Projects — Deirdre Logue

01.04

Killjoy’s Kastle

With Allyson Mitchell

2016–2026

killjoyskastle.com

Killjoy’s Kastle is a large-scale, multimedia, walk-through installation and performance that evokes all the fright in lesbian-feminist histories so that we might unpack, reject, or critically recover these stories for the queer present. To date, four cities have hosted a version of the Kastle; Toronto, in 2013, with the Art Gallery of York University (AGYU); London, in 2014, with the British Film Institute; Los Angeles, in 2015, with the ONE Lesbian and Gay Archives; and Philadelphia, in 2019, with Icebox Project Space.

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.

02.04

Feminist Art Gallery FAG

With Allyson Mitchell

2010–2020

feministartgallery.com

From 2010-2020 FAG Feminist Art Gallery was home to over 50 artists from all over the world who came to craft, publish, create, disseminate, and rest. FAG has been seen as a breath of much needed fresh air and an important touchstone in the community.

FAG has been featured significantly in feminist history anthologies that are often some of the first cohesively “archived” and published queer feminist histories, including in Desire Change: Contemporary Feminist Art in Canada (2017), edited by Heather Davis (see “A Speculative Manifesto for the Feminist Art Fair International: An Interview with Allyson Mitchell and Deirdre Logue of the Feminist Art Gallery” by Amber Christensen, Lauren Fournier, and Daniella Sanader), Otherwise: Imagining queer feminist histories (2017), edited by Amelia Jones and Erin Silver (see our interview with curator Helena Reckitt), and The Art of Feminism: Images that Shaped the Fight for Equality, 1857-2017 (2018) by Lucinda Gosling, Hilary Robinson and Amy Tobin.

3.04

Feminist Art Residency FAR

With Allyson Mitchell

2010–2020

feministartresidency.com

Located less than two hours from Toronto and easily accessible via a cross-country train line, bus routes and a main highway, FAR is part of a constellation of long-practicing artists and curatorial initiatives that have deliberately decentralized from urban settings, in order to expand the connections between artists of all generations and locations.

Since 2020, FAR has existed as an expansive site for queer and feminist artists, educators and activists. FAR provides sanctuary and respite for artists and activists wishing to simply develop ideas, plan, write, research if desired but predominantly – to rest and recharge. They can also come to conceptualize and produce art projects in a rural setting, especially those requiring connection to the land, expansive space requirements and those with specific connections to the local histories of both Black and Indigenous communities.

FAR is run by a connected group of people including Syrus Marcus Ware, Emelie Chhangur, Tracy Tidgwell, Johnson Ngo, Kalale Dalton, Deirdre Logue and Allyson Mitchell.

04.04

Film Farm

with Philip Hoffman

1994–Present

philiphoffman.ca/film-farm

The Film Farm was founded in 1994 by Phil Hoffman. It is a week-long workshop that teaches 16-millimetre filmmaking and eco-processing. Since 1999, Deirdre Logue has been part of the Film Farm Collective, facilitating workshops alongside Phil Hoffman, Christine Harrison, Rob Butterworth, Terra Jean Long and Scott Miller Berry. In the summer of 2025, the Film Farm was held at the Feminist Art Residency (FAR), where it was co-hosted by Allyson Mitchell, Tracy Tidgewell and Madelyne Beckles.