Buddha Las Vegas Museum Boutique

 

1990-91

 

collaboration with Evelyn Von Michalofski

 

Buddha Las Vegas Museum Boutique was conceived in May 1990 as a living, constantly morphing installation, event and performative retail space where feasts and rituals figured prominently. Posing as a retail business, it in fact ran as an extended performance/installation that evolved on a daily basis. Its conceptual thrust lay in the juxtaposition of cross-cultural rituals and routines, with the production of collectibles (objects, images) and events becoming the basis for dialogue. The name “Buddha Las Vegas,” borrowed from filmmaker Steve Niblock, was inspired by the amalgamation of ideas diametrically opposed, as well as its physical location next to the historic retail icon of Honest Ed’s in Toronto. Mystic met Glitz. Notions of seemingly irrational reverence and worship were explored and prodded; icons and fetishes were “unearthed” and reclaimed to form unexpected cultural objects whose origin began with kitsch, high, mass, and/or folk cultures, incorporating bits of forgotten history.

 

 


 

 

 


media: various edible and non-edible media

dimensions, duration: variable

Buddha Las Vegas Museum Boutique operated for 9 months at the Buddha Las Vegas Museum Boutique, Mirvish Village, Toronto.