VSVSVS – Party Art
VSVSVS is a seven-person artist collective who formed in 2010. They work out of a warehouse in Toronto, Ontario and engage in collaborative art production. They create works in areas of: multiples, drawings, video, sculpture, installations, and performance. The Members of VSVSVS include: Anthony Cooper, James Gardner, Laura Simon, Miles Stemp, Ryan Clayton, Stephen McLeod and Wallis Cheung.
I Interviewed Miles Stemp, he spoke on behalf of VSVSVS. We discussed where the collective stood in terms of what party art was and where their works fit in.
The collective VSVSVS began their career making party art. Party art is categorised as event based interactive art, which requires some form of play with the viewer. The main focus of party art was the fact that people had to interact with people, which created one on one connection and experiences. Another form of party art is the sceptical. The sceptical goes against the event planning interaction. There is a tension created in these types of works. Usually, in some form the artist is on display and the re-actions that occur as a result of the intervention in a space become the piece.
The first piece of party art created by the group was in 2011, titled Ghost Hole III. This work was framed as a Halloween party taking place in a three-day art festival located in Toronto’s Kensington Market. They built a giant pyramid bar where viewers could get a psychic reading by a VSVSVS member while getting a drink. Alcoholic drinks were specifically given out tailored to the personality of the individual getting their fortune read. The work allowed for a one on one interaction between the audience and the artists. This created a relationship with the viewer and the artist’s that most artworks tend to lack.
Another work that follows the party art aesthetic is VSVSVS 2O15 work titled Vibration Station. This piece was made for the 2015 Wayhome Festival. They constructed a geometric plywood platform that vibrated with the music of the festival. VS’s wanted to create a space that had a focus on rest and conversation. People were encouraged to hang out on the platforms. This created a relationship between the viewers, the music and the art.
This work is what VSVSVS’s made for the 2O15 Edmonton’s nuit Blanche, its titled Make It Flat. It was an event that lasted the whole night. It included temporarily building a hockey rink and having a steamroller replaces the Zamboni, which indiscriminately levels any object placed in its path. Items selected by the artists range from ramps, ceramics, lightbulbs, yoga balls, air-mattresses, toothpaste tubes and bubble wrap etc., are continually arranged, destroyed and rearranged over the course of the night. The project aims to use the act of destruction as a generative gesture and as an aesthetic spectacle. Over the course of the night the audience continued to participate in cheering on the performance. This created a high level of energy which fueled the VS’s members making for an exciting show.