Two online video programs
Program 1: May 5
Progam 2: May 7
Streaming starts at 7pm & ends at 11pm for each program.
www.vivomediaarts.com/archive/marc-paradis/
This is a FREE EVENT courtesy of Vidéographe, Montreal. This event is part of Vidéographe's celebration of 50 years of continuous commitment to research and promotion of video and experimental practices of the moving image.
THE VIDEO OF MARC PARADIS
Marc Paradis (1955-2019) was a pioneer of queer video in Quebec and Canada. Since his debut work, Le voyage de l’ogre (1981), he has interrogated notions of sexuality, the body and homosexual identity. He was an obsessive and transgressive artist, whose aesthetic oscillates between raw and explicit realism (La cage) and a certain classicism, particularly in his representations of the body (Harems) and in his pictural references.The texts, their literary quality and their declamation play a central role (Réminiscences carnivores [Carnivorous Reminiscences]) and lend a tragic resonance to these stories of love, sex, rupture and death. L’incident “Jones”, Lettre à un amant [Letter to a Lover] and Délivre-nous du mal [Deliver us from Evil] form a triptych that condense these intimate and artistic questionings.
PROGRAMS
These two programs comprise seven titles made between 1981 and 1991. They accompany the launch of Vidéographe’s bilingual digital publication Marc Paradis, an Ogre’s Desire which comprises three new texts by Luc Bourdon, Alexis Lemieux, and Denis Vaillancourt, the 17 videos made by Paradis, including two previously unseen works, and a rich selection of personal documents – scripts, notes and photographs.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS & PUBLICATION
www.vivomediaarts.com/archive/marc-paradis/
BIOGRAPHY
Born in Montréal, Marc Paradis (1955-2019) studied drama and visual arts. Between 1978 and 1990, he also trained with the likes of Józef Robakowski, Bruno Bigoni, Jerzy Grotowski and Michael Kriegman. Paradis became interested in video in 1981, when he did a screen
test for French filmmaker Jean-François Garsi, for whom he worked as an assistant. He went on to make Le voyage de l’ogre, the first of his 17 productions. His works question and consider omantic relationships between men, desire, fantasy, and the representation of sexuality, at times playing with the borders of pornography. In 1984, he made Schème video [Video Scheme] with Luc Bourdon, followed by Say Cheese for a Trans-Canadian Look the following year, two works that look at video art in Canada. He also made portraits and video recordings of artists such as Denis Lessard, John Mingolla and Yves Lalonde. His work has received national and international recognition. His work has received both national and international recognition. Marc Paradis died in Montreal in the summer of 2019.
VIVO is located in the homelands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples in a warehouse space at 2625 Kaslo Street south of East Broadway at the end of E 10th. Transit line 9 stops at Kaslo Street on Broadway. From the bus stop, the path is paved, curbless, and on a slight decline. The closest skytrain station is Renfrew Station, which is three blocks south-east of VIVO and has an elevator. From there, the path is paved, curbless, and on a slight incline. There is parking available at VIVO, including wheelchair access parking. There is a bike rack at the entrance. The front entrance leads indoors to a set of 7 stairs to the lobby.
A wheelchair ramp is located at the west side of the main entrance. The ramp has two runs: the first run is 20 feet long, and the second run is 26 feet. The ramp is 60 inches wide. The slope is 1:12. The ramp itself is concrete and has handrails on both sides. There is an outward swinging door (34 inch width) at the top of the ramp leading to a vestibule. A second outward swinging door (33 inch width) opens into the exhibition space. Buzzers and intercoms are located at both doors to notify staff during regular office hours or events to unlock the doors. Once unlocked, visitors can use automatic operators to open the doors.
There are two all-gender washrooms. One has a stall and is not wheelchair accessible. The other is a single room with a urinal and is wheelchair accessible: the door is 33 inches wide and inward swinging, without automation. The toilet has 11 inch clearance on the left side and a handrail.
To reach the bathrooms from the studio, exit through the double doors and proceed straight through the lobby and down the hall . Turn left, and the two bathrooms will be on your right side. The closest one has a stall and is not wheelchair accessible. The far bathroom is accessible.