Toronto Media Arts Centre

A place to create and experience video, film, games and digital culture in Toronto’s West Queen West neighbourhood.

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Exhibitions & Festivals

Monica Mak and Shiva Shoeybi

The Hair Scarf Project

September 19–28

10am-5pm weekdays

Free

Jessica Thompson

DoubleBind

September 18–22

11am-5:45pm daily

free

Rendezvous With Madness 2019

October 10–20

12-6pm daily

Free

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Events & Workshops

Charles Street Video

The Hair Scarf Project Opening Reception

2019-09-19T17:00:00.000-04:00 2019-09-19T20:00:00.000-04:00 Join us for the opening of Hair Scarf Project at Charles Street Video. Monica Mak (documentary filmmaker) and Shiva Shoeybi (mixed media artist) have joined forces to create The Hair Project. This collaborative mixed media work combines fabric-based art with documentary video installation. Through the fusion of these media forms, we reflect on the internal versus external constructions of female appearance, the lived experiences of three Muslim women of different ages and backgrounds, who choose to wear. https://www.datocms-assets.com/5128/1568845547-resize-1-php.jpg CONFIRMED
September 19, 5:00 PM
Toronto Media Arts Centre
32 Lisgar Street
Toronto
ON
Wavelength Music Series

Building Bridges in Grassroots Arts

2019-09-25T19:00:00.000-04:00 2019-09-25T21:00:00.000-04:00 Join Wavelength Music Series for this animated discussion at Toronto Media Arts Centre regarding bridge-building for communities in the DIY/grassroots/underground space. In an interconnected world increasingly dominated by a handful of powerful media and social media companies, what does it mean to be a grassroots or niche organization? Can you still have an impact and make a difference? Is bridge-building the key to how grassroots communities and organizations survive and thrive? Wavelength's guest curator Ian Steaman moderates a panel of cultural creatives, attempting to examine these questions and others. Join panelists Riaz Charania (Myseum of Toronto, Wavelength Board of Directors), Josephine Cruz (DJ Jayemkayem, ISO Radio), Max-Hol Mechanika Sosnowiec (Unit 2) and Chris Penrose (WatrVision Creative) for discussions on topics such as: * How important is bridge-building? Is it a key part of your organization’s mission statement or core agenda? * Where does bridge-building fit into the strategic growth and development agenda of your organization? * What does forging ties, developing relationships, building allies or forming partnerships look like for your organizations in practical terms? * What have been the challenges, successes, lessons learned from this process? * How does this process look like moving ahead and what is the future for community, niche organizations that “go it alone” rather focus on bridge-building? "This is an opportunity for frank discussion, speaking truth to power, sharing best practices amongst community organizations representing grassroots, niche, marginalized, underrepresented, underground and/or non-mainstream music and arts organizations," says Jonny Dovercourt - Artistic Director of Wavelength Music. Arrive early -- there will be an opening performance by [Heaven](https://soundcloud.com/hvnheart) (Scarborough avant-pop). https://www.datocms-assets.com/5128/1568737637-7039425324877984246003795952658749079420928o.jpg CONFIRMED
September 25, 7:00 PM
Toronto Media Arts Centre
32 Lisgar Street
Toronto
ON
Gamma Space Collaborative Studio

Friends Play Games

2019-09-23T18:30:00.000-04:00 2019-09-23T21:30:00.000-04:00 Friends Play Games is a bi-weekly community gathering for all those that love playing, talking about, and sharing their love of games Video games, board games, social games will all be available for play. Bring one with you or play something new that someone else brings along. We have extra screens and controllers on hand if you need some extra help getting things running. If you have a game in progress, this a perfect chance to get people to try out your game and give you feedback. Don’t be shy about showing your work! Every night, we will have one event wide game that can be played by everyone. This game will change every night. Running for over five years, it’s a great way to meet some of Toronto’s game development community and those who support them. Please leave no trace. Harassment-free space. ALSO we will end at 930 sharp to respect any working volunteers time. If you have any questions, we’ll be happy to get you sorted. https://www.datocms-assets.com/5128/1560616544-tmac-promotion.png CONFIRMED
September 23, 6:30 PM
Toronto Media Arts Centre
32 Lisgar Street
Toronto
ON
Dames Making Games

Damage Camp 2019

2019-11-30T10:00:00.000-05:00 2019-11-30T18:00:00.000-05:00 A one-day gathering of Toronto’s uniquely diverse and collaborative independent games community. A half day of talks and discussion is followed by hands-on workshops to empower participants with tools and support to create interactive and playful work for ourselves and for people like us. An arcade will showcase new experimental games by our members. https://www.datocms-assets.com/5128/1548088586-2018-09-07001.jpg CONFIRMED
November 30, 10:00 AM
Toronto Media Arts Centre
32 Lisgar Street
Toronto
ON
Shameless Magazine

Talking Back Feminist Media Conference

2019-11-16T10:00:00.000-05:00 2019-11-17T17:00:00.000-05:00 In celebration of our 15th year of independent feminist publishing for teens, Shameless will host the first ever Talking Back Feminist Media Conference. More details TBA! https://www.datocms-assets.com/5128/1567718313-conferencemain920500.png CONFIRMED
November 16–17
Toronto Media Arts Centre
32 Lisgar Street
Toronto
ON
Canadian Filmmakers' Distribution Centre + FADO Performance Art

International Visiting Artists: Liina Kuittinen (Finland)

2019-09-20T19:30:00.000-04:00 2019-09-20T23:00:00.000-04:00 *I am on my four. I am next to the ground. I see the surface from very close distance, the small particles and the space between them. I have to move my whole body closer to the object if I want to see it more clearly. I can not take the object in my hand and bring it closer to my eye. As an artist I am on my four and my hands are not swinging freely.* *I am eating ice-cream while writing this text. I am eating ice-cream for real, not just writing about it. I am eating it and it gives me great pleasure. Ice-cream goes through my digestion and my body knows how to turn the sugar into energy and to use the proteins and to get rid of the leftovers. Digestion is process that involves the body with other processes, one point in the circle of matter. Performance operates on the same plain with digestion. Performance and process of digesting are equally real. They are meeting points for material flows, actual events transforming material into other.* A new performance by Liina Kuittinen will be presented. ### ABOUT VIVA! ART ACTION www.vivamontreal.org _Image credit: Helene. Liina Kuittinen. 2018. Photo by Peter Rosvik._ https://www.datocms-assets.com/5128/1562628308-liina-kuittinen.jpg CONFIRMED
September 20, 7:30 PM
Toronto Media Arts Centre
32 Lisgar Street
Toronto
ON
Canadian Filmmakers' Distribution Centre + FADO Performance Art

Liina Kuittinen & Marita Bullmann

2019-09-21T13:00:00.000-04:00 2019-09-21T15:00:00.000-04:00 Artists: Marita Bullmann, Liina Kuittinen FADO is pleased to welcome Liina Kuittinen (Finland) and Marita Bullman (Germany) to the International Visiting Artists series. This series seeks to bring exceptional artists from the global performance art scene to Toronto, to present a new work (September 20) and give an artist talk (September 21) about their own practices and the contemporary performance art ecologies of their home cities/countries. Liina Kuittinen and Marita Bullman's appearance in Toronto is in collaboration with VIVA! Art Action, one of FADO's enduring partners. FADO and VIVA! have partnered several times (2013: Tomasz Szrama / Poland, Macarena Perich Rosas / Chile; 2015: Victoria Gray / UK, Dorothea Rust / Switzerland) over the years to share the presentation of international artists to both platforms in order to bring exceptional artists and their work to audiences in both cities; in addition to giving visiting artists the unique opportunity of engaging with performance communities in both Toronto and Montreal. _Image credit: untitled (another small matter). Marita Bullman. 2017. Photo by Rebekah Dahlia._ https://www.datocms-assets.com/5128/1562627890-marita-bullmantalks-pic.jpg CONFIRMED
September 21, 1:00 PM
Toronto Media Arts Centre
32 Lisgar Street
Toronto
ON
Canadian Filmmakers' Distribution Centre + FADO Performance Art

International Visiting Artists: Marita Bullmann (Germany)

2019-09-20T19:30:00.000-04:00 2019-09-20T23:00:00.000-04:00 Marita Bullmann's works are engagements with everyday objects: familiar materials, actions, spaces and places. In her performances, she seeks a direct encounter between body and space. Her working method can be understood as a temporally ephemeral, site- and situation-specific process. With her actions she creates her own realities and scenarios, which strengthen the awareness for object, material, body and space. Visual, temporal, haptic or acoustic elements determine the effect and perception of her performance. The way she creates abstract interpretations allows us to perceive and observe the things around us in a new way. The interpretation takes place through experience. The objects and materials she uses are by no means neutral, but connect with our sensual and emotional world of experience. Bullmann's intention is to influence the usual mechanisms of seeing and perceiving far away from cultural imprints and to create a new 'space' that lets us become aware of the act of seeing. She combines the constructed experiences with a search for images and actions that make the phenomena of curiosity and peculiarity visible. ### ABOUT VIVA! ART ACTION www.vivamontreal.org _Image Credit: untitled. Marita Bullmann. Photo by Svetlana Lopato._ https://www.datocms-assets.com/5128/1562627403-marita-bullmann.jpg CONFIRMED
September 20, 7:30 PM
Toronto Media Arts Centre
32 Lisgar Street
Toronto
ON
BoardAgain Games

Queers & More Queers Game Night

2019-11-05T18:00:00.000-05:00 2019-11-05T21:00:00.000-05:00 A bi-monthly game night that welcomes trans, non-binary, femmes, women and any queer-identified folk. https://www.datocms-assets.com/5128/1552340487-5319236422273006641767504856804350380474368o.jpg CONFIRMED
November 5, 6:00 PM
Toronto Media Arts Centre
32 Lisgar Street
Toronto
ON
Gamma Space Collaborative Studio + Our Networks

RE: Infrastructures

2019-09-20T10:00:00.000-04:00 2019-09-22T18:00:00.000-04:00 Our Networks 2019 explores the collective care and maintenance of alternative networking practices—new protocols, peer-to-peer connections, offline-first computing, or community-based governance and ownership. Building on last year, where we asked how to move beyond solitary practices of do it yourself (DIY), in 2019 we explore what critical and creative practices offer RE: Infrastructures of alternatives. How can these emerging Infrastructures of Reproduction provide spaces to imagine radically different futures, resist easy co-option by the forces of late-stage capitalism, and work in solidarity as plural networks seeking emancipatory change? To answer this we draw on insights from organizers, technologists, artists, and scholars to ensure the focus is not only on the technical aspects of infrastructure, but also the social and cultural. Their diverse perspectives suggest ways we can make space for livelihoods, solidarity, and survival; draw on history and place to bring our fullest imaginations to this moment; and open ways to think these questions together as we build transitional forms. https://www.datocms-assets.com/5128/1531104908-2018-07-0822-54-43.png CONFIRMED
September 20–22
Toronto Media Arts Centre
32 Lisgar Street
Toronto
ON

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