Alexandra Bischoff (born 1991 in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

) is a Canadian artist who works primarily in

performance A performance is an act of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Management science In the work place ...

, with an emphasis on

sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...

and

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

. She lives and works in

Montréal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Life and education

Bischoff received a Fine Art Diploma in 2012 from

McEwan University The Scottish surname MacEwen derives from the Old Gaelic ''Mac Eoghainn'', meaning 'the son of Eoghann'. The name is found today in both Scotland and Northern Ireland. Because it was widely used before its spelling was standardised, the modern n ...

, Alberta, Canada. She holds a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachelor ...

in Visual Art from Emily Carr University of Art + Design, where she was named

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the highest-performing student of a graduating class of an academic institution. The valedictorian is commonly determined by a numerical formula, generally an academic institution's grade point average (GPA ...

of her 2015 undergraduate class. She is currently pursuing a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

Concordia University Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...

in the department of Intermedia (Video, Performance, and Electronic Arts).

Work

Bischoff's artistic practice, primarily in performance, video, and text, responds to the complexities of female sexuality and is influenced by her research engaging with archives. Bischoff's archival research led to the ''Rereading Room'', an exhibition of the Vancouver Women's Bookstore's inaugural 1973 catalogue. ''The Rereading Room'' initially was at exhibited at 221A in 2016-17 and, in 2018, was included in the ''Beginning with the Seventies: GLUT'' at the Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery. Also in 2018, Bischoff participated in the group exhibition ''SOOT'', emerging from her publication of the same name. ''SOOT'' is a recount of Bischoff's experiences having been employed at a retail sex shop in Vancouver. In 2017, ''Decoy'' ''Magazine'' published ''Happenstance'', a series of temporary artworks by eleven artists including Bischoff, who worked in public spaces in the city of Vancouver. For this project, Bischoff explored the senses as her main theme for her work ''thrum''. She performed her piece by walking across and interacting with the Granville Bridge in a time-based performance. Bischoff has been critical of

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's gender imbalance and has worked with the Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery to address it through their annual

Art+Feminism Art and Feminism (stylized as Art+Feminism) is an annual worldwide edit-a-thon to add content to Wikipedia about women artists. This program has been active for nearly 8 years. The project, founded by Siân Evans, Jacqueline Mabey, Michael Mandi ...

Wikipedia Edit-a-thon.

Major works

* ''L'origine, Plucked'' (2018) *''Rereading Room'' (2018) Bischoff's archival research led to the Rereading Room, an exhibition the Vancouver Women's Bookstore's inaugural 1973 catalogue. ''Rereading Room'''s first iteration was exhibited at 221A in 2016-17. * ''Soot'' (2017-2018) * ''thrum'' (2017) * ''I Feel Pretty'' performance and video (2016) * ''Skin on Skin'' (2016) * ''Suds-bucket'' (2015) * ''Iron-Woman...'' (2014)

Awards and residencies

* RBC Artist Development for her performance ''L'origine, Plucked'' (2018) in the Calgary performance festival IKG LIVE 2. * 221A Artist Run Centre, N.O.P.E. research group (Vancouver, B.C.) * Burrard Arts Foundation, writing residency (Vancouver, B.C.)

Exhibitions

* Beginning with the Seventies: GLUT (12 January - 8 April 2018) * IRL:URL * Rereading Room (10 November 2016 - 14 January 2017) * SOOT (16 December 2017 - 21 January 2018) * Transmutations

Publications

* "Tongue in Shape." Catalogue essay for Sarah Davidson. Scrap Collector, Gam Gallery. 2016. Print. * "Usually only temporarily." ''LAUGH Magazine'' 3. (2017): 30-31. Print. * GAGS. "''Theory Boner"'' Nov. 2014. Print.

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bischoff, Alexandra 1991 births Living people Artists from Edmonton Canadian women artists Canadian performance artists Women performance artists