Installations and Performances

I am particularly interested in Fluxus-inspired interventions and installations, and in exploring the tensions and alignments between corporate ideologies and contemporary art practice. Since the 1990s, I have collaborated on more than a hundred projects that have been presented in festivals, galleries and media across Canada and internationally,

How to Run an Artist-run Centre, Orgranizational Flow-chart, Created for Front Magazine, 2009

Selected Works

SPECTACULAR DATA : FASCISM AND THE CODED PRESENT

Installation related to the Spectacular Data project created in collaboration with Richard Pinet, Derek Simons and Sourayan Mookerjea. Presented as part of' The Poetics of Possibility', Roundhouse Exhibiiton Space, Vancouver, 2024

AI: ARTISTIC INTELLIGENCE

Fully Autonomous Creation, Appreciation and Archiving of Original Art Works based on Neural Net Technology. Up to 15,000 original works created, evaluated and archived per hour. Permanent Installation in operation since 2016, to 2024

https://akahre.wixsite.com/ai-neural-network

SOUND COLUMNS II

Edmonton Arts Council Commission with Darren Copeland.

Public Art Collection Site-related audio installation based on Saskatchewan River Valley soundscapes, using Audio Spotlight focused beam speakers.

Queen Elizabeth Pool, Kinsmen Centre, Edmonton, 2022 (original installation 2011)

WATERFRONT : A CLIMATE PROJECT

Public Art Installation and Intervention based on projected sea level mapped Beach Front locations, with permanent installation components as part of the Vancouver Public Art Program, Radix Theatre, 2018

https://xenograph.wixsite.com/website

PFLANZEN FUER ROSA | PLANTS FOR ROSA

Collaborative Media Installation with Brigitte Potter-Mael and Derek Tan, Kunstflügel Gallerie, GEDOCK Brandenburg 2019

GESTERN, HIER, MORGEN

Collaboration with Brigitte Potter-Mael and Derek Tan, with vocalist Catherine Fern Lewis, and pianist Alison Nishihara, Film score, GEDOCK Brandenburg 2019

THE STORYTELLING MACHINE

Interactive Sound Installation,

Gabriola Institute of Contemporary Art, Cultivate Festival of the Arts, Gabriola Island, 2019

VAGADUCT

Counterproposal to the Vancouver Art Gallery's planned relocation to a downtown site that would displace homeless housing, and the closing of the Venables/Dunsmuir Street Viaduct, Notional Promotion, See under >> the Xenographic Society, 2019

PROVERBIAL BOTANY

Collaboration with Brigitte Potter-Mael and Derek Tan,Video Installation, Beaty Museum of Biodiversity, University of British Columbia, 2016

GABRIOLA UNDERGROUND

Community Mapping Intervention , Gabriola Institute of Contemporary Art, 2016

THE QR ANTHOLOGY

Co-production Gabriola Institute of Contemporary Art and Poetry Gabriola Society. Public Art Installation and Geo-Caching Project across Gabriola Island, ongoing since 2015

SIT/COM

CAFKA 2014 Biennale Kitchener, Ontario, with Darren Copeland

Interactive audio installation based on underwater recordings from the Grand River area, SITCOM uses pressure sensors and tactile transducers to create a soundscape that responds to human presence by live mixing and processing fish sound, underwater audioscapes and natural sounds recorded at Victoria Park Kitchener. Part of the 2014 CAFKA Biennal. Created with Darren Copeland.

THE MUSEUM OF INNOCENCE

Roundhouse Exhibition Space, Vancouver, May 14-16, 2014

Combining aspects of interactive audio installation, museum exhibit, craft corner, black market, and paper theatre performance, THE MUSEUM OF INNOCENCE is a ‘storytelling machine’ created by its audience, both in the installation space, and by adding content remotely. Named after Orhan Pamuk's novel, the installation will be animated by layers of sound that are explored by touch, using tactile transducers

FISH ON LINE

Web-based Public Art Installation, Gabriola Island, BC, July 2014

To see the project websiote, see: https://akahre.wixsite.com/fish-on-line/sites-crrl

YVR : THE REMEMBERED CITY

Roundhouse Performance Centre, Vancouver, December 2011

with Hildegard Westerkamp, Chros Welsby and the Radix Collective

Vancouver has been a city under intense pressure to adapt to the demands of the global economy: urban expansion, development, re-designating living space, industrial space and agricltural space to create for profit housing on a scale unprecedented, and creating an unprecedented scarcity of affordable, humane housing adapted to the needs of the existing population. YVR:the rememerbed city was a project that investigated the 'remainder', by inviting Vancouverites to re-create what has disappeared from memory and cardboard. The result was a floating city of paper buildings exhibited at the Roundhsoue Performance Centre and accompanied by a sound installation that draws on the World Soundscape project from 1973. special thanks to the City of Vancouver Office of Cultural Affairs 125 Cultural Fund. Video by Michael Sider: https://vimeo.com/53710855

THE VEIL OF NATURE

School for Contemporary Arts, Simon Fraser University, May/June 2013

New Media Installation, Theatre Project and website, created by Patricia Gruben, Martin Gotfrit and Marian Wihak, Simon Fraser University School for the Contemporary Arts. Colaborating artist, Web and Grphic Design

STREAMING (Public Art Proposal, Langara Skytrain Station, Vancouver)

Sited Media Installation, based on the 'Lost Stream'of Vancouver, 2011

Holosonic Speaker array triggered by user movement, correllated to the undergoround locations of Vancouver's more than one hundred 'lost streams' locations and cardinal points in the Vancouver landscape.

TYPEFACING: IMPLODING THE STANCE:

The Conference on The Conference, Simon Fraser Unviersity, 2011

Presenter/Responder for Dylan Cree's MFA Project "The Conference on the Conference', Simon Fraser University Woodwards, School for the Contemporary Arts, Vancouver.

ISEA 2010 RUHR

16th International Syposium on Electronic Art, 2010
"The other night under water", A. Kahre/ D.Copeland
presented by Deutschlandradio Kultur, Duisburg-Ruhrort

THE SPORT OF LISTENING

Cultural Olympiad Countermeasure, Vancouver, 2010
12 Sound Walks,Vancouver, February 12-28, presented by the Xenographic Society, in collaboration with Western Front New Music, Vancouver New Music and Lulu

HEAVEN'S BREATH

Surrey Art Gallery, Surrey, BC, 2009

(Collaborator) )Wind-controlled Media Installation by Chris Welsby, Brady Marks and Scheherazade Cooper. Percussion/Composition, Surrey Art Gallery,

FISH ON AIR

Radiophonic Work and Installation, The Elements Festival, Gabriola Island BC, 2008

created with Darren Copeland, commissioned by the Elements: A Festival of Nature in Performance, Lulu Performing Arts, Gabriola Island, Permanent Installation on Gabriola Island, Fish Sound (50' Loop)

COOL CROSSING

Community Intervention, Gabriola Island BC, 2008

Created with Tom Thomas, PRODRI integrated mobility plan (BC Ferries 2020 Project)

THE RADIX REDEMPTION PROGRAMME

Virtual Performance Concept, with Paul Ternes, HIVE 2 Festival, 2008

EMBEDDING

Literary Intervention, Documenta XII, Kassel, 2007

presented in co-production with the Xenographic Society and FRONT Magazine

CAREER POINT INDEXING : POLICY MATTERS

Administrations of Art and Culture, Clive Robertson, Editor

Published by YYZBOOKS, 2006, ISBN: 0-920397-36-0. https://www.yyzbooks.com/?p=51

GABRIOLA 2020

Community Intervention, Gabriola Island, 2004

with Tom Thomas, presented as THE PACIFIC RIM OPEN DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE

EMERGENCY THEORY

Artspeak Gallery, Vancouver, 2003

Media Installation, part of Emergency Measures, with Dick Averns, and Carlos Vela-Martinez, produced by Savage Media, curated by Lorna Brown,

THE IKEA PLAYS (2002)

IKEA Richmond, 2002

"Invisible Theatre" Performance for four channel narrowcast radio and embedded performers. Created and performed as 'The Swedish with Radix Theatre, IKEA Richmond.

P : A PERFORMANCE POTLUCK

WISE Hall, Vancouver, 2000

)inspired by C.F. Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc and Soren Kierkegaard. with Talking Pictures (Ron Samworth, Peggy Lee, Dylan Vanderschyff, Bill Clark) Elizabeth Fischer, and Gabriel Alden. Presented at the WISE Hall, Vancouver.

CENTRE B

The Canadian Centre for Contemporary Bavarian and Franconian Art in Diaspora

Notional institution created in response to the controversy regarding ethnically-based art projects and issues of representation. First introduced in FRONT Magazine, 1999

ABANDONING THE WORKPLACE (1999)

Readymade drama for Office furniture and narratives of abandonment, published in FRONT Magazine, 1999

DIVA

Western Front Performance Art Program, Vancouver, 1998

Recently discovered works of Emily Brettschneider and the Piscator Brothers (cf. Definitivism) Collaboration with Carol Sawyer,Re-inventing the Diva Festival,

Western Front, Vancouver

LOWBROW (1998)

Sonic Boom Festical 1998, Western Front
suite for drone, three hi-hats, and expletives.
Audience-participatory performance

HIDDEN TREASURES

Western Front Exhibitions Program, Vancouver, 1996

site-specific installation that explored hidden aspects of the Western Front. Audio installation, bar-coded brass plaque, and evaluation stickers for staff of the organziation. Curated by Antonia Hirsch.

COLD COMFORT

Sonic Boom Festival, Vancouver Pro Musica, Western Front, Vancouver, 1995

Delegated performance for two mathematicians and conductor. Performed by Dr. Rajiv Gupta and Dr. Richard Froese, Dept. of Mathematics, University of British Columbia

V max [spectacular motoring]

@ Gallery, Vancouver, 1994

presented as part of The Spectacular State: Fascism and the modern Imagination. Produced by Basic Inquiry/SFU. Curated by Richard Pinet and Derek Simons. Intravehicular performance for tape and Mercedes Benz 600SEL exploring Vancouver's dimensions of xenophobia and public spectacle.

Below: Still image from Parachute Magazine, Guided Artist's Tours Isuue. Photo A. Kahre

PARADOGMA (Questions on Nature)

Sonic Boom Festival, Glass Slipper, Vancouver, 1994

Sonic Boom Festival,
Performance for two musicians, fox terrier and magnetic tape, with Martin Gotfrit. Glass Slipper, Vancouver

A CONCISE HISTORY OF DRUMMING

Western Front Performance, Vancouver, 1993
written, composed and designed by Andreas Kahre
directed by Andreas Kahre and Chris Gerrard-Pinker.

A coproduction between the Western Front and Rumble Productions, Vancouver East Cultural Centre, 1993. https://rumble.org/shows/the-concise-history-of-drumming/

THE MUSIC MACHINE

Science World British Columbia, Vancouver, 1988

Science World British Columbia Inaugural Exhibition
Interactive sound sculpture created with Kenneth Newby.

Spectacular Data Website https://www.spectaculardata.net/

EMBEDDING FRONT Magazine at Documenta XIII, 2007

HIDDEN TREASURES Installation, Western Front, 1996

GABRIOLA 2020 Survey and Naming Contest, Gabriola Crossing

EMERGENCY THEORY Installation View, Carall Street

GABRIOLA UNDERGROUND Notional Map and Postcard, 2016

This project is dedicated to our late friend and collaborator Derek Simons

The Xenographic Society | Gesellschaft für Xenographie

Xenogrpahic Society Legacy Website_resized.png

Founded in 1990, the Xenographic Society is a research collective with a mandate to investigate emerging modes and systems of social, scientific and poetic 'discourse' as they mediate our relationship to the natural world, to knowledge creation, and to what we conceive of as ourselves. The society presents its findings in the form of performances, audio and video installations, and documentation in print and other suitable media.

The activities of the society include works on urban and rural geography, including maps, forms and visual poetry, sound art and acoustic ecology projects, and contemporary paper theatre. Xenographic projects have been presented across Canada, in the US, Australia, and Germany and online.

The term ‘xenography’, originally born out of a misunderstanding during a conversation about ‘scenography’, has proven programmatic as it refers to the study of what is strange or unfamiliar. In its original meaning it also denotes the act of spontaneously writing in an unfamiliar language.

The society maintains offices in Vancouver and on Gabriola Island and has corresponding members in five countries around the globe. Membership is free and open to anyone with a shared interest in the goals of the society. To contact the registrar, please email xenography@telus.net.

CHANDELIER 2.0 : BC FERRIES PUBLIC ART

Public Art Proposal for the Gabriola Island BC Ferries Terminal Redevelopment (2020)

THE VAGADUCT

Alternative Proposal for the New Location of the Vancouver Art Gallery, 2019

The relocation of the VAG (Vancouver Art Gallery) is linked to the demolition of the Georgia Street Viaduct, a mjor arterial that links East Vancouver with the downtown core. While vehicle traffic has been problematic for the Strathcona neighbourhood, the link is vital for bicyclists, and the closing of the viaduct at the same time as blocking off Gastown will mean a substantial increase in the volume of traffic on Hastings street, and the most vulnerable population of the Downtown Eastside. The Vagaduct could be the answer...

Neuer Euro Collection smaller_edited.jpg

NEWRO Proposal for a Memorial Redesign of EU Legal Tender

VAGDUCT Notional Advertising for Art Gallery Concept, 2019

Paper Theatre

BEING AND TIME, ABRIDGED

Paper Theatre Readymade, 24. Internationales Papertheaterfestival Preetz, Germany, 2011

EAR | NOSE | THROAT

Performance for Digital Paper Theatre, Gamelan and Video, commissioned by Vancouver Community Gamelan. with support from the Canada Council for the Arts Interdisciplinary section. Premiere: June 4th, 2009, Roundhouse Performance Centre, Vancouver, Presented by the Xenographic Society at the 21st International Paper Theatre Festival, Preetz, Germany, with David Garfinkle and Gerlinde Holland, 2009

THE LINEAR ANIMAL

Text, Sound, Media and Paper Theatre
Written and performed by Andreas Kahre
performed with Kenneth Newby and Aleksandra Dulic
David Garfinkle and Ashlan Phoenix Gray and Stefan Smulovitz. Premiere: April 19, 2007, Phoenix Auditorium, The Haven, presented by Lulu Performing Arts, Gabriola, and at The Western Front, Vancouver, 2007

THE REAR VIEW MIRROR PLAYS

Four Definitivist Paper Theatre Plays
Performed as part of Half A Tank, Radix Theatre, Vancouver and Freefall Festival of Performance Art, Toronto, 2003

1. Half a Tank
2. The Nucleon Coverup
3. The Man who Never left his Car
4. On the Road

X,Y: THE SOLDIER'S TALE

by Igor Stravinsky, & C.F. Ramuz
newly invented for paper theatre and musique actuelle ensemble, with Talking Pictures: Ron Samworth, Peggy Lee, Bill Clark, Dylan Vanderschyff. performed by David Garfinkle, Hiro Kanagawa and Lesley Ewan, created with Adrienne Wong and Francesca Albertazzi, Western Front, Vancouver, 2001

WOYZECK (basic)

Havana Performance Space, 1997
in "Cheap Illusion", Vancouver Pro Musica
Newly translated and adaptated for Paper Theatre and micro-orchestra

Below: Still from Woyzeck, 1997