About
Sticky Impulse Archive Nights was an ongoing series featuring works from the Crista Dahl Media Library & Archive (2019-2019). Its’ title references the materiality of video – from the originating electrical impulses that transfer content to magnetic tape, to a videotape’s inevitable demise from deterioration of its core elements – and evokes the problematic,things difficult to navigate or to let go of, creative spontaneity, compulsion, euphoric abandon, or the urge to act. The series included video (often), but also textual records, audio, photographs, legacy technology, and ephemera from our collection.
Program Archive
Link to past Sticky Impulse pages by clicking on their program name. They will be available as permissions are obtained.
Some videos have been removed due to permission restrictions. Text and descriptions are available in all cases.
2021
Mar 30 – Apr 12, 2021
The What Remains exhibit draws from the Meg Torwl fonds. Video, radio, poetry, drawings, and photographs related to the practice of queer and disability activist, Meg Torwl, created in British Columbia and New Zealand. Curated by Karen Knights.
2020
Nov 24 – Dec 15, 2020
Explores the rich history of influence and exchange between Japan and Canada in the early, exploratory years of video. Each video program highlights little-seen work and classics by both Japanese and Canadian practitioners, tracing a history of mutual influence and emphasizing important collaborations. Curated by Jesse Cumming.
Sep 29 – Oct 12, 2020
Anti-racist and anti-fascist communiqués and speeches of US activists recorded and circulated through underground and non-conventional channels in Canada in the early 1970s. Curated by Karen Knights.
Jul 28 – Aug 11, 2020
A selection of readings, conversations, abstractions, and physical ephemera from the Lenore Herb Archive and other videos from the Archives. Curated by KC Wei.
Jun 30 – Jul 14, 2020
Two documentaries about Vancouver exhibitions that spoke to video art, site, and duration: Luminous Sites [1986], Feature Length Video [1988]. Selection by Karen Knights.
May 26 – Jun 8, 2020
Videos made by people who have lived in Vancouver or had a relationship with VIVO. They all dance with ideas around social and cultural isolation and bonding. Selection by Clark Henderson.
Apr 28 – May 12, 2020
The program takes its name from a lesbian mothers support group-slash-DIY insemination and pregnancy skill share from the mid 1980s, during a time that queer parents had little legal protection nor medical support. Videos, audio, writings. Curated by Emily Guerrero.
Mar 31 – Apr 21, 2020
A Selection of Joe Sarahan’s videos produced between 1986-1994 in Vancouver. Selection by Karen Knights and Joe Sarahan.
Feb 25, 2020
An evening of archival anarchy: the deliciously messy personal collection of artist and provocateur Lenore Herb AKA Doreen Gray. Zines, posters, set lists, photos, music, video recordings, and her personal writings on Vancouver punk in the 70s and 80s. Curated by Karen Knights.
Jan 28, 2020
A selection of video produced between 1988 and 1992 about propaganda and the news media’s reaction to, and complicity in, the rise of a new generation of anti-Queer legislation in England and the US, and the Gulf War. Curated by Karen Knights.
2019
Nov 26, 2019
The program explores understandings of queer masculinities—queer masculinities in place and through time; internalized and embodied; rejected and embraced. Researcher & Curator Sophie Roberge.
Oct 29, 2019
The Inaugural event of Sticky Impulse. Joe Sarahan’s West Coast Homo Love Story (1994), a 40-minute, semi-narrative journey that flips homo-erotic stereotypes on their head while exploring detachment, silence and loss. Researcher & Curator Sophie Roberge.