Presented as part of Knot Projections 2019: Imagining Publics, a city-wide public art exhibition in Ottawa running from July-November 2019, featuring five new commissions by Ottawa artists at four outdoor locations. The exhibition was the culmination of a year-long commissioning program, which ran simultaneously with the Video in the Public Sphere speaker series – a discursive program featuring international artists and scholars who spoke Knot Project Space and at times ran workshops and seminars on themes related to public art. More info about the project can be found here.
Dont Believe the ’69 Hype!
Don’t Believe the ’69 Hype! was an artist talk and panel on the mythologies and realities of the 1969 Criminal Code reform and its impact on the lives of queers, sex workers, and those seeking abortions. The event began with a brief talk from artist/activist Ryan Conrad whose commissioned video projection Don’t Believe The Hype! was on display in Ottawa’s gay village from August 16th-25th as part of Knot Projections 2019: Imagining Publics, an extended public projection series involving five local artists. Ryan’s brief talk about the work was followed by context-setting commentary from Tom Hooper (Historian; Faculty Member @ York University), Ummni Khan (Associate Professor, Law and Legal Studies @ Carleton University) and Darrah Teitel (Playwright; Campaign Officer, Action Canada).
Ryan Conrad
Ryan Conrad is artist, activist, and scholar based in Ottawa. He is currently a SSHRC postdoctoral fellow in the Cinema & Media Studies Program at York University where he is working on a manuscript entitled ‘Radical VIHsion: Canadian AIDS Film & Video.’ Previously he held a postdoctoral fellowship at Carleton University with the AIDS Activist History Project.
Darrah Teitel
Darrah Teitel is currently the campaigns officer for Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights. Previously, Darrah worked on Parliament Hill as a legislative assistant for the official opposition critics for the Status of Women and Indigenous Affairs. Later, she worked as the Director of Advocacy for the Canadian Artists Representation.
Tom Hooper
Tom Hooper is a historian who researches the criminalization of LGBTQ2 communities in the decades following the 1969 criminal code reform. He also works as contract faculty in the Law and Society Program at York University.
Ummni Khan
Ummni Khan, S.J.D., is an Associate Professor in Legal Studies at Carleton University. Her scholarship addresses the legal and cultural construction of sexual deviancy in relation to gender, racialization, class, and disability along with other axes of difference and identity. Her current major research project addresses the criminalization of sex trade clients and the possibility of a constitutional challenge.
Related Programming
Public Art: Don’t Believe the Hype!, Ryan Conrad. August 16 – 25, 2019.