A two-channel film and exhibition made in collaboration with Alvin Luong
1345 Morningside Avenue, a Scarborough strip mall, has been listed for sale. Two parties are bidding for the property, eager to transform the existing units into a single large-scale business. The bidders are Luong Coyota & Lynxus, a booming car dealership established by business mogul Alvin Luong, and Dizdar Projects, a commercial gallery founded by Canadian gallerist, art dealer, and magnate Ivana Dizdar.
Bidding War follows the rivalry between Luong and Dizdar, detailing the bidding process as well as their corporate ambitions, professional fields, and personal lives. The film also features the individuals’ assistants, Luong’s secretary and Dizdar’s unpaid intern, who have their own stakes, plans, and motivations within the bidding war.
Drawing from disparate styles and genres, such as corporate videos, camp, documentary, and science fiction, the artists have taken real estate, gentrification, and spatial politics in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) as points of departure in creating a humorous meditation on cars, art, institutions, branding, consumerism, capitalism, and labour.
Original music by Samuel Bayefsky
Exhibition text by Marina Fathalla