Actions October 7–11, various times

Free and open to everyone, VIVA!’s artistic programming spans four days and showcases intergenerational performance practices from here and abroad that stand out; practices grounded in presence, attention, and at times disruption.The festival unfolds at L’Union Française (429 Avenue Viger E, Tiohtiá:ke/Montréal), VIVA!’s temporary headquarters, with a few expected and unexpected spillovers into the surrounding public space. Be sure to check the schedule for locations and start times.

Some actions may be intense, unpredictable, or emotionally charged. For more information, please refer to the Accessibility & Safety section.

This edition’s artistic programming was developed in collaboration with three recurring local partners (CLARK, DARE-DARE, and OBORO) and Live Action Gothenburg (Sweden), our first international partner. This new collaboration is built around an exchange between both festivals. As part of this exchange, we welcome Chuyia Chia to Montréal, while Mai Bach Ngoc Nguyen (Québec), who performed at VIVA! in 2023, will travel to Gothenburg to present an action at the 20th edition of Live Action.

While each edition of VIVA! strives to reflect the rich diversity of practices in our community, it is not an exhaustive representation of the discipline or of all the artists committed to it. Rather, the programming is the result of a collective, reactive, and living process that builds on previous editions and—like the practices we support—blends intention with circumstance.

VIVA! Kitchen  October 8–11, 5:30PM–6:30PM

An integral part of the festival, the VIVA! Kitchen invites an artist-in-residence to develop a performative work that unfolds around the sharing of a communal meal, which is offered in exchange for a voluntary contribution (10$ suggested). Prepared daily with the support of the Kitchen team, these dinners are presented as part of the evening program of performances, and help set the welcoming, festive atmosphere that defines VIVA!.

For this ninth edition, we welcome Audrey / 卓涵 Jiang, an artist, curator, and researcher, who proposes a menu built around the eggplant. Through a selection of recipes and actions, she will explore how this fruit that is much mysterious to a North American taste bud texturology can be playful and delicious.

You are warmly invited to attend the performance, whether or not you join the meal. The dish and its ingredients will be shared on site and in the daily VIVA! Newsletter.

Opening Discussion: October 7, 7:00PM Preliminary Reflections on Affect and Performance

Speakers:
collectif Phorie (Marie Achille, Félix Chartré-Lefebvre and Benoit Jodoin)

The conversation will be in French.
LSQ and whispered english translation will be available.

What affects circulate before, during, and after a performance? What bodily intensities, emotions or desires are set in motion, shared or transformed between people, depending on their situation? 

To mark the beginning of their writing residency at VIVA! 2025, collectif Phorie invites the public to a three-voice discussion, where the memes of the collective will share some preliminary thoughts on the affective economies in action art. Without external moderation, the members of the collective will exchange questions they have prepared in advance, in a relay format inspired by their collaborative working method. The audience and festival artists will then be invited to join the discussion.

Supported by PERICULUM. FOUNDATION OF CONTEMPORARY ART, this activity marks the return of discursive activities in the festival’s programming, and aims to open up space for shared reflection, where ideas can circulate, settle and crystallise throughout the project.

VIVA! Authors’ Residency 

Thanks to the support of PERICULUM. FOUNDATION OF CONTEMPORARY ART, VIVA! welcomes collectif Phorie to participate in a writing residency developed to support performative writing practices. Over the course of the festival, two members of the collective–Marie Achille and Félix Chartré-Lefebvre –will take on the role of witness and researcher, using their experiences with the programming as material for poetic and critical reflection on performance and the circulation of affect. 

Their thoughts and observations will be shared daily on the VIVA! Blog, and feed the creation of a piece of collective writing that will be published in Inter, art actuel #147 as part of a special portfolio dedicated to the 9th edition of VIVA! Art Action. English translations of the Blog texts will also be made available after the festival.