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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. 

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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.

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Unit #305 at the Tett Centre for Creativity and Learning

370 King St W, Kingston, ON Canada, K7L 2X4  

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For more information email info@modernfuel.org or call (613) 548 4883  

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Tues - Sat from 11:30am - 4:30pm

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Modern Fuel is situated on the unceded ancestral territory of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabeg peoples. We acknowledge the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabeg peoples as the past, present, and future caretakers of this land.

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