bad2thebone
Collaborative Project by
QeerSoftOrange
the plumb, Toronto, ON
June – September, 2023
Project by: Adrien Crossman, Maddie Alexander, Luke Maddaford, Tyler Matheson, Morris Fox, Dana Buzzee.
QueerSoftOrange (QSO) transformed the plumb bar into a gay bar, deco-jamming the space with queer event posters, ephemera, archival and queer community resources—think disco inferno meets the gay student league meets a basement queer zine swap. We extended this decorative intervention beyond the bar to other spaces in the gallery, like the bookshelf, corridors, and washroom, to create a sense of longing for a time past and past-time. QSO’s installation, Bad 2 the Bone, aroused our longing for a space that doesn't exist, recalling the sensation of being in a gay bar, tethered to decor, atmosphere, and social interactions.
The reception for Bad 2 the Bone was a one-night-only gay dance party (June 23, 2023): our love letter to all the queer bars past, missing the contours and feelings of ex-lovers, sites of intimacy, chasing a spectral feeling. For one night only, guests were entangled with the history of Queer Toronto nightlife.
Re-enacting queer space honours the precariousness of physical places for and by queer communities in Toronto and beyond. Together, we perform acts of desire, longing for all we wish these spaces were, dancing forward and haunted by the past, not looking for gay ghosts, but the feeling that you've arrived to the party late.
Acknowledgements:
The ArQuives, Craig Jennex, Eric Kostiuk Williams, The Beaver, Steer & Queers, Michael Comeau, Oliver Husain, Jess Dobkin, Dyke Nite, Zab Design & Typography, Lisa Kiss, Emmy Tran, Mitch Duncan, Jeremy Laing, Blake Mawson, Todd Westendorp, Traxx and Feels, Morgane Dieudonné, Meg Fox, Leonidas “Zellers” Armstrong-DeJongh, HVN, Que’d up, CHAPSTICK Toronto, About Last Night, TOASTR, Queer Night Out Guelph, Lina Wu, Strapped TO, Rude Collective, OMG blog, Yohomo, Her, Big Primpin*, Buddies in Bad Times, and many more. QueerSoftOrange acknowledges support from the Ontario Arts Council.
Documentation courtesy of Alison Postma and Tyler Matheson