Ectoplasm would leak from psychic mediums during photography sessions as a manifestation of the spirit entering the physical world. Expulsion often caused great pain to the psychic mediums creating it. At times the substance was solid and would take the shape of a face or body parts, while at other times it was fluid and contained imagery of spirits or memories. Ectoplasms is a multi-channel video installation that depicts the decay and dripping of photographs. The images initially seem static, but they begin to move around the viewer in ways that defy gravity and orientation. As the viewer tries to place the imagery, they grapple with its disappearance.

Megan Moore is a Montreal-based media artist. Through the manipulation of personal and public archives, her immersive photo and video installations offer reflections on memory, grief and the photographic medium. Megan has exhibited in Canada (FOFA Gallery, Orillia Museum of Art and History, Toronto Media Arts Centre) and Europe (Maison de la Photographie, France, Ulster Museum, UK.) In 2015 she won the Montreal Emerging Photographer award. Megan holds a BFA in Photography from Concordia University and an MFA in Studio Arts from the University of Guelph.

Images of the Ectoplasms installation in Re:Building Resilience:

Photos by Henry Chang

Intolerance of Uncertainty is an installation that combines a single-channel video, Instruction to the Ball Measure and the Ball in a fictional setting that resembles the interior of a psychiatrist therapy session. This participatory work asks an audience to sit as “a testee” to assess the levels of their own anxiety. The audience can grab the red ball placed on the table, which also appears in the video, and follow each gesture of the hands interacting with the ball. It is to measure an individual’s anxiety, especially their intolerance of uncertain future events. The Ball physically channels its participant to the imagined realm of psychiatry, unfolding in the video through its tactility.

Ivetta Sunyoung Kang is an interdisciplinary visual and video artist and writer, currently based in Montreal. She studied film directing in South Korea and earned her MFA in Film Production at Concordia University. She has presented short films and videos at film festivals and galleries around the world, including in South Korea, Canada, Germany and the United States. In 2016, Kang was shortlisted for the Simon Blais Award in Canada. She recently published a poetry book entitled Absent Seats and is a co-founding member of the artist collective Quite Ourselves, and the A/V duo CCVX?.

This artist has interactive materials which will be provided in the first 50 RWM swag bag in order to interact with their virtual content. All ticket holders will be invited to receive RWM swag bags available for free curbside pickup during festival hours.

To purchase this work, please visit our online store. To purchase only the interactive item, click here.

Images of the Intolerance of Uncertainty installation in Re:Building Resilience:

Photos by Henry Chang

This film adaptation of the award-winning, self-mythologized facade of a rock show incorporates life-sized video projection, original music, gestural choreography and on-the-go stage props to coalesce into a black-box style theatrical spectacle meets dirty diary, exploring the elusive and dichotomous nature of queer identity. With a reliance on the grimy mustard-coloured lights and sequins of 70s glam rock aesthetics, the protagonist travels the mental collapse of a dark night of the soul, searching for purpose in a world that doesn’t care to be purposeful. Themes include rejection, broken promises, wishes on a star, deals with the devil and packing up to leave with no intention of return… leaving behind the ghost of glitter’s past.

James Knott is an emerging, Toronto-based artist, having received a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Integrated Media from OCAD University. Their performance-based practice combines theatre, video and audio art to create immersive and emotionally resonant experiences for the viewer. Explored themes include: paradoxical and queer identity, inner dialogue, mental illness and camp theatrics. Currently their practice looks to house personal narratives and queer experience through poetic re-tellings, self-mythologizing, and auto-iconographic aestheticism.

CONTENT WARNINGS

Strobe Light, Loud Sounds, Nudity, Sexual Content, Self-Harm

James Knott will be participating in a virtual Q&A moderated by Francisco-Fernando Granados on Saturday, October 17, at 7 PM.

Medication Meditation is a single player game about the daily experience of living with mental illness. This game demonstrates the effort put into maintaining wellbeing and the mundane aspects of mental illness we often overlook. Anatomical, flesh coloured pixel art brings the player into a game-y feel and lets them focus on their somatic experience in this unwinnable game.

Kara Stone is an artist and scholar interested in the affective and gendered experiences of psychosocial disability, debility and healing as it relates to art production, particularly video games. Her artwork has been featured in The Atlantic, Wired and Vice. She is a member of the Different Games Collective. She is currently a PhD student in Film and Digital Media with a designated emphasis in Feminist Studies at University of California at Santa Cruz.

Images of the Medication Meditation installation in Re:Building Resilience:

Photos by Henry Chang

Re:Building Resilience features 25 installations that examine all facets of mental health issues. This will be our last festival at 651 Dufferin Street before moving to a brand new facility at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. What better way to say “good-bye” than to animate all 11,000 square feet with performance art, installations, theatre, dance, film and media art?

Tickets and Viewing Options

Tickets for virtual viewing are pay what you wish. Virtual viewing is available throughout the festival. With your ticket, you will have access to a virtual tour that includes a virtual swag bag with extra features from the 25 projects on offer. All ticket holders will also be invited to receive physical RWM swag bags available for free curbside pickup during festival hours.