TONI CORMIER

Don't be fooled by blue
2019
00:09:02

 

A video depicts three performers, each one using an object. The objects are based on toys that hold some sort of illusory effects. A magic 8 ball (seeking, seeing, and prediction based on a question and answer system), a thaumascope (an optical toy based on persistence of vision, where two images are blended together when the object is twirled), and a periscope (an optical device for seeing above yourself) had their traditional 'functions' subverted and therefor many of their rules challenged. Each object had the element of satisfaction (receiving an answer; seeing two images become one; seeing above yourself) removed, or at least complicated. This element of play is intertwined with mystery, an unknown outcome with no set beginning or end.

Each object was made specifically for the performer who uses it. The objects (or toys) are meant to act as tools for this reimagining, as a way to harness some sort of desire for queer and feminine play. A playfulness set in the deep, in an outer-space, and in privacy.