Video

See Evil

Steele & Tomczak, Lisa Steele and Kim Tomczak

1985, 28:08 minutes, colour, English

TAPECODE 802.02

Produced in the summer of 1985 when the censorship of video, film, and visual art was a common occurrence in Ontario, this tape presents a series of interviews to answer the question: How do you say no to the cops and other authority figures? Individuals who have had personal experience with state censorship are interviewed, including Lynne King, lawyer for the anti-censorship movement; Anna Gronau, experimental filmmaker and founder of OFAVACS (Ontario Film and Video Against Censorship Society); Doug Sigurdson, coordinator of A Space when the Ontario Censor Board confiscated artists' videotapes there; Thelma McCormack, feminist, professor and researcher on the effects of "pornography"; Hans Bergschmidt, a professional film projectionist; Beverly Cavanaugh, owner of a videotape rental store busted by police but never formally charged with any offences; and Susan Ditta, coordinator of Canadian Images Film Festival, who was charged with contravening the censorship laws of the province for showing an artist's film at her festival. While incorporating documentary-style material, this tape makes no attempt to achieve a "balanced" point of view. Instead the interviews are interspersed with blatantly fictional set pieces that underscore the surreal effect that state intervention has on the lives of individuals.

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Critical Writing

Lisa's Long Haul: Artist Lisa Steele talks to Sarah Milroy about...
by Sarah Milroy. The Globe and Mail, Feb. 19, 2005.
Interview: Lisa Steele & Kim Tomczak
by Corinna Ghaznavi. Canadian Art, Winter 2000, v. 17, no. 4.
Kim Tomczak: Video Artist
by Roger Matuz. Contemporary Canadian Artists, 1997. Toronto: Gale Canada, 1997.
Lisa Steele: Video Artist
by Roger Matuz. Contemporary Canadian Artists, 1997. Toronto: Gale Canada, 1997.
Clock ticking on AGO video show
by Randi Spires. The Toronto Star, Jan. 12, 1990.
Lisa Steele and Kim Tomczak: The groundbreaking dynamic duo of...
by Cameron Bailey. Now, Nov. 9, 1989, v. 9, no. 10.
4 hours and 38 minutes: Videotapes by Steele and Tomczak
by Philip Monk. AGO NEWS, Nov. 1989, v. 11, no. 10.
Utopias of Resistance: Strategies of Cultural Self-Determination
by Dot Tuer. catalogue, 1989. Art Gallery of Ontario, 1989.
Disclosure: Lisa Steele and Kim Tomczak: The Collaborative Tapes
by Philip Monk. catalogue, 1989. Art Gallery of Ontario, 1989.
Collaborative Videotapes: Descriptions by the Artist
by Lisa Steele and Kim Tomczak. 4 Hours and 38 Minutes, 1989. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1989.
The 1986 New Work Show
by Geoffery Shea. Cinema Canada, Nov. 1986.
The Lisa Steele Tapes: Investigation and Vision
by Catherine Russell. North of Everything: English Canadian Cinema Since 1980, 1980. University of Alberta Press, 1980.