undo
(1997 – present)
Christof Migone &
Alexandre St-Onge
undo is a duo which, since its inception in 1997, explores the barely perceptible, the unacceptable, the forgettable. in 2022, for its final act of deception, undo decided to undo itself.
undo. delete. efface. do not.
undo est un duo qui, depuis sa création en 1997, explore l’imperceptible, l’inacceptable, l’oubliable. en 2022, pour son dernier actede déception, undo a décidé de se défaire.
ne faire. supprimer. effacer. ne pas.
2023
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Publication, CD+booklet, With You Out Me, squint press, (more details soon).
2022
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Publication, CD, undoundone, Ambiances Magnétiques, (more details soon).
2021
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Presentation as part of the online 12-hour -And- event on December 12 of four never before seen video documents of performative gestures by undo centered on orality in its blunt physiology, contingent spatiality, tense viscosity, and emergent animality. Performed twenty years ago, digitized and edited in the summer of 2021: seize me by the horns (2000) 10:57, Disclosure (2001) 14:04, Vito Acconci’s undoing (2001) 11:00, l’étranglement (2000) 23:57.
Disclosure with Alexandre St-Onge as undo, 2001-2021.
2013
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Performance, untitled, at the Music Gallery, part of Burn Down the Capital, curated by Tad Michalak, Toronto, Saturday June 8.
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Presentation, “Turn, turn, turn: undo’s dizzy tactics in des tournages“, at the Tuning Speculation: Experimental Aesthetics and the Sonic Imaginary conference, November 1-2, Arraymusic, Toronto.
2008
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Publication, CD, des tournages. Release of audio component of 2002 performance (see below).
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des tournages (18:23)
2003
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Publication, Book+CD, disclosure, performance documentation (audio, images, text) for Surface Tension, Errant Bodies Press.
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Disclosure (5:57)
2002
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Performance, des tournages, at l’Oeil de Poisson, Québec, Fall 2002. Released as a CD in 2008 (see above).
2001
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Publication, CD, Waterways: Four Saliva Studies, includes the soundtrack to Vito Acconci’s video ,Vito Acconci’s undoing, squint fucker press, Montréal, squint 00A.
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Vito Acconci’s undoing (21:51)
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Performance, disclosure, for FADO, Toronto. Published in Surface Tension, book + compilation CD, Errant Bodies Press, Los Angeles 2003.
2000
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Publication, CD, un sperme qui meurt de froid en agitant faiblement sa petite queue dans les draps d’un gamin, squint fucker press, Montréal, squint 00A.
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narrow the field of research (1:44)
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born of a wet dream and dead before morning (6:34)
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weary of pleading an incomprehensible cause (7:19)
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pas dans un ventre non plus (3:24)
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avec un écoulement de menaces et promesses (12:02)
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it would smack of bodysnatching (3:34)
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quelques débris d’entendemen au milieu (4:48)
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seize me by the horns (13:14)
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Performance, étranglement, with Eric Letourneau at Casa Del Popolo, Montréal.
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Performance, untitled, at Experimental Intermedia, New York (curator Phil Niblock).
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Performance, seize me by the horns, at the No Music Festival, London, Ontario. Excerpt of the performance plus artist statements published in the 6xCD Box set documenting the festival.
Christof Migone: There is something about small conservative cities that engenders a kind of resistance to the kind of provincialism one would assume would stem from it. In London the resistance was and remains straightforward, capitalized, shouted a vociferous “NO!” undo is less emphatic, in fact, it’s resolutely lowercase, nevertheless it shares the same resistant strain. We are both resisting arrest, both heeding Beckett’s warning “The thing to avoid, I don’t know why, is the spirit of system.” undo is stuck in the ‘I don’t know why’, on stage we stuffed canned snails into our mouths, we mined our bucal cavities for fluid sonorities, we deranged our electronics. London did not know what to do with us, we don’t know what to do with ourselves. It was a success.
Alexandre St-Onge, writing and quoting a writer’s paper about another writer in a book he bought during the festival: Two mouths open toward the wide-open nothing were saying “no” in its affirmative movement of excess. Stuffed by dead snails, these two mouths were not even able to speak, saying “no” by being unable to say a word—a silent speech present through its absence. Through the week, different extreme gestures were implicitly saying destroy –softly, tenderly, absolutely. A word— an infinitive marked by the infinite—without a subject; a work – destruction – which is accomplished by the work itself.
1999
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Performance, untitled, with Sam Shalabi, at a room under the stairs, Montréal.
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Performance, untitled, with Michel F. Côté, at the Salle Multi, Méduse, Québec.
1998
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Performance, untitled, at Musiques Fragiles, Constellation Room, Montréal.
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Performance, untitled, at Le Navire Night, Radio Canada, Montréal.
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Performance, untitled, at Théâtre La Chapelle, Montréal.
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Performance, untitled, at Hotel2Tango, Montréal.