Antimatter [media art]

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Deluge Contemporary Art, "Antimatter [media art]," 2018

Dedicated to the exhibition and nurturing of diverse forms of media art, Antimatter is one of the premier showcases of experimentation in film, video, audio and emerging time-based forms. Encompassing screenings, installations, performances and media hybrids, Antimatter offers local, regional and international artist a noncompetitive festival setting free from commercial and industry agendas, committed to diversity and inclusiveness in its programming.

Since 1998, the quality and creativity of its programming, dedication to audience development, resolute internationalism and respect for artists and their work have made Antimatter one of the most important media arts events in Canada. The 21st edition of Antimatter will present six public installations, three live performances and 140+ on-screen works from 20+ countries, all taking place throughout downtown Victoria, BC.

Festival highlights include the BC premiere of Terror Nullius on opening night, a feature film by acclaimed Australian art collective Soda_Jerk. Terror Nullius is a political revenge fable which offers an un-writing of Australian national mythology, described by The Guardian as “a weird, dazzling, kinetic, dizzyingly ambitious, sensationally mishmashed beast of an Australian film, one part video art installation project, one part revisionist documentary and one part, I don’t know—LSD-infused YouTube compilation video?” Day two of the festival presents the first of three performance events with Roses for Ruins by Vancouver-based interdisciplinary artist and musician Lief Hall (formerly half of Canadian “femme noir” experimental pop duo MYTHS) whose installation and performance works explore themes of nature, technology and the body as they relate to mythology, mysticism and the post-human voice.

Wednesday, October 17 is given over to guest programmers Adam Khalil and Zack Khalil (Ojibway), filmmakers and artists from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan currently based in New York. Screening at 7pm, Anti-Ethnography examines the violence inherent in the ethnographic impulse and unveils the absurd fetishism underpinning the discipline with works by Juan Downey, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Tonia Jo Hall, Shelley Niro, Carlos Reygadas, Sky Hopinka and Kent Monkman. Anti-Ethnography will be followed by INAATE/SE/, the Khalils’ debut feature. INAATE/SE/ re-imagines an Anishinaabe story, the Seven Fires Prophecy, which both predates and predicts first contact with Europeans: “The tattered history of the Ojibway people of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is redeemed through the punk-rock humour of a pair of young native filmmakers” (Wall Street Journal).

On Antimatter’s second weekend, Vancouver’s Alex MacKenzie will perform Phosphene—the world premiere of his latest expanded cinema work, a suite in four movements—on two 16mm projectors. A second performance that weekend is Ian Campbell’s Permeable Crystals, an expanded cinema/sound work that harnesses digital technology to re-imagine the characteristics of celluloid film using an antique 1920s hand cranked projector augmented with video and sensors to create a non-linear media experiment from found footage and sound.

Public media installations include Framing Nature at Deluge Contemporary Art, a group exhibition that gives voice to ecological thought, uncentring human language in favour of the non-human. Featuring work by Kyath Battie, Ramey Newell, Elina Oikari, Kalpana Subramanian, and Emilio Vavarella, Framing Nature can be seen at Deluge during the day. Other installations can be viewed after dark in the transom window of Deluge, The Legacy Art Gallery, Ministry of Casual Living’s window gallery in Odeon Alley and the windows of FLUX Media Gallery at 821 Fort Street. Inside FLUX is the haunting and timely Resonant Disintegration, an interactive, sculptural multimedia installation that presents an immersive space for viewers to reflect on their relationships to oceanic life in the context of climate change. The life-size form of an adolescent female orca is suspended at eye level in the space, inviting viewers to approach and physically engage with the sculpture. Resonant Disintegration was created by Victoria’s Colton Hash, whom the public is invited to meet at an opening reception at FLUX on Wednesday, October 10th at 7pm.

Known for the international scope and diversity of its programming, Antimatter [media art] offers attending artists and public myriad points of connection and opportunities for collaboration in intimate and welcoming surroundings, including informal Media Salons on Saturdays (October 13 and 20) at 3pm at Deluge.

All installations are free and screenings and performances are pay-what-you-can (suggested donation $5–$8). Participating artists from around the world attend Antimatter and audiences are invited to engage and dialogue with them and festival producers at salons as well as pre- and post-screening talks and Q&As.

Complete festival program guide available online and throughout Greater Victoria starting September 30.