Alexis O’Hara: SQUEEEEQUE! SPEAKERDOME

Straddling the divide between the worlds of experimental electronic music and the blackest comedy, Alexis O’Hara paints narrative atmospheres with her voice, a gaggle of electronic friends and the chimerical properties of electricity. She has been known to wear clothes that run on batteries. Sampling and processing her voice in real-time, she creates live performances that combine electro-acoustic maximalism, sexy beats and good old-fashioned yarn spinning. Her recent interactive performance work strives to explore social connectivity as a means to combat isolationism. Mutating, delinquent and fearless on stage, Alexis owes a great debt to Montreal’s lively cabaret and avant-noise scenes. The eclecticism of her work attracts international programmers from various disciplines from performance poetry and sound art to live art and music.

Artist Statement

I am an auto-didactic undisciplined artist. I strive to create performances that stress a connection between the audience and the artist. Humor and improvisation are two of the best ways to achieve this aim. Within improvisation lies the omnipresent possibility of error and failure, two circumstances in which the spectator is invariably refocused with a present-minded awareness. The notion of failure and recovery are analogous to the human condition. I am disturbed by perfection and bravado and have been attempting murder on my own ego for years. Common themes in my work include brain functions and their relationship to emotion, anthropomorphism, language and social order.

1. The Wire’s blog