to go and set it, don't worry about it.

Okay. So the artists involved are in alphabetical order: Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay, who's a video artist who spent quite a few years...

Sorry, sorry, I'm going to have to hold it a bit closer.

The artists involved are Benny Nemirovsky-Ramsey, who's a video artist who spent some years in Berlin recently. I sort of heard about him while he was still in Berlin, but he recently moved back to town and I like his work. So he got it. The artists I gave it to are the ones who sort of accepted because there were some that who weren't interested and he said that his work was sort of like as he said his work is sort of related to music videos but he didn't have like Much Music so made a lot of sense to give it to him and then after that was Dave Dyment who's a co-director at Mercer Union and before that he was like the co-director of Art Metropole and there is sort of I had six invitations and I reserved some spaces for for submissions. So Dave was one of the people who submitted and I was really impressed by his application so he got it and the other person who submitted was Kotama and I really liked his application so I gave it to him.

Why did you like their applications?

Because Dave, well Dave is sort of,I always knew Dave as the co-director of Art Metropole and I wasn't really aware of what his work was as an artist but then he sent me this great present this great application and he started to like you know my work is about TV so it made a lot of sense to give it to him I mean I was I really liked his application and it sort of it was really good and then Kotama - Kotama's was he wanted to do a project on the screaming at the end of home renovation shows those home decorating shows my mother watches those all the time and I hate them like so hate them and but he wanted you know he had this whole project where he wants to like you know do a sound piece based on their screaming and so he needed the access and and his application was like I was impressed by it and I sort of was impressed by the sort of the criticism implied in those shows so I gave it to him.

Did you get a lot of applications?

No, I didn't. I only got like six or so. And then after, then I gave it to Heather Keung based on a recommendation from the committee. And the other person was Jeremy Bailey who was, who's part of the 640-480 collective and he was one of the committee recommendations. Keith Cole is somebody I sort of, he's sort of a friend of a friend and he's you know a performer I've seen a lot of his performances I don't really know him personally but he was you know he's so outrageous that everybody thought like oh we have to give it to Keith Cole like he could really use it so and then there's Lex Vaughn who's another performer Lex Vaughn, who's another performer and somebody who's really interested in pop culture and she was a committee recommendation so really had no problem giving it to her. And then Zoe Stonick, who was a committee recommendation and somebody I sort of know around. All of the artists really aren't people, they're not friends, they're colleagues, they're people I've talked to before. But actually when I gave it to Zoe, she didn't know who I was and it was really interesting because I was in the market at a coffee shop and she walked by and I've been meaning to get in touch with her. I said, oh you're Zoe, aren't you? And she's like, yes. And it's like, I wanna give you a cable. And she was really shocked. She was like, really, it was rather surprising. And that was kind of part of the fun for me was to just sort of make people these offers of the blue and to see what their reactions would be. So yeah, I enjoyed that aspect of it.

So for you, is the beginning and the end of the cable project giving the cable?

Not for me, no. For me, I'm sort of enjoying the whole, the bureaucracy, because I'm getting these, you know, bills in the mail and sort of like there's a ritual of of like, you know, paying them, sort of, you know, when you turn anything into art, it suddenly becomes, you become self-conscious of what you're doing. So it's become like a ritual to pay the bills, to walk to the video store. And I'm, but I mean, I'm in this, there's Roger's system, like six, well, seven times, because I have like these seven accounts. So I'm getting seven times as many phone calls from them offering me the internet and the cell phones. And so at this point, I know the number, so I can just ignore it. But that sort of, like there's this whole, what I'm enjoying about it is exposing myself to the whole system and learning the system and working within the system of the phone calls and having to talk to them. Because when I started it, I thought, oh, I'll just form a personal relationship with Rogers. I'll talk to somebody and I'll be a valued customer and all these. And of course, that's not true. I mean, I call every time I've called to talk to somebody, it's a different person and they're like in Moncton or in BC or some other part of Canada and one of their call centers. And it's like, I have to go through the same story all over again. And I was once on the phone with a fellow in Moncton for like an hour. And because I was trying to set up one of the accounts and I had like a lot of problems setting up this account for like a variety of reasons. simple like misunderstandings and you know I explained to him like what can I do to form a personal relationship with you guys or like what can I do to like you know let you guys at least know that I'm doing this and you could use it for your promotions or whatever and he said well you should maybe try to get a business account so I called to get a business account and they said no you're not a business we can't help you and you only have like seven accounts that's not a lot that's not a reasonable number so yeah so I was basically left with the whole like you know system as it is

Is this something that this whole experience something that might be fodder for a new type of artistic expression from your perspective?

From my perspective? Sort of. I mean I've been sort of thinking how I'm becoming an artist of information of get I'm becoming this like artist who gives away information because it's sort of connected to my Goodreads project that way. And it's all kind of unintentional. I mean, I didn't like form a plan, but that's what's sort of interesting about being an artist is that you go to art school for a specific reason and then you graduate and then you work in a certain medium. But like anything, you end up doing stuff that you had no idea that you would do. And personally, I've been a little frustrated because I sort of my ambitions as an artist or what I would really like to explore are issues about time. I would like to be a time travel artist, but of course there's no time machines yet. And the technology, I would like to work with holograms. The sort of work that I envision is impossible and sort of based upon a lifetime of science fiction. And so personally, I'm a little frustrated by the idea that I'm like this information artist, but I wanna be this time travel artist. And I'm just, you know, I'm starting that out, so...

And when this cable project's all over, what is your best hope, or your greatest hope for some sort of outcome that you have in mind?

Would be this interview, to be honest. Because I sort of, the whole, I mean, one of the things I'm attracted to by the project is the sort of, the opportunity to work with rumor and legend because it doesnt have standard documentation, the projec is to just pay somebody's cable bills, expose them to this source, and as you once said when we were talking about this, like create a installation in their homes. So I'm sort of like, it was important for me to get the bills in the mail, even though I had the option of like giving them email and doing everything electronic, because I'm interested in like the documentation that's gonna build up around this and the paper. And so, and even like this interview and this sort of thing that you're doing is part of the documentation for me, because otherwise it would sort of just, It has no traditional commodity value in terms of what I could sell in a gallery except for the bills or something. But yeah, so I'm sort of, and I'm interested in the idea that people could one day talk about how this guy gave away cable as an art project.

So you see it as sort of a larger movement then?

A larger movement? Yes and no. I mean, my favorite sort of art theorist is a French critic named Nicolas Bouriaud. And he wrote the book on relational aesthetics as being the art form of the 1990s. And he sort of used people like Rirkrit Tiravanija, who I'm not sure if I said that right, but Rirkrit was an artist who actually graduated from OCAD and then went to New York and got famous for making rice in galleries. And he gave a really great presentation last year at The Power Plant. And I knew that when I was applying for it, I would probably have to reference this so that people could take it seriously. So I referenced relational aesthetics. And even when I was part of Instant Coffee, we sort of talked about relational aesthetics a lot in terms of defining Instant Coffee's practice. But I'm sort of like I'm uncomfortable by the idea that it was like the 90s art form. And so yeah, it makes sense that as a Canadian, I'm like, you know, I'm doing it now. And so I'm uncomfortable by the perceived or the seeming provincialism of Canada and the Canadian art scene. So once something's been established in Europe and been written about by a French critic, then it becomes okay for an artist to do it here. So yeah, I'm so personally, I'm a little bothered by that, that I'm doing something that's sort of not so cutting edge. But in terms of my future practice, I'm not really sure because it's sort of, well, I mean, it's sort of like, how can you, what else could I do in terms of giving people stuff? But I do have some ideas, but it just sort of ... I guess, you know, as an artist, I want to make a living with my art and sort of getting grants to give the money away essentially isn't really sensible. So there's I don't think there's much of there's a real future in it. That it? Yeah. OK.