Fall 2020

In 1964, Susan Sontag brought the term camp to the mainstream, when before it existed in the minds and hearts of queer communities across the world, people who worshipped at the alter of Dorothy of Oz in the church of Andy Warhol. While some of her points still stand—love of the unnatural, the esoteric and the artificial, an aversion to the ideas of “good taste,” ostentatious aesthetics—there are some points that became outdated within the decade. Camp has bred so many new generations of beauty. In this program, we exhibit some of the newest, videos that celebrate exaggerated queer sensibilities, witchy women, new takes on the mainstream and generally a big old fuck you to hegemonic norms. In times like this, we need some beauty and fun in our lives and we would like to provide that with this program, but as you watch, just remember one thing: a spectre is haunting this program—Sontag’s Ghost!

Online program. PWYC Rental at pdome.org from Wed., Dec. 2 To Wed., Dec. 9, 2020
Closing Q&A + community zoom Wed., Dec. 9 at 7:30 pm EST

Sontag’s Ghost is curated by Pleasure Dome’s co-chair, Shahbaz Khayambashi.

Image credit: Rhapsody in Blueberry, Gaelle Denis (France, 2017)

PROGRAM EXPIRED, but you can watch the Q&A!

The question of what beauty is and how it can be defined is slippery and multi-faceted. The experience of pleasure in the visual and other senses is something most people find nourishing and even transformative. But under white-supremacist patriarchal capitalism certain bodies are designated as more or less valuable, particularly for feminized bodies this is often in terms of whether they are deemed beautiful or ugly by the dominant culture. This collection of films explores desire, fat liberation, what it means to be ‘feminine’, and how racism intersects with the beauty myth.

Online program. PROGRAM EXPIRED

PWYC Rental at pdome.org from Thurs., Nov. 5 to Fri., Nov. 13, 2020
Closing Q&A + community zoom Fri., Nov. 13 at 7:30 pm EDT

Skin Deep is curated by Pleasure Dome’s Board Director, Clare Samuel, with a curatorial essay by Board Director, Yunglin Wang.

Image credit: Wash Day, Kourtney Jackson (Canada, 2019)

The months since the pandemic began have been a time of massive change. As a culture we’re reassessing the types of ‘work’ that hold the fabric of society together, and how they are (or are not) valued. In questioning what is ‘essential’ the necessity of touch and connection to others has become painfully palpable. And there’s a growing realization of the urgent need for the deep systemic work required to make our interconnectedness function in a way that creates genuine freedom and equity for all. These films explore isolation, music, temporary and precarious work, justices won, and the many still to fight for.

Online program. PWYC Rental at pdome.org from Wed., Sept. 23 to Wed., Sept. 30, 2020
Join us for closing Q&A + community zoom Wed. Sept. 30, 2020 at 7:30 pm EDT

Essential Work is curated by Pleasure Dome’s Board Director, Clare Samuel. This event is co-presented by CFMDC and sponsored by Workers United Union. Closing Q&A Moderated by Grayson Alabiso-Cahill.

Image credit: Dream Delivery, Yuan Zheng (China, 2018)

PROGRAM EXPIRED