Collective Profile

The Human Faux Pas Collective exists to research and create experimental performance works, forms, and concepts. Our goal is to create original performances that challenge the public to question their perception of everyday life and their "role" in it.

The Human Faux Pas currently serves the lower mainland area of British Columbia. Through promotion and by using a broad range of performance spaces, the Human Faux Pas has succeeded in serving a wider community, not just the arts community.

Adad Hannah is the collective’s creative director/administrator and shares creation credit evenly with the other members of the collective. Clay Hastings, Dione Russell, David T. Cheong, and Mark Neufeld are the other members of the collective and each take an active role in the creation and production of Human Faux Pas performances. Adad Hannah, Clay Hastings and Dione Russell make up the administrative body that handles all the distribution, sales, and promotional duties of the Collective. The Collective maintains a small office space in Vancouver and rents studio space as needed. In addition, the Collective maintains a website (www.humanfauxpas.com) which is used for outreach and promotional purposes.

In 1986 Adad Hannah and Tres Cool created The Human Faux Pas and began the first performances when they were both 15 years old. In 1994 with the assistance of a Canada Council grant Adad Hannah and Clay Hastings revived The Human Faux Pas with a year of research and development that resulted in the first large scale Human Faux Pas performance. Since then, the group has grown into a collective, gaining members as the projects become more ambitious. The Human Faux Pas has created performances for Illuminares (1997), Burning Point (1998), Live at the End of the Century (1999), Grunt Gallery (2000), Western Front (2001), and Open Space (2001).

The collective’s role in the arts community has been to encourage and provide opportunities for artists considering performance art. The Collective works collaboratively, allowing input from, and performance by, members of the arts community and the general public. We hope the Human Faux Pas collective is a good role model as a young arts group that produces cutting edge work while introducing more people to performance art.