As an American expat unfamiliar with the pop-cultural aspect of Canadian politics, a lot of the jokes in Laureen: Queen of the Tundra went over my head. However, it is to the performers’ credit that this did not distract from their commentary about the fluidity of gender and culture, against
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Art Threat: Montreal Fringe: Non-conformist jugglers, Mrs. Pirandello, and intense performance art
The New Conformity, from Vancouver circus troupe Cause & Effect, is on its most immediate level a direct commentary on contemporary corporate culture. The performers, clad in identical grey suits, use juggling and physical comedy to tell the story of one man’s rebellion against imposed monotony, which begins with the
Continue readingArt Threat: Montreal Fringe: Dystopia, misogyny, and carrés rouges
2056: A Dystopian Black Comedy takes place in a near-future Canada, controlled by an authoritarian regime known as the Helpers who have, in the wake of an atheist Reckoning, abolished all religion and languages other than English. Like other dystopias, it is based on controlled fear. Written by Keir Cutler
Continue readingArt Threat: Transform This: iconic Johnny Cash photo used to protest Saskatchewan university cuts
Things may soon be looking grim for many students and faculty at the University of Saskatchewan. The Saskatoon-based institution is looking to slash up to $25 million from its operating budget. In a restructuring process the administration has branded TransformUS, the UofS is currently determining “university priorities”, after which they
Continue readingArt Threat: The Hays Files
Matthew Hays is a prolific cultural critic who, aside from publishing many academic journal articles and books, wrote for years in Montreal on everything in cinema, from porn to puppets to gun culture to corporate psychopaths. Always politically peppy and insightful, Hays oscillates between biting critique and irreverent humour, but
Continue readingArt Threat: Infographic: equal education, unequal pay
It’s 2012 and close to four years after the Lilly ledbetter Fair Pay Act was signed into law in the United States. Surely, the gender wage gap has been closed, right? Wrong. Even with moves toward equalizing pay between men and women, men still make almost 20% more than women
Continue readingArt Threat: Some kind of monster – Film screening cancelled amid unsubstantiated copyright fears
Canadian filmmaker and activist John Greyson is no stranger to controversy — whether haranguing Justin Bieber to pull concerts scheduled for Israel, supporting queer film festivals in hostile environments, or scuffling with TIFF over the erasure of occupation in special programming, the prolific auteur has seen his share of messy
Continue readingArt Threat: WikiLeaks dump reveals Dow Chemical spies read Art Threat
Today WikiLeaks began releasing a collection of emails obtained from the servers of Stratfor, an American private espionage firm with a client list that boasts such warm and fuzzy companies as Dow Chemical, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and the US Department of Homeland Security. According to WikiLeaks, “the emails
Continue readingArt Threat: Groucho Marx: What this country needs
This is an excerpt from Groucho Marx and Other Short Stories and Tall Tales: Selected Writings of Groucho Marx, edited by Robert S. Bader. During the 1940s Groucho would often write about topics related to World War II while remaining, for the most part, non-political. At home, however, most discussions
Continue readingArt Threat: Art Threat will go dark for SOPA Strike
SOPA is the Stop Online Piracy Act being proposed by the US Congress. It is an overbearing, industry sponsored piece of legislation that, in effect, holds internet culture hostage in the name of copyright. Among its worst outcomes, websites will be held legally responsible for copyright infringement of any websites
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