Play Pause

Simon Starling & Sadie Benning at Power Plant

The Power Plant (231 Queens Quay W) spring exhibitions feature the Canadian premieres of works by Turner Prize-winning British conceptual artist Simon Starling and US lesbian video artist Sadie Benning (cofounder of the band Le Tigre). Benning’s two-screen projected video installation Play Pause (directed in collaboration with Solveig Nelson) is made of hundreds of drawings woven together. It’s the day-in-the-life of an anonymous American city and the search for everyday pleasures and play by its genderbending cast of characters. Exhibitions open with a free public reception on Fri, Feb 29 from 8pm to 11pm and run till May 11.

The gallery also presents an evening of Benning’s films ranging from early diaristic shorts made with a Pixelvision toy camera to the featurette Flat is Beautiful on Wed, Mar 19 at 7pm . Regular admission is $5, free on Wednesday evenings. Benning discusses her work in person in April during the Images fest. Call (416) 973-4949 or go to Thepowerplant.org.

The contributor photo for Gordon Bowness

Gordon Bowness (he/him) is the former executive editor of Xtra. With a 30-year career covering the LGBTQ2S+ community, Gordon is also the founding editor of Go Big magazine and In Toronto (now In Magazine). He is an English speaker and lives in Toronto.

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