Play Power

If you're feeling like it's been a while since your last dose of post-punk, queer, feminist culture, then you'll be happy to hear that this Wednesday, The Power Plant (Toronto's leading contemporary art gallery) will have your fix. They'll be screening selections from the oeuvre of avant-garde, DIY filmmaker Sadie Benning. Benning, who was one of the founding members of the seminal band Le Tigre, made her first film at the tender age of fifteen, with a Fisher-Price Pixelvision toy camera. What followed were semi-narrative explorations of her emerging lesbian sexuality and pop culture influences.

Benning has been recognized for her work with a Rockefeller grant, and was included in the 1993 Whitney Biennial. Her first museum retrospective was Sadie Benning: Suspended Animation, in 2007, at the Wexner Centre, Ohio. The Power Plant will be featuring her latest work, Play Pause (2006), in the gallery until May 11.

Wednesday's screening takes place at 7 p.m. in The Studio Theatre, Harbourfront Centre. Tickets are $4 for members, $6 for non-members.

Image from the Harbourfront Centre.