Critical Writing Index

Hybrid Hijinks: Oliver Husain's Art of Cinema, Performance, Installation, Objects, and Text

by Jon Davies

Canadian Art, Summer 2012, pp. 62-65

Oliver Husain, first trained in cinema in his native Germany, arrived in Toronto in 2006 as an accomplished filmmaker and performance artist. Husain's film work eschews the typical framing which allows the audience to be omnipotent to some degree, instead opting to constrain the viewer's point of view so as to be aligned with his characters and their partial and discrete views. Husain has increasingly worked with elements of cinema and performance inside of the gallery space, bringing the sweeping and absorbing narrative power of cinema into the gallery and creating transformative experiences.

ITEM 2012.070 – available for viewing in the Research Centre

Videos, Artworks and Artists Cited

SwivelOliver Husain

ShrivelOliver Husain

SquiggleOliver Husain

Rushes for Five HatsOliver Husain

Revenge of the Theory Persons, or Don't Just Sit There, Gentle PresenceOliver Husain and Kathleen Smith

The Glimmering Grotto (Seven Plays over Seven Days)Oliver Husain

Purfled PromisesOliver Husain

Dear What's Your FaceOliver Husain