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2019 Festival

NGHTSHFTS honours those who labour in the dark – unseen, unpaid and unprotected. From May 1 to May 24, 2019, Mayworks hosted 12 events featuring exciting and established artists whose work offers critical insight into the rise of the far right and the impacts of racism and colonialism on low-wage workers.

May 24

All or None

all or none Friday , May 24 3pm – 3am (Rain Date; Saturday May 25 ) The act of sitting, pausing is a central fixture in the navigation of the fatigued body in spaces of capitalism; the body that must wait for energy to return before moving again, amidst an affluent and sterile re-sculpting of […]

May 17

Dark Beings

dark beings Friday, May 17, 2019 7pm – 9pm all ages 10pm – 2am ages 19+ Party and album launch with performances by LAL and Ziibiwan Tickets $10-20 sliding scale “In our madness, our sorrow, our joy, our resilience, we escape into timeliness and multiple dimensions that allow us to transcend, beyond our words, our […]

May 15

Unfeeling Capitalism: Ruptures in Video Game Culture

RUPTURES IN VIDEO GAME CULTURE May 15, 7pm – 10pm A night of talk and play with game workers, players and artists confronting capitalism, white supremacy, and misogyny in real and virtual worlds. Paolo Pedercini is a game developer, artist and educator. He teaches experimental game design, creative coding, and animation at Carnegie Mellon University. […]

May 12

CARE

Care Sunday, May 12 12:30pm-1:30pm Film Screening followed by Mother’s Day Brunch for Care Workers Care delves deep into the world of home elder care through the eyes of both paid caregivers and their elderly clients. The film reveals that despite long days taking care of others, care workers often struggle to feed their own […]

May 9 - May 23

Ban Yuh Belly

Ban’ yuh belly Thursday May 9, 7pm – 9pm Hold: Part 1 A conversation between artist Anique Jordan and activist Tina Garnett on the refusal of sense-making Thursday May 23, 7pm – 9pm Hold: Part 2 A conversation between artist Anique Jordan and journalist Priya Ramanujam on media, youth and relationships that carry memory. Ban’ […]

May 7 - May 14

Circle

CIRCLE Tuesday, May 7 and May 14 7pm – 9pm A community-engaged project adapts Diana Taylor’s concept of the archive and the repertoire to consider the challenges of archiving activist movements. In 6 sewing circles, organized by Syrus Marcus Ware, a community of participants will produce a quilted banner that narrates histories of Black activism […]

May 5

Beat work

BEATWORK Sunday May 5, 1pm – 4pm Beatwork is a percussion workshop for migrant farmworkers. Facilitated by musician Ruben ‘Beny’ Esguerra, the workshop reflects on Indigenous migrations from south to north. Incubating liberatory sounds of migration, land, and labour, the workshop will contribute to the development of a new collection of collaborative recordings and a […]

May 2 - June 29

Power in Resistance

Power in Resistance May 2 – June 29, 2019 OPENING RECEPTION Thursday, May 2, 2019 7PM to 9PM This exhibition exposes voices of resistance and resilience that flourish throughout the Americas as a response to centuries of racism, poverty, and widespread economic and social exclusion of Indigenous peoples in the region. From the southern hemisphere […]

May 1

IMMATERIAL CONDITIONS

  Immaterial Conditions Immaterial Conditions illuminates the crossroads where care and the economy meet. Presenting film, photography and sculpture by women and gender-queer artists, the events in this series consider what it means to care. Fishel’s film considers the commodification of care and the labour that surrounds it through the lens of care workers and […]

May 1

Salt

Salt FActory MAY 1, 2019 7pm – 9pm What a simple thing is salt. It is a seasoning readily available on your dinner table now, but for most of human history, salt has had the economic significance that oil has today. Wars were waged, revolutions were ignited and empires collapsed because of salt. Before earth […]