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Video Art Is Queer 2009

VIDEO ART IS QUEER 2009 Curated by Sharon Switzer Rating: NNN


Although this series of seven videos commissioned by Pride premiered last weekend at the Gladstone and continues at Trinity Square Video till June 27, it also gets encore screenings this weekend on the Pride South Stage Friday and Saturday (June 27 and 28) at dusk. Drop by if you have some time. Just don’t expect ideal viewing conditions amidst all the partiers in the open-air space.

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The one video that should work beautifully outdoors is Cecilia Berkovic’s RSVP, a playful text-driven piece about one super-controlling lesbian named Annie who’s inviting friends via email to her 30th birthday bash in Bouctouche, New Brunswick.

Berkovic satirizes all the clichés of contemporary lesbian life, both in the email text (strewn with info about massage circles, hot yoga classes, cheap flights) and in the clever way the words appear onscreen, overlapping and rearranging themselves to tell you a helluva lot about the micro-managing birthday girl.

Make sure you attend Cecilia Berkovic's wordplay-filled RSVP.

I just hope you’ll be able to hear Isabelle Noël’s hypnotic synthy sound design over the inevitable waves of audience laughter.

Equally visually impressive is Monument, a stylish take on expressionistic film tropes by Montreal’s 2boys.tv. Wait for the final moments to see how the troupe puts an ironic spin on Pride’s Can’t Stop/Won’t Stop slogan.

Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan’s Endangered Species delivers more of the tongue-in-cheek parodies the Winnipeg duo are known for. Here, they present nostalgic looks at certain types (“Marxist Feminists,” “Bull Dykus Americanus”) as if they’re presenting a wildlife program.

Richard Fung’s Queers Around The World rounds up Skype interviews with politically active queers in various countries, telling us the bad news (jail for same-sex acts in Lebanon, life imprisonment for buggery in Guyana) and good (increased monitoring of hate crimes and code violations in South Africa).

It’s a terrific idea for a short (the video quality, of course, isn’t the best), and the various subjects’ Pride wishes should make us all thankful for the freedoms we take for granted.

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