Jess Dobkin at Ontario College of Art & Design, July 13. Rating: NNNN The Gyrl Grip (Lisa Newman & Llewyn Máire) at Offthemap Gallery, July 15. Irene Loughlin at Ontario College of Art & Design Professional Gallery (100 McCaul), tonight (Thursday, July 20), 6-9 pm. Tejpal S. Ajji at Regent Park (232 Parliament), Sunday (July 23), 6-9 pm. 416-822-3219. www.performanceart.ca.

Would you drink breast milk? I did at the Lactation Station Milk Bar at OCAD 's new Professional Gallery .

The gallery was transformed into a bar with a menu of six different women's breast milk. I sampled two kinds: one was sweet and mild like soy milk and the other tasted like medicine. By directly addressing the discomfort of tasting breast milk, Jess Dobkin challenges our relationship to and judgment of women's bodies.

This performance was one of four presented by Fado dedicated to the sense of taste. Unafraid to ruffle feathers, Fado has been creating cutting-edge performance art since 1993. Curated by Paul Couillard , Matter Of Taste, the current instalment in the Five Holes series, explores the sense of flavour and texture in one-night-only live performances.

In Kobe, an alluring performance by Lisa Newman and Llewyn Máire of the Gyrl Grip, Newman's body was "prepared" like expensive and decadent Kobe beef. For this Japanese delicacy, cows are massaged with sake, fed beer and confined to minimal stress activities.

The two upcoming performances are Irene Loughlin 's Liquid Skyline, which uses the cult classic Liquid Sky to shed light on the pressures of contemporary urban existence, and Tejpal S. Ajji 's The Oral Project, in which miniature apartment buildings made from rectangle-shaped breath strips will be placed in the mouths of willing Regent Park residents. As the sculptured models melt, real demolition crews in the background work to flatten the apartment complex.

Whether you love or hate performance art, this series is guaranteed to be an eye-opener.  
art@nowtoronto.com

NOW | JULY 20 - 26, 2006 | VOL. 25 NO. 47