BECALLING ALL ANGELS: THE BIG SLEEP
AUGUST 19, 2014
In loving memory of the late and great Lauren Bacall, Videofag will be screening the 1946 noir classic The Big Sleep.
The Big Sleep stars Humphrey Bogart as detective Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall as Vivian Rutledge in a story about the "process of a criminal investigation, not its results".
POEMS TO BE PERFORMED BY KEVIN MCPHERSON ECKHOFF (WITH OR WITHOUT A GREEN ELFIN MASK)
AUGUST 21, 2014
Gallery doors open to your windows at 7:45 pm.
Ritual begins at 8:30 pm.
Many years ago, briefly very & in total secrecy, the uh-huh personality of poet kevin mcpherson eckhoff was hacked by rival poet Moez Surani who wrote six impassible impossibility rituals for the former to embody. This script, as published in Vallum Poetry and recently selected for inclusion in the Best Canadian Poetry 2014 Anthology, will be enacted by kevin mcpherson eckhoff in this one-time performancy.
Cash bar. Seating unlimited to a max of 50.
This event is PWYF (Pay What You Feel!).
Personnel: kevin mcpherson eckhoff, Montgomery Martin, Michael Reinhart, Moez Surani, Late-summer Rain.
In association with elephants collective and with sexy help from BookThug!
TEENAGE FANTASY
AUGUST 22, 2014
Videofag presents three short films exploring adolescent longing, loss, and lust. A cinematic celebration of young and sublime outcasts.
Aaron Mirkin / We Are Not Here
Matthew De Filippis & Elisia Mirabelli / Let Me Down Easy
Jamie Travis / The Armoire
BENEATH THE AIR
JESI THE ELDER
AUGUST 1 - 6, 2014
Opening reception August 1, 2014 from 7PM - 10PM
Gallery hours: noon - 5PM
Videofag is excited to premiere Jesi the Elder's animated "prophecy and music video" for Absolutely Free's 'Beneath The Air', alongside an art exhibit offering a behind the scenes look at Elder's hand painted animation.
After having spent 6 months apprenticing with the paranormal and surfing with the devil, come see what happened in over 3500 psychic paintings invoked by the Divine Spirit, and other stuff, frame by frame by frame by frame. Jesi The Elder in conversation with the a Holy Trinity and the Natural World in the backseat of Mexico.
So chilling it will hit you like a heat wave.
SUPER DIVINER (ENTREAT - PART ONE)
RM VAUGHAN
JULY 29 - 3, 2014
A new performance by RM Vaughan
July 29, 2014 6:44pm to 8:44pm
July 30, 2014 6:43pm to 8:43pm
July 31, 2014 6:42 pm to 8:42pm
Admission Free
Super-Diviner is an experiment.
Toronto multi-media artist RM Vaughan has been reading Tarot cards and participating in occult rituals since his early teens.
Now he wants to know: Is he actually psychic?
Super-Diviner seeks to both re-arrange and undermine traditional systems of divinatory revelation (aka "fortune telling"), by disrupting the format of the familiar, one-on-one/single-signifier-deck Tarot reading. And, by dislodging the worn tropes of the "Tarot reading", Vaughan hopes to discover whether or not he is a psychic conduit.
The performances will take place for exactly two hours before sunset, three days in a row.
Visitors to the gallery will be instructed to enter alone, and not to speak or otherwise communicate with Vaughan. Vaughan will not be visible and is not permitted to ask questions of the visitor. All facial cues, verbal cues, and other non-verbal cognitive transactions between "Reader" and "Receiver" will thus be made opaque to both parties.
The visitor will select three cards from a pile of assorted divinatory decks, divinatory cards both well-known and obscure. The visitor will not be able to see the horde of cards and will use his/her own intuition in choosing them from an opaque bowl.
By breaking up multiple divinatory decks and throwing them into a common (and occluded) lot, Vaughan seeks to negate the innate, hierarchical systems present in each deck as well as the act of "card shuffling" and how it determines the Receiver's psychic "readiness" and receptivity -- and, overall, to create a far more random selection of potential divinatory prompts for both the visitor and the reader.
Once selected, the visitor's cards will be delivered to Vaughan via a simple mechanical exchange, an obscured sliding door, and Vaughan will pronounce his reading of the cards to the visitor from behind a veiled space.
The end of the reading is signalled by Vaughan's returning of the cards, via the sliding door, to the visitor, who then must leave. The visitor takes away the given reading and decides for her/himself if Vaughan possesses psychic abilities, or does not. The visitor is free to relay their discoveries to the docent, or not.
Super-Diviner is the first instalment of Entreat, a three-part "physic investigation" project involving performance and the creation of divinatory objects. Parts two and three will manifest over the coming 12 months, in various locations.
About the artist: RM Vaughan is a Toronto-based artist and writer. He is the author of 9 books and hundreds of articles on culture. His collaborative video works play in festivals around the world. Please visit www.rmvaughan.ca
Xenia Benivolski and Danielle St. Amour are Videofag's 'Curators-in-Residence' this July, 2014. They're presenting a series 'How To Live Together', featuring events by Jacob Wren and Jonathan Adjemian, among others.
SCHOOL
Jonathan Adjemian's "School" involves discussions in philosophy and theory for those with all and any background
First session: "Thinking and Making: or, who needs concepts?"
Sunday afternoons in July at Videofag, 187 Augusta Ave.
pwyc donations to the space
email jadjemian@gmail.com for the first reading and further details.
The idea behind "School" is to host short, semi-structured series ofgroup sessions to discuss topics in theory and philosophy. Each series will be designed and led by someone with formal academic training (doctoral level); the format will be somewhere between a seminar and an informal reading group.
JUST ME & ALLAH: PHOTOGRAPHS OF QUEER MUSLIMS
SAMRA HABIB
JULY 10 - 14, 2014
This summer, Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives (CLGA), Videofag Gallery and Parliament Street Library will hold exhibitions by Toronto photographer Samra Habib featuring queer Muslims. The shows are curated by Marcin Wisniewski.
"Samra’s work is not only aesthetically engaging but also culturally demanding,” says Karen Stanworth, head of curatorial committee at the CLGA. “The location of the show in the CLGA Reading Room will inspire dialogue around identity, politics and history.”
Whether it’s through celebrating Muslim traditions in queer spaces or incorporating aesthetic elements and symbolism in their everyday lives, the work explores the ideas of community and personal expression that are inspired by Islam but are the individuals’ personal re-interpretations. Video interviews reveal some of the subjects’ complicated relationship with Islam and how it’s shaped by historical and political events in the last decade.
The exhibition will launch at Parliament Street Library on June 18th. On June 24th the CLGA will open a satellite show to coincide with the exhibitions running at Videofag Gallery and Parliament Street Library. On July 2nd, a discussion panel at the CLGA featuring prominent queer Muslims (including Salaam founder El-Farouk Khaki) will complement the exhibition. The panel will be moderated by journalist Elio Iannacci. A closing party at Videofag will follow.
Exhibition dates:
Parliament Street Library: June 18-July 9, 2014
Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives: June 24-October 5, 2014
Videofag: (Exhibition+video screenings) July 10-July 14, 2014
Related events:
Opening reception: Wednesday, June 18th, 2014 @ 6:30 p.m.
at Parliament Street Library (269 Gerrard Street)
Discussion panel: Wednesday, July 2, 2014 @ 6:30 p.m.
at the Canadian Gay and Lesbian Archives (34 Isabella Street)
Closing party: Thursday, July 14, 2014 @ 7 p.m.
at Videofag (187 Augusta Avenue)
VIDEOHAG
THE SUFFERETTES
JUNE 29, 2014
The Sufferettes are taking over Videofag for an evening of female weirdness.
As part of our 2014 Tour of Toronto, The Sufferettes present you VideoHag, a night of comedy improv inspired by archival video footage.
Working with our lovely buddy, Zack Russell, on video curation this intimate evening is our newest format of the tour and our one show in Kensington Market
REGIONAL SUPPORT NETWORK presents:
UNSCENE: FILM AND VIDEO FROM SASKATCHEWAN
CURATED BY AMBER CHRISTENSEN
JUNE 28, 2014
8PM
$5/PWYC
A pleasantly amorphous screening of work from the real centre of Canada (if you don’t include the Maritimes)
Co-sponsored by Videofag, Saskatchewan Filmpool Cooperative andPAVED Arts.
Program includes (approx 55 min.):
The Tooth Maker (2003, 3min.) - Amalie Atkins
The Floating World (2012, 8min.) - Ian Campbell.
You are a Lesbian Vampire (2008, 3 min.) - Thirza Jean Cuthand
Local Girls (2013 , 12 min) - Callen Diedrichs
Tales from the Deep (2011, 14 min.) - Clark Ferguson
Wives Tale (2013, 3 min.) - Amber Goodwyn (on Super 8)
The Generosity of Mechanics (2008-, 1min.) - Troy Gronsdahl
TBA (2014, -) - Jaye Kovach.
School of Athens (2013, 13 min.) - Allysha Larsen.
Space Princess and the Amethyst Portal( 2014, 3 min) - Colby Richardson (on Super 8)
Spitly: A Boy And His Puppet (2013, 5 min) - Video Club
NAKED BOYS READING
JUNE 26, 2014
8PM
PWYC ($10 suggested)
An official World Pride 2014 event.
Naked Boys Reading is exactly what it sounds like… a titillating queer literary salon featuring sexy, unclothed literary buffs reading, in the buff, to you.
Join Toronto’s adored queen of filth, Igby Lizzard, as she hosts an intimate series of hot, young, artsy, gutsy guys, including actor, director and playwright Justen Bennett, one of Xtra’s History Boys and writer Michael Lyons, emerging FTM porn performer/producer Taylor J Mace, young and excessively talented interdisciplinary artist Josh Middleton, and a special performance by one of the city’s sexiest burlesque performers, Wrong Note Rusty!
Naked boys read for the arts! All proceeds of the evening will be going right back to the venue to support Videofag’s mandate of providing art space for the most exciting new works.
Naked Boys Reading is a one-off event during World Pride, inspired and in participation with the official London event, in turn inspired by the Chicago-born burlesque sensation, Naked Girls Reading. In London, Naked Boys Reading is an intimate bi-montly literary salons featuring in-the-buff readings by local beefcakes, bears, twinks, otters, butch femmes, sissy sluts, boys next door with an exhibitionist streak and lovers of naturism.
DONA ARBABZADEH
C LASH OUT
JUNE 13, 2014
Public. accessibility, subconscious, fantasy, moving image, hybridism, communication ...
the others may feed you
they want to be near you
they need you.
you can't get enough of your hypnotic injection.
this simple little function
let me be your human toy
in the cage you love the one you hate...
donaarbabzadeh.tumblr.com
...
THE FUTURE
IS
2D
..................
7:30 PM SHARP....event ends at 10 PM
GENRE FROCK
JUNE 20, 2014
A poetry cabaret
July 20 at 7PM
PWYC ($5 suggested)
An official World Pride 2014 event.
Genre Frock is the third installment of the Pussy Basket Poetry Cabaret series…
How do you wear your gender? How do you wear your genre? Can either be fully defrocked and f**ked with? Using the idea of gender and genre f**k as a prompt, we have asked a line-up of seasoned spoken word artists, performance artists, and drag performers to play with genres and genders they haven’t played with before.
This evening brings you Donnarama, Tom Cho, David Bateman, Nichola (Nicki) Ward, Cathy Petch, bill bissett, and more.
Open mic slots available throughout the night.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies, the Sexual Diversity Studies Student Union, the League of Canadian Poets, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Reading Salon.
STRUGGLED REAGANS
DIRECTED BY GREGG GOLDING
JUNE 7, 2014
"Morphenominal" - San Francisco Bay Guardian
It's Morphin' time!
The Toronto Premiere of Struggled Reagans at Videofag.
There's a tumor in the collective unconscious, and it's up to 6 young people to draw on its power and become the Struggled Reagans! Armed with Metaphysical super powers, A giant robot, and perverse sexual fetishes, they can defeat an ancient Hindu god and his googley eyed monster...Right?
TOO QUEER: A BI VISIBILITY CABARET
JUNE 6, 2014 @ 7PM
Videofag is collaborating with bisexual playwright and performer Katie Sly to launch Too Queer: A Bi Visibility Cabaret on June 6, 2014. Dedicated to making space for art by those who identify as bisexual and/or those whose work addresses bisexuality, the event will feature works from 11 artists from across the city, including burlesque performer Sly Maria, dance collective InAMORata, and playwright and performer Franny McCabe-Bennett.
NARCISSISTER AND THE MASK; A WORKSHOP
PRESENTED BY PLEASURE DOME
JUNE 6, 2014 @ noon
As an extension of her video screening and performance in the Dirty Looks, NYC program at Pleasure Dome, Narcissister is pleased to offer her first-ever workshop. Informed by her own practice, the workshop will investigate what it means to mask ourselves, to disguise ourselves to the point that a radical physical transformation takes place. Narcissister will initiate discussions and pose questions about what it means on personal, societal, political, and spiritual levels not only to mask ourselves, but also to de-mask ourselves.
Narcissister is a Brooklyn-based artist and performer.
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO JACKIE SHANE?
LAUREN HORTIE & SONYA REYNOLDS
JUNE 5-8, 2014
Toronto, 1963. Jackie Shane - a black, cross-dressing, soul-singing, flamboyant Nashville-born, Toronto-based musician - had a hit song on the charts. The song was a sensation, and with the lyrics "Tell her that I'm happy, tell her that's I'm gay; tell her I wouldn't have it any other way", it was also an underground gay anthem. But before being able to fully enjoy the fruits of this success, Jackie suddenly disappeared.
Uncovering this forgotten piece of Toronto queer music history, artists Hortie and Reynolds recreate Jackie's story using original shadow puppets, overhead animation and stop motion techniques. Follow Jackie through the 1960s Toronto Yonge Street music scene, the tabloid rumours and scandals, to the mysterious disappearance. What ever happened to Jackie Shane? You have to watch to find out.
IN YOUR POCKET: COME TOGETHER
CURATED BY RT COLLECTIVE
PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH INSIDE OUT
MAY 26 & 27, 2014
IN YOUR POCKET explores the immediacy and intimacy offered by smartphone technology. In its second year, IN YOUR POCKET focuses on the theme of collaboration under the cheeky title, Come Together. This year, RT Collective has invited artists Tawiah M'Carthy, Tera Mallette and Drew Lint, whose commissioned projects deal with the rolea camera takes in a person's transformation; the fleetingness of attraction, and phone app conversations from afar. Drasko Bogdanovic and Mikiki have also come together in their first collaboration. The remainder of the program is curated through a submissions process.
Post-screening works will be available online at insideout.ca
HUNGRY BOTTOM COMICS
ERIC KOSTIUK WILLIAMS
MAY 15 - 18, 2014
Join us in celebrating the simultaneous release of Hungry Bottom Comics 3 and The Collected Hungry Bottom Comics - the final releases from Eric Kostiuk Williams' queer memoir project! This special four-day exhibition will feature over 60 original, 11x15 comic book pages mounted in Videofag's main space, spanning three issues and over two years of work.
OPENING NIGHT is Thursday, May 15th - 7-9 pm!
We'll have books and original artwork for sale, a reading from the comic, and a special performance from the prettiest girl in the West End, Allysin Chaynes!
THE LAST MATCH
KUš
MAY 8 - 12, 2014
kuš and Videofag present The Last Match
Part of The Toronto Comic Arts Festival
May 8th - 12th
Opening Reception May 8th, 7:00pm-9:00pm
Free to Attend
Since 2009, the Latvian comics magazine kuš! has invited international comic artists to draw their interpretations of "the last match" on paper snips the size of matchbooks. At this size, these little artworks are easily collected in just a few tiny boxes – BUT – when exhibited together as The Last Match, the collected drawings are taken out and hung on matchsticks, showing that together you can make something big out of something small. The Last Match is made up of contributions from more than 380 artists, from over 52 countries. This international exhibition has traveled from Riga to Lisbon, Linz, Lucerne, Leipzig, Erlangen, Haarlem, Tbilisi, Prague, Poznan, St. Petersburg, Bologna, Graz, and Ljubljana, and it's making it's Toronto/Ontario/Canadian/North American debut with TCAF!
“Matchmonster” illustration by Oskars Pavlovskis.
QUEER FEAR: ELVIRA, MISTRESS OF THE DARK
APRIL 21, 2014
To celebrate Queer Fear's first year of exposing you to the gayest horror movies ever, we're screening the definitive lesson in CAMP: Elvira: Mistress of the Dark
You've seen her on RuPaul's Drag Race, now see her in her own Creature Feature!
Movie Macabre attire encouraged!
FEATURING PERFORMANCES HOUSE of FILTH's Igby Lizzard & Judy Virago!!
REGIONAL SUPPORT NETWORK PRESENTS:
EVERYONE'S A LITTLE QUEER
A PROGRAM OF EXPERIMENTAL FILM AND VIDEO FROM PORTLAND
APRIL 11 - 19, 2014
Regional Support Network presents:
Everyone’s A Little Queer: A Program of Experimental Film and Video from Portland, Oregon
Thursday, April 24, 8pm
Videofag (187 Augusta Avenue)
(co-sponsored by Videofag)
Short films & videos by Portland moving image artists
curated by Ben Popp of EFFPortland
PROGRAM:
Entrance - Stephen Slappe
Dear Peter, Yaks - Orland Nutt
Rocky’s Moves From The Fight Scene In Rocky - Chris Freeman
I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get Up - Sam Pirnak
10950 - Kiri Hargie
A Thauma-Tale - Ben Popp
The Bog People - Bob Moricz
Angel Cloud - Leif Anderson
Delicious - Justin Whomever
Counter’s Edge - Dylan McDaniel
Sexy Noir - Ben Popp & Kenny Reed
Spending All My Money - Kelly Goeller
Dear Peter, Goats - Orland Nutt
Mermaid Blues - Hannah Piper Burns
Constellation - Jodi Darby
Lazslo Lassu - Ben Popp
Torn - Qathi Hart
Sahara in Stereo - Sharita Towne
Nebraska - Julie Perini
Triangles - Ben Popp
Motel - Andrew Klaus
Charles Bronson Says - Karl Lind
The Porno - Justin Whomever
SHADOWS
MARGO MACDONALD
APRIL 11 - 19, 2014
Written by Margo MacDonald
Directed by Diana Fajrajsl
Performed by Margo MacDonald and Sarah Finn
Stage Managed by Rae Powell
Costumes Designed by Judy DeBoer
This is a lost story. This is a true story.
In 1930s New York, at the height of her career, the English-born Queen of the American stage, Eva LeGallienne, is outed in the press as a lesbian. She escapes to a country retreat with her lover, Josephine Hutchison, only to be disfigured and nearly killed in a terrible explosion. The story slips back and forth in time as Eva struggles with art, disfigurement, alcoholism, sexuality, and acceptance. She battles with Broadway, critics, and her personal demons, while tormented by the overwhelming question: If her public and private battles destroy her happiness but nourish her art, will it have been worth it?
This multi-award winning play has been called “captivating and utterly convincing” by CBC Radio, and “sumptuous and gripping” by the Ottawa Citizen. It has sold out every performance to date. This is the first production of the show in Toronto.
The Intergenerational LGBT Artist Residency in partnership with Videofag present:
E̶X̶P̶E̶R̶I̶M̶E̶N̶T̶I̶N̶G̶ ̶W̶I̶T̶H̶̶ HOW TO STOP MAKING ART
COMAN POON
APRIL 2, 3, 4
Coman Poon is poised to take the lid off the box. Over a dozen banker boxes, actually. In E̶X̶P̶E̶R̶I̶M̶E̶N̶T̶I̶N̶G̶ ̶W̶I̶T̶H̶̶ HOW TO STOP MAKING ART, Coman Poon invites the public to join him in a process of inquiry. Recently moved into his new, long-term housing, Coman found himself finally able to retrieve all his belongings from various storage spaces, and for the first time in seven years, bring all his worldly possessions home. Finally surrounded by the items he had held onto for so long, he realized he was surrounded by things to let go of.
As an artist whose practice has included a sublime consideration of objects, costume, movement and gesture, Coman takes this opportunity for a 72-hour exhibition, hosted by Videofag, to ask himself to choose something he sought after and cherished, something hard to let go of and hard to give away, and release it.
E̶X̶P̶E̶R̶I̶M̶E̶N̶T̶I̶N̶G̶ ̶W̶I̶T̶H̶̶ HOW TO STOP MAKING ART is open to the public on April 3, (9am - 5pm) and April 4, (9am - 5pm)
April 2 / day 1 - closed to the public (10 - 3:30)
April 3 / day 2 - open to the public (9 - 3:30)
April 4 / day 3 - open to the public (9 - 5), finissage 3:30 - 5
The Intergenerational LGBT Artist Residency is an annual summer residency on the Toronto Island at Artscape Gibraltar Point, offering a juried cohort of LGBT artists free room, board and studio space in which to develop projects critically engaged with Queer political histories. https://www.facebook.com/ILGBTArtistResidency
GO HARD OR GO HOME
HUMBOLDT MAGNUSSEN
MARCH 20-23, 25-28, 30
Go Hard of Go Home is an exhibition by emerging artist Humboldt Magnussen, MFA candidate from OCAD University. This body of work has an autobiographical point of departure, reflecting my own identity and rural Saskatchewan upbringing, as well as being influenced by research on hyper masculinities displayed in sport. I have created sculptures, photos and performances that counters and subverts ideas of manliness. Through ornamentation and the insertion of my own queer body into a hyper masculine context I attempt to expand existing notions of masculinity, into more inclusive ones.
Opening Reception March 20th 7 - 10 at Videofag
March 20-23, 25-28, 30 (11am - 5pm)
THE QUEER SONGBOOK
MARCH 28, 8PM & MARCH 29, 2PM
'Companions For Your Closet"
The Queer Songbook Orchestra (QSO) is a Toronto based 12-piece chamber ensemble, compiling and re-interpreting songs that have shaped the LGBTQ community. These concerts, the first in an ongoing series, will focus thematically on songs that are connected to the closet. Exploring and sharing those songs that individuals held close during their time spent in the closet, as well as acknowledging songwriters who lived in a time when they couldn't openly express their sexualities. Each song has been arranged specifically for The Queer Songbook Orchestra by some of Canada's top arrangers. All proceeds will be donated to The Rainbow Railroad.
REGIONAL SUPPORT NETWORK PRESENTS: BALTIMORE-BASED
CURATED BY SIGHT UNSEEN
MARCH 18, 2014
Regional Support Network presents:
BALTIMORE-BASED
Tuesday, March 18, 8pm
Videofag (187 Augusta Avenue) (co-sponsored by LIFT and VideoFag)
Short films & videos by Baltimore moving image artists
curated by Kate Ewald, Lorenzo Gattorna & Meg Rorison of Sight Unseen.
PROGRAM:
for w.g. sebald (travel without travel) - Stephanie Barber, 2011, DV
The Human Body Part 1 - Jon Bevers, 2012, DV
Self-tending - Catherine Borg, 2010, DV
Discuss Winter - Mark Brown, 2009, DV
Centralia, PA - Nick Clasing, 2013, DV
TITLE 17 - Skizz Cyzyk, 1990, DV
Play Nice - Liz Donadio, 2010, DV
Belson Blues - Max Eilbacher, 2013, DV
REVLON/CLINIQUE/OPI REDUX - Kate Ewald, 2013, 16mm
The Enchanted Forest - Lorenzo Gattorna, 2011, 16mm-to-DV
Smoke & Fire - Dina Kelberman, 2013, DV
Nascar study 1 - Justin Kelly, 2011, DV
8===>~~~~( . )( . ) - Alan Resnick, 2012, DV
Beam Splitter - Jimmy Joe Roche, 2011, DV
Gowanus Haze - Meg Rorison, 2012, 16mm
Entropy - Branden Rush, 2012, DV
All or Nothing - Fred Worden, 2013, DV
Life is an Opinion, Fire a Fact - Karen Yasinsky, 2013, DV
IT WASN’T SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE THIS
CURATED BY AMBER LANDGRAFF
MARCH 14 - 16, 2014
Featuring work by: Chris Dupuis, Jessica Karuhanga, Daniel Cockburn, Arkadi Lavoie Lachapelle, Catherine Polcz, Juliane Foronda, Kirsten McCrea, Brette Gabel and Vikki Dziuma Curated by Amber Landgraff
The exhibition 'It wasn’t supposed to be like this' asks the question: what can be learned from failure? Embracing the messy, mistaken, or misshapen, It wasn’t supposed to be like this explores how we might learn more from the times when things didn’t work out, than from those times that they did.
Opening Reception: March 14, 7-10 pm
Opening night performance of Daniel Cockburn’s Heist Gone Wrong at 8:30 pm
Gallery Hours: March 15-16, 11-5 pm
SUMMONING AESTHETICS
BY ANDREW TAY
CREATED AND PERFORMED IN COLLABROATION WITH FRANCOIS LALUMIERE
MARCH 6 - 8, 2014
What are the actions / images / rituals that call forth the idea of summoning? And if we are to execute these without pretense...What are we summoning into the space around us? What types of spirits / magic / nothingness / can we make happen without knowing what the fuck we are doing? The performance will be an impossible attempt to render intense rituals and spiritual actions superficial, and transform pop culture and trivial actions into a sacred practice. In doing so, what will we make appear in the Videofag gallery space?
Videofag is thrilled to present Montreal-based maverick choreographer/dancer Andrew Tay, in collaboration with visual artist Francois Lalumiere, March 6 - 8, 8PM
KNAVES KITCHEN: AMULETS
FEBRUARY 28, 2014
Be honest, you've missed Naco's spicy and hearty Black Bean Soup. Well, we'll bringing it back for one night only to Videofag. Served in homemade sour bread bowls this delicious classic will definitely warm up your winter. Guillermo del Toro's debut feature CRONOS will be preceded by a screening of Sarah D'angelo's animation. Doors open at 7pm. Screening starts at 8 pm, food will be available throughout the evening. PWYC
STEWART LEGERE, ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE
LET'S NOT BEAT EACH OTHER TO DEATH (IN DEVELOPMENT)
FEBRUARY 2014
Halifax-based theatre creator Stewart Legere is developing a new dance party-cum-performacne-cum-concert as our February 2014 artist in residence.
QUEER FEAR
CURATED BY JOSHUA DARE
ONGOING BI-MONTHLY SCREENING SERIES
Queer Fear is a screening series aimed at bringing the fiercest of horror's skeletons out of the closet.
The Lost Boys (February 2014)
The Craft (December 2013)
Carrie (October 2013)
Sleepaway Camp (August 2013)
Nightmare On Elm Street 2 (June 2013)
VECTOR GAME + ART CONVERGENCE FESTIVAL
FEBRUARY 19 - 23, 2014
The Vector Game + Art Convergence Festival is a participative, not-for-profit, and community-oriented initiative dedicated to showcasing contemporary game-based artworks. The festival will be running at multiple venues over five days, from Feb 19 to 23 in Toronto, Canada. Vector 2014 will feature exhibitions, screenings, workshops, performances and round table discussions, all with the ambition to create a critical dialogue around the medium of games and its expressive potential as a contemporary art practice.
Videofag will be hosting one of Vector 2014's four exhibitions and will act as a venue for Vector's film and video screenings.
ROAR
SPENCER CHARLES SMITH
FEBRUARY 5, 6 2014
Straight Camp invites you to the workshop-presentation of a new play by Spencer Charles Smith: Roar a solo play about beefy, burly, brawny love.
Written and performed by Spencer Charles Smith
Directed and dramaturged by Owen Fawcett
Designed by Nick Carney
A boy's campy quest for furry love, Spencer will explore his unapologetic desire for 'bearish' men, critique the problematic spectrum of identities within the Bear community (Bear, Cub, Otter, Panda, Muscle-Bear, etc.) and hopefully deconstruct notions of hegemonic masculinity. Above all, it's a love letter. This is a staged-reading of Spencer's latest draft of Roar and he is eager to hear your feedback.
Wednesday February 5th @ 8pm
Thursday February 6th @ 8pm
PRICE Pay-What-You-Can (at the door)
SPECIAL PRE-SHOW PRESENTATION
Kid: A Queer Fable written, illustrated and performed by Katie Sly
PRIDE HOUSE CABARET
ORGANIZED BY ANDREA HOUSTON
FEBRUARY 5, 6 2014
The Olympics in Sochi Russia is just around the corner. Come and show your queer pride at a queer cabaret February 1 at Videofag! In the rebellious spirit of queers who speak, sing and dance against injustice and boredom, join us as we PUTIN on a show! The show will be a celebration of music and performance with an all-star fabulous cast featuring Donnarama, Amy Lester, Brock Hessel, Belle Jumelles, Lauryn Kronick and Alvis Parsley, Troy Jackson, Steen Star, Leelando Calrissian of "Boylesque." David Bateman and Ryan G Hinds!
SPARSE GARDENS
RICK BAHTO
JANUARY 23, 2014
Sparse Gardens (2010) is a slide lecture by Los Angeles-based artist Rick Bahto consisting of a set of 36 field recordings on tape lasting approximately 57 minutes, accompanied by 36 Kodachrome slides made in the same locations. Two types of gardened spaces common in Phoenix, AZ will be visually and sonically compared: the landscaped strips and islands of parking lots and driveways, as well as vacant lots, bulldozed clear of buildings or natural desert, that have been re-inhabited by weeds or rogue/remnant landscaping plants.
OVARIAN CYSTERS: PUNK WOMEN ON FILM
CURATED BY JIMMY WEAVER
JANUARY 16 - 18, 2014
This four day screening series , featuring work by David Markey, Susan Seidelman, and Penelope Spheeris, celebrates cinema’s oft-neglected screen sirens: the ovarian cysters and the punk princesses . From the Fabulous Stains and The Lovedolls to Exene Cervenka and Alica Bag, this series is dedicated to women who made a scene. The fest will conclude with a night devoted to bizarro outsider director Jon Moritsugu and the Canadian premier of his newest film, Pig Death Machine, co-directed with longtime collaborator Amy Davis.
SOJOURNER-TRUTH PARSONS
JANUARY 21 - 26, 2014
Sojourner-Truth Parsons will be in-residence developing a new video project. Parsons’ work in sculpture, craft, and installation explores themes of animism, ritual, the masking and unmasking of identity, and the queering of mythological tropes.
UNINTENTIONALLY DEPRESSING CHILDREN’S TALES
ERIN FLECK
JANUARY 13 - 15, 2014
Three workshop performances of shadow puppetry, projections and stop-motion storytelling
Written by Erin Fleck
Dramaturged and Directed by Maya Rabinovitch
Performed with members of Dutch Uncle Puppetry and friends! (including Daniel Briere, Erin Fleck, Sarah Fairlie)
If you’re looking for a fable, fairy tale, or thinly veiled metaphor to make you feel better about how life works sometimes…this isn't it. Enter the vivid, surreal world of acclaimed playwright/puppeteer Erin Fleck and Dutch Uncle Puppetry.