The project finds its roots in “traditional” carnival haunted houses and lesbian-feminist direct-action aesthetics. Formally, community theatre-tactics, soundscapes, conversation, lighting design, performance, props, sculpture, costuming and public interaction all inform the Kastle.
Built with creepy but whimsical craft aesthetics, the space stages 8-12 interactive human-scale dioramas. Visitors tour through each of these “scenes” guided by their Demented Women’s Studies Professor who narrates the trip. The journey ends with Real Life Feminist Killjoys and some hardcore lesbian processing.
Altering traditional horror tropes to prey on the public’s fears of queer culture, performers in Killjoy’s Kastle take the form of ghosts, ghouls, monsters, political indoctrinators, and lesbian avengers.
The space inside is alive with various performers and scenes that the visitors encounter including such as: The Hallway of Concerns; The Crypt of Dead Lesbian Organizations, Businesses and Ideas; The Giant Bearded Clam and Her Familiar; Paranormal Consciousness Raisers; Da Carpet Muncha; The Terrifying Tunnel of Two Adult Women in Love; The Non Binary Goddexx with fluid fluid ejaculation (being supported by their TERFS in servitude); The Polyamorous Vampiric Grannies; Riot Ghoul Dance Party; The Intersectional Activist Wrestling with the Crumbling Pillars of Society; Stitch Witches and Ye Olde Lesbian Feminist Gift Shoppee and so much more. The “house” is constructed with an entrance and exit façade and includes dividing walls, lighting and a sound system. For visitors, the Kastle experience begins in the very long line up to get into the house. Guests are greeted by the ghost of radical feminist Valerie Solanas.
This project is indebted to other artists, queer histories, and the many performers who bring the project to life. A range of queer, trans and lesbian-identified artists and activists help to workshop the projects political development as well as object making as is changes from each site of installation.
Allyson Mitchell’s individual and collaborative art practice uses sculpture, performance, installation, and film to explore feminist and queer ideas. These articulations have resulted in a fat activist group called Pretty Porky and Pissed Off, a coven of lesbian feminist Sasquatch monsters and a room-sized Vagina Dentata.
Deirdre Logue has been prolific and steadfast in her engagement with the moving image and has subsequently produced upwards of 60 short films and videos. Her solo work in performance for the camera explores anxiety, the queer body and the limits of ability through video installation and projection.
Mitchell and Logue directed the F.A.G Feminist Art Gallery in Toronto and satellite spaces from 2010-2020. Currently, they are developing FAR Feminist Artist Residency on 64 acres of conservation protected land in Ontario Canada. Allyson Mitchell is an Associate Professor in the School of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at York University. Deirdre Logue is Development Director at Vtape video art distribution.