Based in Montréal, CANADA, 2boys.tv is comprised of the multidisciplinary duo Stephen Lawson and Aaron Pollard (also notoriously known in some circles as alter egos Gigi l’Amour and Pipi Douleur!). Together they have created and toured, nationally and internationally, a wide repertoire of epic multimedia cabaret works, performances, videos and art installations. 2007 was the busiest year yet for 2boys.tv, premiering an elaborate installation work for la Biennale de Montréal, touring ZONA (across Canada and to Argentina), creating a performance intervention for the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art in Toronto, and appearing as featured performers for the season opener ART HOUSE CABARET at the Buddies in Bad Times Theatre (2008 DORA Award for Best New Musical). This past February, the duo premiered a new performance piece, PHOBOPHILIA, (first public showing at the Montréal interdisciplinary centre Studio 303), an intimate, multimedia work which they have now begun to tour. 2008/09 activities for 2boys.tv include a large scale performance intervention for the Scotiabank Nuit Blanche Festival in Toronto, a collaboration with the Festival Voix dʼAmériques in Montréal, new installation work with Studio 303, as well as tours within Canada, the U.S.A., the U.K. and South America.
Since 1988, Stephen has been considered an artistic chameleon, repeatedly traversing the discipline defined boundaries of theatre, music, television/radio, print and video. Upon graduating from the acting program of the National Theatre School of Canada he became a co-founder of the Winnipeg-based performance troupe PRIMUS (1989-1998) which created/toured numerous original productions, taught workshops and carried out artistic exchanges (professional and community based) internationally. For several years Stephen coordinated and participated in an annual environmental theatre production in the small agricultural village of Nocelle, Italy, that celebrated and archived the community’s unique stories and traditions. His work as a director has been primarily focused on large-scale contemporary music pieces (choral and orchestral) including having directed the premiere of an outdoor opera by Canadian composer R. Murray Shaffer. He has produced several video art collaborations that have been screened internationally and his work with performance artist Lorri Millan is in the permanent collection of the National Art Gallery of Canada. Stephen has developed cultural commentary work for print (magazine and newspaper), radio (documentary formats), and television (twice having filed international reports for the CBC on Canada’s participation at the Venice Biennale.) He has held various positions in the television industry including having co-developed an original series (Magnificent Obsessions) as well as having worked on many radio dramas for CBC radio as an actor, writer, and director. Stephen moved to Montreal in 2001 and since 2002 he has been collaborating with multidisciplinary artist Aaron Pollard (2boys.tv) creating and touring transmedia performances, installations and videos throughout Canada, the U.S., South America and Europe.
A Montreal-based performance and video artist, Aaron has created and presented video and multimedia performance works to Canadian and International audiences since the early 1990s. He maintains a wide-ranging, cross-disciplinary practice including writing, performing, programming, video production and web casting. Aaron’s preoccupations include narrative form, time-based art, story-telling, fluctuating identities, and the discursive power of landscape. He is a graduate of the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design (Media Division) and he obtained an MFA in Studio Arts (Open Media) from Concordia University. Along with his own creative projects, Aaron is active in a variety of community initiatives: notably in the advancement of professional development workshops for artists and as a member of the board for the national service organization, CQAM (Conseil Québecois des Arts Médiatiques) from 2004-2006 and the RAIQ (Regroupement des Arts Interdisciplinaires du Québec) beginning in 2007. Throughout the years, Aaron has assisted colleagues in their migration toward video and in the incorporation of electronic media into their creative pursuits, including artists such as Cheryl Simon, Tammy Forsythe, Laurel Woodcock, Shari Hatt, Pascal Dufaux and Diane Landry. In recent years he has designed and created video projection components for stage productions by Linda Bouchard, Keith Turnbull, Esmeralda Enrique, The Scandelles and Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. Since 2001, Aaron has collaborated with Montreal artist, Stephen Lawson on multi-media cabaret performances and video art works that have toured nationally and abroad. Currently Aaron works as the Technical Director for OBORO, New Media Lab and Exhibition Centre in Montréal.