Though often situated at the centre of grandiose political and activist projects, tasked time and again with capturing visible evidence of exploitation, violence, deprivation, and inequality, documentary, as both a genre and a practice, rests on a fundamental paradox: that of being perpetually too early and too late. If, as
Continue readingAuthor: Tyler Morgenstern
Art Threat: A visceral, jarring work: A review of Children 404
“Children like me simply don’t exist for them.” With these ominous words, spoken over a crackling telephone connection, Children 404 draws to a close; its unsettling conclusion signaled by an image of the Russian landscape fading into obscurity, scrubbed out by a layer of broken cloud seen from above, through
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: What the media is missing: Government privacy breaches
Guest blog by Tyler Morgestern, Program Director at the BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association. In the so-called “era of big data,” it’s no secret that more of our personal information than ever is ending up in the hands of powerful organizations, including transnational private corporations, national governments, and
Continue readingArt Threat: London Triptych traces queer desire across the centuries
Owing in large part to Hollywood’s discovery of its infinite star vehicle potential, the “intersecting lives” narrative has become, in recent years, something of a cop out. When the A-story isn’t strong enough, simply prop it up with parallel stories B through F and have them all fatefully (and conveniently)
Continue readingArt Threat: Femininity, fantasy, and fever dreams – Book review: The Lava in My Bones by Barry Webster
In a delirious, hallucinogenic voice, author Barry Webster turns directly toward the place and experience of femininity in a queer life dominated by masculine desires.
Continue readingArt Threat: Hacking the border to pieces: technology, poetics, and protest at the speed of dreams – An encounter with Ricardo Dominguez
Ricardo Dominguez (center), with Electronic Disturbance Theater 2.0. (Photo by Kinsee Morlan.) It’s a staging that feels, if not inappropriate, then at least a little unconventional: I’m seated in front of my laptop in the living room of my East Vancouver home, trying (and mostly failing) to ward off the
Continue readingArt Threat: First Day Back tackles queer teen suicide
Thanks in large part to the hyper-mediated and celebrity-driven character of the contemporary LGBT movement, the issue of queer youth suicide has rightly found its way into the public spotlight. Stories of young queers taking their own lives as an escape from bullying have become tragically commonplace in recent years.
Continue readingArt Threat: Finding (Queer) Time – Book review: First Spring Grass Fire by Rae Spoon
Rae Spoon (Photo: JJ Levine) In his remarkable 2009 text, Cruising Utopia, José Esteban Muñoz fixates on the ways in which queer bodies exist outside of and subvert what he calls “straight time.” Straight time, for Muñoz, is what tells queers that “there is no future but the here and
Continue readingArt Threat: Invocation of the Queer Spirits – Book review: Queer Spirits by AA Bronson and Peter Hobbs
Invocation of the Queer Spirits (Governor’s Island) – AA Bronson There is always a certain magic to be found in the moment of queering. As bodies are opened to unsanctioned desires and sensations, tense moments of wonder unfold before them. Static charges crackle and spark as genders and sexualities are
Continue readingArt Threat: Thomas Waugh flirts with fantasy while fucking reality – An analysis of Out/Lines and Lust Unearthed
[Forward: When I saw that Arsenal Pulp Press had these two books on hand I immediately thought of Tyler. A thoughtful writer, Tyler had the pleasure of meeting Thomas Waugh last summer, and I knew he’d have an interesting perspective on both Out/Lines and Lust Unearthed. He certainly delivered. The
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