Friday, April 10, 7PM

Concordia EV Building, 1.605 (1515 St. Catherine W.)

We invite you to join us for a closing talk presented by Marty Fink (PhD candidate, CUNY), reflecting on past and present queer artistic responses to HIV/AIDS:

Many are familiar with the AIDS activist art of the ’80s and ’90s, as images by groups like ACT UP, General Idea and Gran Fury have come to emblematize the early years of the AIDS crisis. While revisiting such images to commemorate queer histories and visual responses to the pandemic, we can juxtapose these works alongside an exciting new wave of HIV/AIDS art addressing contemporary issues surrounding HIV in North America, as well as what it means to be queer in an age of HIV/AIDS today.

This space is wheelchair-accessible.

Tuesday, April 7th @ 6pm

2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy – 2110 Rue Mackay (Metro Guy-Concordia)

This workshop will feature statements from gay, queer and trans prisoners across the US and Canada on what sexual “safety” means when condom access is restricted and when queer sex is criminal. The workshop will draw specifically on the development of a resource series called Fucking Without Fear that has been underway with the Prisoner Correspondence Project for the past six months, as well an anthology of writings by our penpals on the inside on how they negotiate risk, safety, and survival against a prison landscape. The workshop seeks to forge dialogue about how anti-prison struggles, and queer anti-prison struggles in particular, can work more closely with HIV/AIDS prevention work and the histories of queer AIDS and prison organizing that precede us. We hope to use this as a point of departure to start dialogue about how we can support one another, and each others’ struggles for control over our own sexual lives, as trans folks and gays and queers across prison walls.

The Prisoner Correspondence Project is a collectively-run gay, trans and queer prisoner support initiative based out of Montréal, Québec. We coordinate a penpal program for gay, lesbian, transsexual, transgender, gendervariant, two-spirit, intersex, bisexual and queer inmates in Canada and the United States, linking these inmates with people a part of these same communities outside of prison. Through the development of resources for our incarcerated penpals, coordination of a resource library about trans and queer survival inside prisons, collaborative writing projects, workshops, and programming, we aim to confront the ongoing targeting, policing, and criminalization of trans and queer communites, inside and outside of prisons. The project is a working group of the Quebec Public Interest Research Group at Concordia University. 

The workshop will take place in English with whisper translation towards French available. Free childcare also available with 48 hours notice (email queertrans.prisonersolidarity@gmail.com). The 2110 is a wheelchair accessible and scent-free space.

http://prisonercorrespondenceproject.wordpress.com

poster design by Emy Storey

Monday, March 30: Exhibition opens, VAV Gallery (1395 Rene Levesque W.)
Thursday, April 2:  Vincent Chevalier, “So … when did you figure out that you had AIDS?” artist talk, 5:30PM, VA-234 (VA Building, 1395 Rene Levesque W.)
Thursday, April 2: Opening, 7-9PM, VAV Gallery
Tuesday, April 7: Prisoner Correspondence Project workshop: “You Improvise to Survive,” 6-8PM, 2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy (2110 Mackay)
Wednesday, April 8: Artist talk by Cam Matamoros and second chance to catch Vincent Chevalier’s “So … when did you figure out that you had AIDS?” 7PM, VAV Gallery
Friday, April 10: Closing remarks by Erin Silver and a closing talk, “David Wojnarowicz Straps It On: The Now and Then of Queer Visual Responses to HIV/AIDS,” presented by Marty Fink, 7PM, EV-1.605 (EV Building, 1515 St. Catherine W.)
Saturday, April 11: Closing party, featuring Mikiki and DJ CFCF + others (tba), 10PM, Eastern Bloc (7240 Clark) 

Artists participating in Concordia’s 2009 HIV/AIDS exhibition:

Judith Boily
Vincent Chevalier
Ryan Conrad
Shayo Detchema
Michael Garfinkel
Marie-Chantal Gelinas
Katerina Lagasse
JJ Levine
Cam Matamoros
Alexsandra Meloul
Devora Neumark
Johnston Newfield
Liam Michaud O’Grady
Cody Young

In the meantime, check out our upcoming fundraising/dance party, Come As You, Are As You Were, next Saturday at O’Bar – 5788 St. Laurent. Put on in conjunction with Queer Concordia, this party promises to be a hella-nostalgic dance festivus for the restofus!!! (Seinfeld anyone?) Be sure to check out this blog for further updates (and photos) as the exhibition draws nearer!

*NOUVELLE DATE LIMITE*

La nouvelle date limite pour les soumissions est le lundi, 2 mars à midi.

APPEL DE SOUMISSIONS : inter-

Édition 2009 de l’exposition annuelle d’art sur le VIH/sida de l’Université Concordia

L’équipe conservatrice de « inter – » (prononcé « interdash/tiret »), l’édition 2009 de l’exposition annuelle d’art traitant des thèmes relatifs au VIH/sida de l’Université Concordia, invite des artistes de tous les niveaux à soumettre des oeuvres qui font face au VIH/sida et à ses diverses intersections dans le cadre d’une exposition et d’un programme d’événements qui auront lieu en avril 2009 à Montréal.

Cette exposition annuelle, issue d’un cours interdisciplinaire portant sur le VIH/sida offert à Concordia (« HIV/AIDS: Cultural, Social, Scientific Aspects of the Pandemic »), cherche à favoriser un dialogue actif et critique entre ses exposants et son public.  Elle vise à encourager de l’introspection et des actions par rapport aux innombrables interactions entre le VIH/sida et la politique, les identités, les institutions, les communautés, la société et la culture.  Dire que « le VIH et le sida nous concernent tous » est un début. Démontrer de telles interrelations à travers divers média artistiques et éducatifs renforcit davantage cette affirmation. 

Le thème clé de inter –  mise sur le VIH/sida et l’interdisciplinarité.  Cela veut dire créer des liens, franchir des frontières et promouvoir de la compréhension entre diverses disciplines sociales, scientifiques et artistiques ainsi qu’entre les différentes communautés touchées par le VIH/SIDA.  Les artistes, les étudiants, les PVVIH/sida et d’autres membres de la communauté artistique montréalaise sont encouragés à soumettre des œuvres mettant en valeur un esprit de collaboration, d’innovation et d’aventure aussi bien dans les thèmes abordés que dans les méthodes employées.  Si des œuvres  conceptuelles, du multimédia, du cybermédia, de la vidéo, de la performance et des installations seront particulièrement privilégiés, tout travail interdisciplinaire qui compose avec le thème de l’exposition est encouragé.  Des œuvres qui remettent en question les frontières entre différentes pratiques sociales, artistiques et  scientifiques sont fortement encouragés.  Pour toute question, préoccupation ou précision, veuillez communiquer avec le comité de sélection avant de soumettre votre proposition.  Votre œuvre pourrait être acceptée de façon provisoire si elle soulève des préoccupations d’ordre éthique, esthétique ou technique. Si c’est le cas, le comité de sélection vous contactera avant la date de notification pour en discuter. 

DATE LIMITE: lundi le 2 mars 2009, midi

NOTIFICATION: Première semaine de mars, 2009 

Veuillez joindre à votre soumission :

- Une courte déclaration d’artiste ainsi qu’une description de l’oeuvre (max. 500 mots)

- Une estimation quant aux dimensions de l’œuvre ainsi qu’une liste de vos besoins techniques (p. ex. moniteur, lecteur DVD etc.)

- Des exemples en format électronique (images ou d’autres fichiers médiatiques, sur compact disc ou par courriel en pièce jointe) qui permettront au comité de  sélection de déterminer si votre œuvre sera convenable pour l’exposition.

Veuillez faire parvenir votre soumission en copie papier au département de Cinéma (1250, rue Guy, local FB 319) ou par courriel à : interdash.exhibition@gmail.com 

*DEADLINE EXTENDED*

The new deadline for exhibition submissions is Monday, March 2 at 12PM.

EXHIBITION CALL-OUT: inter – :

The 2009 Edition of Concordia University’s Annual HIV/AIDS Art Exhibition 

The curatorial team of inter – (pronounced “interdash/tiret”), the 2009 edition of Concordia University’s annual HIV/AIDS art exhibition, invites artists at all levels to submit works that confront HIV/AIDS and its diverse intersections for inclusion in the April exhibition in Montreal and related events and programming. 

A project initiated by Concordia’s interdisciplinary course, HIV/AIDS: Cultural, Social, Scientific Aspects of the Pandemic, the annual HIV/AIDS art exhibition seeks to engage its participants and audiences in critical and active dialogue and involvement, encouraging introspection and actions that consider the innumerable ways in which HIV/AIDS interacts with politics, identities, institutions, communities, society, and culture. To say, “we are all affected” by HIV/AIDS marks a beginning; to demonstrate these affects through diverse artistic and educational practices makes the statement all the more applicable.

This year, with inter –, we have chosen to focus on interdisciplinarity and HIV/AIDS as our key theme. This means building bonds, breaking down boundaries, making links, and promoting understanding between social, scientific, and artistic disciplines and communities dealing with HIV/AIDS. We encourage artists, students, PLWAs and members of the local arts communities to submit works that use this spirit of co-operation, innovation, and adventurousness as inspiration in both the themes that they tackle, as well as the method in which they are approached. While we will be giving particular preference to multimedia, cybermedia, video, conceptual, performance, and installation work, we ultimately encourage participants to submit work that both confronts the exhibition theme and is interdisciplinary in nature. Furthermore, works that challenge the limits between art and social and scientific practices are strongly encouraged.  Applicants are encouraged to communicate with the curatorial team any questions or concerns they may have prior to submitting their proposal. Works that result in ethical, aesthetic, or technical concerns may still be considered for selection, however, said concerns will be addressed with the applicant prior to selection.

DEADLINE: Monday, March 2, 2009, 12PM

NOTIFICATION: First week of March 2009

 Please include in your application: 

- A brief artist statement and project description (500 words max.)

- A list describing the size of the work and any technical needs (e.g.: projectors, DVD players, monitors, etc.)

- A CD containing any relevant images or other media files that will aid the selections committee in determining your work’s suitability to the exhibition. 

Please submit proposals in hard copy, labeled “INTE 270,” to Concordia’s Film Studies Department, (1250, rue Guy, FB 319), or via email to interdash.exhibition@gmail.com.