Post-Mortem Survey for Making Art Work 2020-21
Thank you for participating in the Making Art Work professional development workshop series co-presented by Modern Fuel Artist-Run Centre, Union Gallery, and Agnes Etherington Art Centre. We are looking for feedback from participants of the program to inform future professional development programs. The survey should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete. Your answers will be anonymous. Thank you for your time!
Current Exhibitions
Everything sounds like crying eventually
Tear Jerkers
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Main Gallery
January 18th - March 22nd
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Everything sounds like crying eventually is a project that builds towards an imagined karaoke performance of a song-that-sounds-like-crying. It was conceived as a way of keeping in touch with a queer cohort that had moved out of Katarokwi-Kingston in 2019, an ongoing occasion for maintaining relationships-at-a-distance and forging new relationships while distant from these kinships. We were also curious, in invoking the twin themes of crying and karaoke, about what a collective public performance of “bad feelings” might do. Crying seems a sentient and appropriate response for queer folx in the current sociopolitical climate. But holding to the reparative mood of Ann Cvetkovich’s Depression: a public feeling, we posit that feeling bad publicly together might remake these negative affects as generative and political sites. Heard slantwise, this song-that-sounds-like-crying could also be cries of protest and resilience, of a public rallying, in solidarity and ecstasy. In this multi-media installation of ESLCE at Modern Fuel, we remix field recordings and the architecture of the space, as well as public programming around the exhibition, to ask: what conditions are conducive to queer space and gathering?
In our continued research for ESLCE, karaoke has again and again revealed its queer resonances, thanks in part to Karen Tongson’s extensive writing on karaoke as a participatory, amateur and repetitive mode of performance. We are particularly interested in how karaoke refuses mastery, making apparent the “rules” legislating its distinction from amateurism, and participates in reenactment, demonstrating how repeated and repeatable acts are an embodied means of transferring knowledge. Indulging a measure of the utopian, we also want to highlight the dynamics of karaoke that have, from the start, been its appeal for us. At karaoke night hosted by Bar Notre-Dame-des-Quilles in Montreal, we watched a crowd of lovers, friends and strangers erupt in sync to the bridge of Shallow, full-throating “ahhhh, ha-ah-ahh, ohhh, ah” a la Gaga. We suspected then that karaoke, with its possibilities of social promiscuity, public intimacy and shared embarrassment, held some potential to conjure queer space and call into being queer counterpublics.
Queer Newfoundland Hockey League
Lucas Morneau​
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State of Flux Gallery
January 18th - March 22nd​
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Queer Newfoundland Hockey League (QNHL) is a fictional hockey league made up of 14 teams, all of which use pejoratives used against the 2SLGBTQIA+ community as team names. QNHL uses these pejoratives to reclaim the words often used against queer individuals both on and off the ice. These pejoratives, such as sissy and fag, are also often used against individuals who do not conform to the hegemonic masculinity often assigned to sports – teammates often cannot be emotional, cannot draw attention to themselves, nor talk about personal issues without fear of reprisal.
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Each jersey is hand crocheted and rughooked, using craft practices often delegated as “women’s work”. Some jerseys are rughooked using pantyhose worn by drag performers, referencing the history of rughooking in Newfoundland and the Grenfell Mission’s use of stockings from women around rural communities in the province.
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The jerseys are paired with 10 crochet goalie masks, stylized as doilies. These goalie doilies reference the introduction of the goalie mask and its first full-time NHL user Jacques Plante, who was ridiculed and mocked for wearing a mask after sustaining serious injuries during a game. Many players and fans questioned Plante’s bravery and dedication to the game due to his mask.
QNHL, by reclaiming these pejoratives, aims to deconstruct homophobia in sports and sports culture and critique the existing hegemonic masculinity in sports culture. By bringing awareness to the toxic elements of the current hegemonic masculinity, QNHL aims to create a new, positive, and accepting masculinity for sports enthusiast.
Growing Pains
Sumera Khan, Shamara Peart, Shanique Peart, and Alicia Udvari​
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Window Gallery​
January 18th - March 22nd
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Growing Pains is a collaborative exhibition and coalition of works by artists Sumera Khan, Shamara Peart, Shanique Peart, and Alicia Udvari. Each artist delves into relationships with family, cultural identity, and community, to inspect the idea of growth and transition as they navigate through various stages in their lives and artistic careers.
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Meeting through the Twofold Residency, led by Co-Directors Jill Glatt and Berlin Reed, four BIPOC artists were presented an opportunity to dive into their practice in community with others—sparking relationships, challenging discussions, and introducing new collaborations.
