A screening of experimental short films celebrating the Labo’s 20th anniversary. Join us to meet the artists and curator Laura Demers.
To mark the 20th anniversary of the Laboratoire d’arts médiatiques francophone de Toronto, this screening brings together experimental works created by artists and filmmakers from the artist-run centre’s community, alongside pieces drawn from its archives. This program traces a wide-ranging path through formal explorations, intimate narratives, philosophical reflections, and ironic subversions, reflecting the vibrant and diverse artistic community that has driven the organization for two decades.
Behind the Image, a Portrait of Sylvie Bélanger (2007) | Nadine Valcin. Documentary, 8:00 min
11 a.m. to 12 p.m. – Brunch
12 p.m. – Film screening, followed by a Q&A
Admission is free for Labo members.
On the program:
The screening opens under the sign of technological nostalgia. The first two short films, born from the imaginations of artists Julie Tremble and Nicole Blundell, immerse us in explorations of the moving image. Using formats such as VHS and film, these works offer two captivating visions in which analog material becomes a playground for abstraction.
Then, artists Marie Dauverné and Simon M. Benedict unfold narratives of identity in their respective works that are as intimate as they are critical. Built from found images drawn from institutional archives, the internet, and other uncertain sources, their short films bring colonial history, gender identity, and language into collision. A dizzyingly paced visual collage that questions our collective legacies.
Finally, the last two works mark the evolution of our relationship to image-making and its abundance. A documentary by Nadine Valcin invites us into the studio of the late Sylvie Bélanger and behind the scenes of the Passing project (2002), a public artwork composed of several hundred photographs that now adorns Toronto’s Bessarion subway station. The meditative work data.deluge – flash flood (2026) by the duo aenl depicts a rocky landscape made of emojis, suddenly overtaken by a flood. As it ultimately submerges us completely, the work prompts us to reflect on the real impact of our digital excesses on the natural world.
This sample of moving archives bears witness to the tireless inventiveness of the Labo’s community, where media art emerges as an unruly flow that challenges our perspectives, crosses our identities, and questions how images shape our realities.
