BE A BODY. or its doppelgänger. [There is power in numbers.] is unabashedly self-centred and unapologetically self-conscious. Through an intersectional lens, artists Crystal Heiden (American Fabrics) and Christine Negus (London, Canada) present a screening of contemporary, international video works that use “The Mirror Machine” as a feminist tool. With a focus on identity construction and reflection, the camera is used to navigate ideas of selfhood. Putting performance at the forefront, these works reframe femme self-portraiture as not simply “The Aesthetics of Narcissism” but intrinsic to self-perception and preservation. As a whole the program sings “ME, MYSELF, AND I” at the top of its lungs, and invites you to do the same.
Crystal Heiden is an artist who works in a variety of media. By exploring the concept of landscape, Heiden investigates the dynamics of landscape, including the manipulation of its effects and the limits of spectacle based on our assumptions of what landscape means to us. Rather than presenting a factual reality, an illusion is fabricated to conjure the realms of our imagination. She holds a BFA in Sculpture from Maine College of Art, and an MFA in Art Theory and Practice from Northwestern University.
Christine Negus is a multidisciplinary artist and writer who received the National Film Board of Canada’s Best Emerging Canadian Video/Filmmaker award through Images Festival. Negus obtained her MFA from Northwestern University and her BFA from Western University. Some of her notable exhibitions and screenings include: the8fest, CROSSROADS, MIX NYC, Artists’ Television Access, Dunlop Gallery, AKA artist-run, Milwaukee Underground Film Festival, Media City Film Festival, Swedish Film Institute, Art Gallery of York University, Microscope Gallery, and Kasseler Dokfest. She has had solo exhibitions and screenings at Forest City Gallery, Gallery TPW, gallerywest, Julius Caesar, The Pitch Project, and has an upcoming solo exhibition at Modern Fuel Gallery. Her work has been reviewed in numerous publications, including The Globe and Mail and Modern Painters, and an interview on Negus’ video practice appeared in the Spring 2016 issue of BlackFlash Magazine.
Screening curated by Crystal Heiden and Christine Negus
Featuring works by June Pak (Canada), Zachary Hutchinson (US), Jessica Karuhanga (Canada), Susanna Flock (Austria), Thirza Cuthand (Canada) and more.
This screening will be followed by a Q & A, with curators in attendance.
Saturday, November 11
6:30 - 8 PM
Doors open at 6 pm
$5 entry fee