A portable performative temporary action that leaves no trace behind, Montréal AV Machine roves from one public space to another, using the city as site, source and subject. Using a cube van as command central, Alexis O’Hara (audio) and Dayna McLeod (visual) transmit audiovisual nocturnal emissions- projecting onto warehouses, apartment buildings, highway pylons, public spaces, and generally using the city as a projection surface. They broadcast a live and direct simultaneous ‘dj’ and ‘vj’ mix from inside the van, neighborhood to neighborhood. Using found footage, audio, favorite clips and tracks Montréal AV Machine is an experiment in public crowd gathering and collaborative moment-making; a permitless political challenge to occupying night space regardless of police control, neighborhood dynamics, permission, or weather.

Originally performed as part of VIVA! Art Action Festival, Montreal in collaboration with La Centrale
4 thematic nights were staged with projected images and live sound:

HAZARD
The debut of Montréal AV Machine where caution was the word of the evening. Featuring a 10-story sized projection that carried found safetly films from the 1950s to the present, a wall of projected warnings and performed safety inspections, HAZARD also featured an aural mix of alarm sounds, sirens, a sinister loop from a found Richard Chamberlain album, and bilingual oration based on a handbook for surviving in the woods. HAZARD dressed its hosts in paper HAZMAT suits who welcomed guests to drink beer, hang out and most of all, be careful.

NATURE
Taking over a dog park on the right side of the tracks, NATURE was the outdoor garden party Emily Post never threw. With blankets, air mattresses, cookies, punch and fun, guests were welcomed with a playlist based on nature sounds and pastoral music complemented by sky high etiquitte videos and nature on nature projections. A 40-minute live set was performed to give the park that homey, outdoorsy, flavour.

PARTI
Parked under an overpass in St. Henri beside a used mattress amongst stale condoms, PARTI invited guests into the cube van where the magic spilled out into vintage dancing girl films to the sounds of dance hits and a 40-minute live set.

PHONEBOOK
The stage was set tucked in a loading dock of a building on the north side of town. Dressed to the nines in glam gown and fur coat, The fabulous Alexis O’Hara read the phonebook while a database of random portraits were projected at her side.

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