My name is Alexandra Bischoff (she/her), and I am an Amiskwacîwâskahikan/Edmonton born performance artist and writer of settler descent. I hold a diploma from MacEwan University and BFA in Visual Arts Studio from Emily Carr University of Art + Design. This past October, I graduated with an MFA from Concordia University in the department of Intermedia. I currently live on the stolen territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlil̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations, otherwise known as Vancouver.
My art practice is based in durational performance and installation. The nature of labour, precarious living, and underrepresented archives are some of my primary concerns. I respond to subtle intimacies: architectural idiosyncrasies, pornographic slippages, relationships with strangers, and the like. Often, my gestures focus through the amorphous lens of women’s work; I always aim to sensitively exercise the point at which leisure becomes labour and the sensual becomes unsettling.
My art practice is based in durational performance and installation. The nature of labour, precarious living, and underrepresented archives are some of my primary concerns. I respond to subtle intimacies: architectural idiosyncrasies, pornographic slippages, relationships with strangers, and the like. Often, my gestures focus through the amorphous lens of women’s work; I always aim to sensitively exercise the point at which leisure becomes labour and the sensual becomes unsettling.
ALEXANDRA BISCHOFF
Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm territory // so-called Vancouver
alexandrabischoff@live.ca
Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm territory // so-called Vancouver
alexandrabischoff@live.ca
EDUCATION
2018-21 - Concordia University (Montreal, QC) MFA: Intermedia (Video, Performance and Electronic Art) with Great Distinction
2015-12 - Emily Carr University of Art + Design (Vancouver, B.C.) BFA: Visual Arts Studio, Undergraduate Class Valedictorian
2012-10 - MacEwan University (Edmonton, AB) Fine Art Diploma with Distinction
SELECT EXHIBITIONS & PERFORMANCES
2022 - Graduating Students' Exhibition, VAV Gallery (Montreal, QC)
2022 - The Uninvited Project, web (Vancouver, BC)
2021 - Attempts at Preservation, MFA Gallery (Montreal, QC)
2021 - It’s been a while, FOFA Gallery (Montreal, QC)
2020 - Rereading in the Library, Concordia University Library (Edmonton, AB)
2020 - Open Studio, Banff Centre Studios (Banff, AB)
2019 - Peripheral Hours III: Site of the Not Yet (performance with Ayam Yaldo), Peripheral Hours (Montreal, QC)
2019 - PAB OPEN (performance), Performance Art Bergen at the Grand Terminus Hotel (Bergen, NO)
2019 - RIPA 8 (performance), Darling Foundry (Montreal, QC)
2019 - Maureen IV, Yves Laroche Gallery (Montreal, QC)
2019 - Fieldwork 2 (performance), EV Junction, Concordia University (Montreal, QC)
2019 - Fieldwork 1 (performance), Dean's Boardroom, Concordia University (Montreal, QC)
2018 - Peripheral Hours I (performance), Peripheral Hours (Montreal, QC)
2018 - Château à vendre: L'exposition, Castello Montestrutto Fondazione Scalero (Piemonte, IT)
2018 - eggshells, eggshells and Peep Show Pop-Up (performances), Unit 17 (Vancouver, B.C.)
2018 - Under One Roof, Can't Complain Gallery (Mississauga, ON)
2018 - IKG Live 2 (performance), Illingsworth Kerr Gallery (Calgary, AB)
2018 - Beginning with the Seventies: GLUT, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery (Vancouver, B.C.)
2017 - SOOT, Unit 17 (Vancouver, B.C.)
2017 - Happenstance: Senses (performance), Decoy Magazine (Vancouver, B.C.)
2017 - Hibernaculum (performance), The Works at McCauley (Edmonton, AB)
2016 - Rereading Room: The Vancouver Women's Bookstore, 221A (Vancouver, B.C.)
2016 - With Subversive Intent, part of the UofA Activist Primer Series, the Ice Box (Edmonton, AB)
2016 - SAD Spells (performance) at the VABF, Vancouver Art Gallery Art Rental & Sales Room (Vancouver, B.C.)
2016 - Lifetime Piling Up, Petite Nuit Blanche (Edmonton, AB)
2016 - Naked State at Bare Oaks, Bare Oaks Naturist Park (Newmarket, ON)
2016 - For the Good Times (performance), Cambie and Cordova Studios (Vancouver, B.C.)
2016 - IKG Live 1 (performance), Illingworth Kerr Gallery (Calgary, AB)
2016 - IRL:URL (performance), James Black Gallery (Vancouver, B.C.)
2016 - Small Works (performance), Robert Lynds Gallery (Vancouver, B.C.)
2015 - Close Reading reading and book launch, Burrard Arts Foundation [curated] (Vancouver, B.C.)
2015 - Frontlines: First Again! Competition, Robert Lynds Gallery (Vancouver, B.C.)
2015 - Transmutation, The Works International Art & Design Festival: 30th Anniversary (Edmonton, AB)
2015 - Transmutation, The Works at McCauley (Edmonton, AB)
2015 - Over Under Over Under: A Show About Pattern (performance), Redgate Art Society (Vancouver, B.C.)
2015 - The Show: Emily Carr Graduate Exhibition, ECUAD (Vancouver, B.C.)
2014 - Abstraction, the GRAY Gallery (Edmonton, AB)
2014 - postures for lessness, the Amazing Gallery (Vancouver, B.C.)
2014 - Art/Fetish, the Amazing Gallery (Vancouver, B.C.)
WEB BASED PROJECTS
2016-17 - Both/And archival research blog (with Anna Tidlund), Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery (Vancouver, B.C.)
RESIDENCIES
2020 - Winter BAiR - Emerging, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (Banff, AB)
2019 - Fieldwork, Concordia University (Montreal, QC)
2017 - ALIVE Biennale Performance Workshops Mentee (Vancouver, B.C.)
2016 - Naked State at Bare Oaks, produced by Arts Unfold (Toronto, ON)
2016 - N.O.P.E. research group, 221A Artist Run Centre (Vancouver, B.C.)
2016 - Historic Joy Kogawa House Writing Residency (Vancouver, B.C.)
2015 - Writing residency, Burrard Arts Foundation (Vancouver, B.C.)
2013 - Self-directed residency at retail sex-shop, The Fantasy Factory (Vancouver, B.C.)
AWARDS
2020 - BC Arts Council Scholarship (Montreal, QC)
2020 - SSHRC Storytellers Competition (Montreal, QC)
2020 - Research, creation & exploration grant, Le Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (Montreal, QC)
2019 - Arts Abroad — Travel grant, The Canada Council for the Arts (Montreal, QC to Bergen, NOR)
2019 - Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship, SSHRC (Montreal, QC)
2019 - Out of Province Fee Remission, Concordia University (Montreal, QC)
2018 - RBC Artist Development Grant, IKG LIVE 2 performance award (Calgary, AB)
2016 - Frontlines: First Again! Competition 1st Prize, Robert Lynds Gallery (Vancouver, B.C.)
2015 - ECUAD Undergraduate Class Valedictorian (Vancouver, B.C.)
2014 - Presidents Media Arts Award Honorable Mention (Vancouver, B.C.)
2013 - Takao Tanabe Scholarship (Vancouver, B.C.)
2013 - Walter Jaager Excellence in Painting Scholarship (Vancouver, B.C.)
2012 - Jason Lang Scholarship (Edmonton, AB)
2012 - The Loyal Order of the Crocodile Scholarship (Edmonton, AB)
NOMINATIONS
2012 - BMO 1st Art! Invitational Student Art Competition (Edmonton, AB)
COLLECTIONS
Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery
SELECTED PRESS
2018 - Ling, Steffanie. “10 Artists Who Work with Text.” Canadian Art, 19 Mar. 2018
2018 - Griffin, Kevin. “Put It in Words: How Writing and Reading by Women Influenced Art in the '70s.” Vancouver Sun, 13 Jan. 2018.
2018 - Gerges, Merray. “Second Take ‘Beginning With the Seventies: GLUT.’” Canadian Art, 2018, pp. 31.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2021 - Bischoff, Alexandra. “Shearer's Spectral Sleepers.” ReIssue. ed. Casey Wei. Web.
2020 - Bischoff, Alexandra. “saccharine & acerbic (excerpt from an artist book).” low theory 2. ed. Kate Wong. Web.
2019 - Bischoff, Alexandra. “Bridget Moser: Prop Comedy and Consumer Anxiety.” FEMME Art Review. ed. Adi Berardini. Web.
2018 - Bischoff, Alexandra. “Long CV.” Crying||Laughing (2018): 86-93. Montreal: benni macdonald. Print.
2017 - Bischoff, Alexandra. “Usually only temporarily.” LAUGH Magazine 3. (2017): 30-31. Print.
2016 - Bischoff, Alexandra. “Tongue in Shape.” Catalogue essay for Sarah Davidson. Scrap Collector at Gam Gallery. 2016. Print.
2015 - Bischoff, Alexandra. I SEE THINGS IN YOU (36 Vancouver Galleries). Print.
2015 - Bischoff, Alexandra and Katherine Neil. "Painting (And) Things." ISSUE 3.4 (2015): 35-39. Print.
2015 - Bischoff, Alexandra. “To my Loving Mother.” Transmutation Anthology. (2015): 10-16. Print.
2014 - Bischoff, Alexandra. A Casual Gesture. Vancouver: Mina Totino, 2014. 4-10. Print.
2014 - Bischoff, Alexandra, and Katherine Neil. "GAM VS. VIVO." ISSUE 3.3 (2014): 8-10. Print.
2014 - Bischoff, Alexandra. GAGS. 2013-14. Theory Boner. Nov. 2014. Print.
2014 - Bischoff, Alexandra. "The Big Toe." Rennie Collection at Wing Sang. Rennie Collection, 17 Mar. 2014. Web.
2014 - Bischoff, Alexandra. "The Taboo of Touch." WOO Apr. (2014): 47-52. Print.
2014 - Bischoff, Alexandra. "The Taboo of Touch." AFFECTUS 1.1 (2014): 81-87. Print.
2018-21 - Concordia University (Montreal, QC) MFA: Intermedia (Video, Performance and Electronic Art) with Great Distinction
2015-12 - Emily Carr University of Art + Design (Vancouver, B.C.) BFA: Visual Arts Studio, Undergraduate Class Valedictorian
2012-10 - MacEwan University (Edmonton, AB) Fine Art Diploma with Distinction
SELECT EXHIBITIONS & PERFORMANCES
2022 - Graduating Students' Exhibition, VAV Gallery (Montreal, QC)
2022 - The Uninvited Project, web (Vancouver, BC)
2021 - Attempts at Preservation, MFA Gallery (Montreal, QC)
2021 - It’s been a while, FOFA Gallery (Montreal, QC)
2020 - Rereading in the Library, Concordia University Library (Edmonton, AB)
2020 - Open Studio, Banff Centre Studios (Banff, AB)
2019 - Peripheral Hours III: Site of the Not Yet (performance with Ayam Yaldo), Peripheral Hours (Montreal, QC)
2019 - PAB OPEN (performance), Performance Art Bergen at the Grand Terminus Hotel (Bergen, NO)
2019 - RIPA 8 (performance), Darling Foundry (Montreal, QC)
2019 - Maureen IV, Yves Laroche Gallery (Montreal, QC)
2019 - Fieldwork 2 (performance), EV Junction, Concordia University (Montreal, QC)
2019 - Fieldwork 1 (performance), Dean's Boardroom, Concordia University (Montreal, QC)
2018 - Peripheral Hours I (performance), Peripheral Hours (Montreal, QC)
2018 - Château à vendre: L'exposition, Castello Montestrutto Fondazione Scalero (Piemonte, IT)
2018 - eggshells, eggshells and Peep Show Pop-Up (performances), Unit 17 (Vancouver, B.C.)
2018 - Under One Roof, Can't Complain Gallery (Mississauga, ON)
2018 - IKG Live 2 (performance), Illingsworth Kerr Gallery (Calgary, AB)
2018 - Beginning with the Seventies: GLUT, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery (Vancouver, B.C.)
2017 - SOOT, Unit 17 (Vancouver, B.C.)
2017 - Happenstance: Senses (performance), Decoy Magazine (Vancouver, B.C.)
2017 - Hibernaculum (performance), The Works at McCauley (Edmonton, AB)
2016 - Rereading Room: The Vancouver Women's Bookstore, 221A (Vancouver, B.C.)
2016 - With Subversive Intent, part of the UofA Activist Primer Series, the Ice Box (Edmonton, AB)
2016 - SAD Spells (performance) at the VABF, Vancouver Art Gallery Art Rental & Sales Room (Vancouver, B.C.)
2016 - Lifetime Piling Up, Petite Nuit Blanche (Edmonton, AB)
2016 - Naked State at Bare Oaks, Bare Oaks Naturist Park (Newmarket, ON)
2016 - For the Good Times (performance), Cambie and Cordova Studios (Vancouver, B.C.)
2016 - IKG Live 1 (performance), Illingworth Kerr Gallery (Calgary, AB)
2016 - IRL:URL (performance), James Black Gallery (Vancouver, B.C.)
2016 - Small Works (performance), Robert Lynds Gallery (Vancouver, B.C.)
2015 - Close Reading reading and book launch, Burrard Arts Foundation [curated] (Vancouver, B.C.)
2015 - Frontlines: First Again! Competition, Robert Lynds Gallery (Vancouver, B.C.)
2015 - Transmutation, The Works International Art & Design Festival: 30th Anniversary (Edmonton, AB)
2015 - Transmutation, The Works at McCauley (Edmonton, AB)
2015 - Over Under Over Under: A Show About Pattern (performance), Redgate Art Society (Vancouver, B.C.)
2015 - The Show: Emily Carr Graduate Exhibition, ECUAD (Vancouver, B.C.)
2014 - Abstraction, the GRAY Gallery (Edmonton, AB)
2014 - postures for lessness, the Amazing Gallery (Vancouver, B.C.)
2014 - Art/Fetish, the Amazing Gallery (Vancouver, B.C.)
WEB BASED PROJECTS
2016-17 - Both/And archival research blog (with Anna Tidlund), Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery (Vancouver, B.C.)
RESIDENCIES
2020 - Winter BAiR - Emerging, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (Banff, AB)
2019 - Fieldwork, Concordia University (Montreal, QC)
2017 - ALIVE Biennale Performance Workshops Mentee (Vancouver, B.C.)
2016 - Naked State at Bare Oaks, produced by Arts Unfold (Toronto, ON)
2016 - N.O.P.E. research group, 221A Artist Run Centre (Vancouver, B.C.)
2016 - Historic Joy Kogawa House Writing Residency (Vancouver, B.C.)
2015 - Writing residency, Burrard Arts Foundation (Vancouver, B.C.)
2013 - Self-directed residency at retail sex-shop, The Fantasy Factory (Vancouver, B.C.)
AWARDS
2020 - BC Arts Council Scholarship (Montreal, QC)
2020 - SSHRC Storytellers Competition (Montreal, QC)
2020 - Research, creation & exploration grant, Le Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (Montreal, QC)
2019 - Arts Abroad — Travel grant, The Canada Council for the Arts (Montreal, QC to Bergen, NOR)
2019 - Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship, SSHRC (Montreal, QC)
2019 - Out of Province Fee Remission, Concordia University (Montreal, QC)
2018 - RBC Artist Development Grant, IKG LIVE 2 performance award (Calgary, AB)
2016 - Frontlines: First Again! Competition 1st Prize, Robert Lynds Gallery (Vancouver, B.C.)
2015 - ECUAD Undergraduate Class Valedictorian (Vancouver, B.C.)
2014 - Presidents Media Arts Award Honorable Mention (Vancouver, B.C.)
2013 - Takao Tanabe Scholarship (Vancouver, B.C.)
2013 - Walter Jaager Excellence in Painting Scholarship (Vancouver, B.C.)
2012 - Jason Lang Scholarship (Edmonton, AB)
2012 - The Loyal Order of the Crocodile Scholarship (Edmonton, AB)
NOMINATIONS
2012 - BMO 1st Art! Invitational Student Art Competition (Edmonton, AB)
COLLECTIONS
Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery
SELECTED PRESS
2018 - Ling, Steffanie. “10 Artists Who Work with Text.” Canadian Art, 19 Mar. 2018
2018 - Griffin, Kevin. “Put It in Words: How Writing and Reading by Women Influenced Art in the '70s.” Vancouver Sun, 13 Jan. 2018.
2018 - Gerges, Merray. “Second Take ‘Beginning With the Seventies: GLUT.’” Canadian Art, 2018, pp. 31.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2021 - Bischoff, Alexandra. “Shearer's Spectral Sleepers.” ReIssue. ed. Casey Wei. Web.
2020 - Bischoff, Alexandra. “saccharine & acerbic (excerpt from an artist book).” low theory 2. ed. Kate Wong. Web.
2019 - Bischoff, Alexandra. “Bridget Moser: Prop Comedy and Consumer Anxiety.” FEMME Art Review. ed. Adi Berardini. Web.
2018 - Bischoff, Alexandra. “Long CV.” Crying||Laughing (2018): 86-93. Montreal: benni macdonald. Print.
2017 - Bischoff, Alexandra. “Usually only temporarily.” LAUGH Magazine 3. (2017): 30-31. Print.
2016 - Bischoff, Alexandra. “Tongue in Shape.” Catalogue essay for Sarah Davidson. Scrap Collector at Gam Gallery. 2016. Print.
2015 - Bischoff, Alexandra. I SEE THINGS IN YOU (36 Vancouver Galleries). Print.
2015 - Bischoff, Alexandra and Katherine Neil. "Painting (And) Things." ISSUE 3.4 (2015): 35-39. Print.
2015 - Bischoff, Alexandra. “To my Loving Mother.” Transmutation Anthology. (2015): 10-16. Print.
2014 - Bischoff, Alexandra. A Casual Gesture. Vancouver: Mina Totino, 2014. 4-10. Print.
2014 - Bischoff, Alexandra, and Katherine Neil. "GAM VS. VIVO." ISSUE 3.3 (2014): 8-10. Print.
2014 - Bischoff, Alexandra. GAGS. 2013-14. Theory Boner. Nov. 2014. Print.
2014 - Bischoff, Alexandra. "The Big Toe." Rennie Collection at Wing Sang. Rennie Collection, 17 Mar. 2014. Web.
2014 - Bischoff, Alexandra. "The Taboo of Touch." WOO Apr. (2014): 47-52. Print.
2014 - Bischoff, Alexandra. "The Taboo of Touch." AFFECTUS 1.1 (2014): 81-87. Print.