MediaQueer.CA (The Queer Media Database Canada-Québec) cordially invites you to an intimate workshop event “PUMPing Up the (data)Base: Who and What is Missing from the Queer Archive?” at VideoFag (187 Augusta Ave., Toronto) on Thursday, Jan 28, DOORS at 7PM, event begins at 7:30PM. Facilitated by MediaQueer Coordinator Jordan Arseneault, in collaboration with research creator Patricia Ciccone (Western University). FREE, all are welcome, RSVP recommended.

This salon is inspired by the “Wikipedia edit-a-thon” style discussion and research creation brainstorm around the artists and works that Torontonians feel should orient new entries into our database, http://www.mediaqueer.ca/ in 2016. Our newly launched online database of 402 artists and over 1250 moving image works is an expansive reflection of Canada’s queer film and video output, but not an exhaustive one. Who is missing from our queer archive? Whom would you like to see represented in this diverse and freely accessible encyclopedia? We recognize that being indexed in archives and databases can lead to artworks being more likely to be programmed, preserved and appreciated. Which new entries would you like to see? What would you like to tell us about, for posterity and for pertinence?

Open to artists, educators, cinephiles, students of queerness and anyone interested in Canada and Québec’s queer moving image history and contemporaneity. Please RSVP to: info@mediaqueer.ca   or call Jordan at 514-848-2424 x5756 (registration not required. Snacks and refreshments will be served). We regret that there are stairs which render this space inaccessible to people with reduced mobility. We remain ever open to your feedback to planning follow-up meetings and salons in Toronto at accessible venues.

FB event: https://www.facebook.com/events/728446437278522/

MediaQueer.ca is:

The Queer Media Database Canada-Québec Project maintains a dynamic online catalogue of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) Canadian film, video and digital works, their makers, and related institutions. Our website, MEDIAQUEER.CA is a bilingual online research and curatorial tool that provides free access to researchers, students, artists, academics, curators, cinephiles, critics, and community members to a rich array of art historical and biographical information about queer moving image works from the 1930s to today looking to program, enjoy, and explore hundreds of works from this diverse encyclopedia. FB:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mediaqueerca/825736410852874

IMAGE CREDIT: Ashish Sawhny's Happy Hookers (2006, CFMDC)