Alexandra Bischoff (b. 1991, Edmonton) is a Canadian performance artist and writer who currently lives and works on unceded Coast Salish territories in Vancouver, BC. She holds a BFA in Visual Art from Emily Carr University of Art + Design where she was named the valedictorian of her 2015 undergraduate class.
Bischoff’s practice responds to obscure intimacies (architectural idiosyncrasies, organic anomalies, relationships with strangers and the like), often focusing through the amorphous lens of femme sexuality. While she works in many mediums, she considers all of her work to be performative in nature. Bischoff’s performance practice turns every-day, passive actions into awkward yet sensual interactions. She implements humour and absurdity in order to discuss challenging issues.
Bischoff’s practice responds to obscure intimacies (architectural idiosyncrasies, organic anomalies, relationships with strangers and the like), often focusing through the amorphous lens of femme sexuality. While she works in many mediums, she considers all of her work to be performative in nature. Bischoff’s performance practice turns every-day, passive actions into awkward yet sensual interactions. She implements humour and absurdity in order to discuss challenging issues.
ALEXANDRA BISCHOFF
Vancouver, British Columbia
alexandrabischoff@live.ca
Vancouver, British Columbia
alexandrabischoff@live.ca
EDUCATION
2015-12 - Emily Carr University of Art + Design (Vancouver, B.C.) BFA, Undergraduate Class Valedictorian.
2012-10 - MacEwan University (Edmonton, AB) Fine Art Diploma with Distinction.
SELECT EXHIBITIONS
2018 - IKG Live 2, 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, Decoy Magazine (Vancouver, B.C.)
2017 - Hibernaculum, 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 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, Illingworth Kerr Gallery (Calgary, AB)
2016 - IRL:URL, James Black Gallery (Vancouver, B.C.)
2016 - Small Works, 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, 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.)
2014 - A Wake, the Fringe Festival (Edmonton, AB)
2012 - Wayward to Arcadia: Fine Art Grad Show, MacEwan University (Edmonton, AB)
WEB BASED PROJECTS
Ongoing - Both/And archival research blog, a part of "Beginning with the Seventies," Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery (Vancouver, B.C.)
RESIDENCIES
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
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)
SELECTED PUBLICATION
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.
2015-12 - Emily Carr University of Art + Design (Vancouver, B.C.) BFA, Undergraduate Class Valedictorian.
2012-10 - MacEwan University (Edmonton, AB) Fine Art Diploma with Distinction.
SELECT EXHIBITIONS
2018 - IKG Live 2, 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, Decoy Magazine (Vancouver, B.C.)
2017 - Hibernaculum, 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 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, Illingworth Kerr Gallery (Calgary, AB)
2016 - IRL:URL, James Black Gallery (Vancouver, B.C.)
2016 - Small Works, 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, 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.)
2014 - A Wake, the Fringe Festival (Edmonton, AB)
2012 - Wayward to Arcadia: Fine Art Grad Show, MacEwan University (Edmonton, AB)
WEB BASED PROJECTS
Ongoing - Both/And archival research blog, a part of "Beginning with the Seventies," Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery (Vancouver, B.C.)
RESIDENCIES
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
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)
SELECTED PUBLICATION
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.