November 9 to
December 1, 1996

Toronto, Ontario
Canada

A month of
performance
actions by
Paul Couillard
Radical Faerie Player

Photo:
Jules International

This commentary by
Paul Couillard
is an edited version of material excerpted from e-mail postings and previously published in a special 1997 print edition of CUMPOST

These are some thoughts on ASKANCE, a radical faerie experiment in urban alchemy that took place in Toronto in November...

Usually, when I finish a project, I experience grief, or depression, over it. If the project has turned out well, I often find there's an emptiness left in the place where I was directing my energies. If the project has not turned out well, there's a deep sorrow for all the dreams that were not realized.

But this time, finishing ASKANCE, was not like other times.... Even though ASKANCE consumed my life for the month of November and took a year and a half of focused work to dream into being, even though not nearly as many people got involved with the project as I thought might have really gotten something out of it, I don't feel either the emptiness or the sorrow. It's true that I laid low for a few weeks to recharge my energy, and spent a lot of down time -- sleeping, reading, even (gods and goddesses forbid) watching television -- but this was more like a chrysalis state, a natural time for processing (and learning to believe) the incredible things that happened over that month.

In my 'publicity' for the show, I called ASKANCE 'a radical faerie experiment in urban alchemy' and 'a month of performance actions', both of which were true, but apparently not so clear or enticing to a broad audience. Using words like 'ritual' (or 'faerie', or 'magick', or...) turned some people off, even though those that came generally had a blast and found it hard to leave.

At first, I thought I was setting up a space where I could do performance actions of various sorts with people -- and I did do that -- but part of what happened is that the space became so powerful it began to exert its own effect, People began to perceive it as an 'installation' that said something all on its own. My presence, and the things I did in the space, while always operating in the context of being in a public setting, were not always clearly defined for people as a 'performance'. ...