Coral Short

{{Short description|Canadian multimedia artist and curator}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}

{{Infobox artist

| name = Coral Short

| image = Coral Short au Rialto -- 2.jpg

| caption = Coral Short photographed in Montréal , Québec, Canada in the Rialto Theatre.

| birth_name =

| birth_date = 1973

| birth_place = Quebec

| death_date =

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Coral Short (born 1973) is a queer Canadian multimedia artist and curator. Based in Berlin and Montreal, they are best known for their performance art, as a curator of short film programs, and as a creator of affordable queer artist residencies.Jordan Arsen. Edgy Women Blog. "Play like a Caterpillar, Sting like a Butterfly: Coral Short." [http://edgywomenblog.com/2013/03/01/play-like-a-caterpillar-sting-like-a-butterfly-coral-short/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725033215/http://edgywomenblog.com/2013/03/01/play-like-a-caterpillar-sting-like-a-butterfly-coral-short/ |date=25 July 2018 }}{{Cite news|url=https://www.artquest.org.uk/berlin-history-hedonism-and-wildness/|title=Berlin: history, hedonism, and wildness|last=Baldwin|first=Lori|date=2018|work=Artquest|access-date=24 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725033255/https://www.artquest.org.uk/berlin-history-hedonism-and-wildness/|archive-date=25 July 2018|url-status=live}}

Career

Short was educated at Concordia University and obtained their master's degree in fine art at the Chelsea School of Art.{{Cite web |url=http://www.coralshort.com/ |title=Official website. Retrieved 28 November 2015 |access-date=28 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190115040639/http://www.coralshort.com/ |archive-date=15 January 2019 |url-status=live }} They use textiles, video, nature, and their own body as their media.James Goldie. Daily Xtra. "Artist calls for gentleness at Vancouver Queer Arts Festival". Mon, 20 July 2015. [http://www.dailyxtra.com/vancouver/arts-and-entertainment/artist-calls-gentleness-at-vancouver-queer-arts-festival-115723] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151119123705/http://www.dailyxtra.com/vancouver/arts-and-entertainment/artist-calls-gentleness-at-vancouver-queer-arts-festival-115723 |date=19 November 2015 }} Short has curated independent queer films internationally in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and elsewhere in Europe. In this capacity, they have worked with organizations such as MIX NYC, MIX Copenhagen, entzaubert, and the Queer Arts Festival.

=Multimedia and performance art=

In 2012, Short's project The Hole-y Army featuring choreographed queers and 100 hand-made puppetsJessica Schlesinger. Curve Magazine. "Coral Short Brings the March Back to Dyke March". 29 June 2012 [http://www.curvemag.com/Curve-Magazine/Web-Articles-2012/Coral-Short-Brings-the-March-Back-to-Dyke-March/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208123510/http://www.curvemag.com/Curve-Magazine/Web-Articles-2012/Coral-Short-Brings-the-March-Back-to-Dyke-March/ |date=8 December 2015 }} was integrated into Dyke Marches in New York City, Montreal,{{Cite book|title = Lesbian Geographies: Gender, Place and Power|last = Podmore|first = Julie|publisher = Ashgate Publishing Limited|year = 2015|isbn = 9781472443953|location = Surrey, England|chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tguNCgAAQBAJ&dq=%22coral+short%22+lgbt&pg=PT5|chapter = Contested Dyke Rights to the City: Montreal's 2012 Dyke Marches in Time and Space|access-date = 4 December 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160529001908/https://books.google.com/books?id=tguNCgAAQBAJ&lpg=PT99&dq=%22coral%20short%22%20lgbt&pg=PT5#v=onepage&q=%22coral%20short%22%20lgbt&f=false|archive-date = 29 May 2016|url-status = live}} Ottawa, and Toronto. Short identifies as a third-wave feminist and is notable within the craftivism movement. They describe this work as "a slow, thoughtful activism [and] a strong powerful display of resistance".Rachel Fry. Craftivism : the role of feminism in craft activism. Halifax, Nova Scotia. 2014. p.94 [http://library2.smu.ca/handle/01/26228#.Vlzuu3bnuHs] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208050857/http://library2.smu.ca/handle/01/26228#.Vlzuu3bnuHs |date=8 December 2015 }} Stop Beating Yourself Up, first performed in 2013 at Edgy Women in Montréal, involves Short wearing boxing gloves and hitting themself for three hours.{{Cite news|url = http://thelinknewspaper.ca/article/sugar-spice-and-blood-packets|title = Sugar, Spice and Blood Packets|last = del Giusto-Enos|first = Elysha|date = 5 March 2013|work = The Link|access-date = 4 December 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151208114525/http://thelinknewspaper.ca/article/sugar-spice-and-blood-packets|archive-date = 8 December 2015|url-status = live}}{{Cite news|url = http://www.sadmag.ca/news/2015/07/interview-qaf-artist-coral-short/|title = Interview QAF Artist Coral Short|last = Fleerackers|first = Alice|date = 30 July 2015|work = Sad Mag|access-date = 4 December 2015|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151208155240/http://www.sadmag.ca/news/2015/07/interview-qaf-artist-coral-short/|archive-date = 8 December 2015}} They repeated the same performance, Stop Beating Yourself Up (this time for one hour) at Vancouver's Queer Arts Festival opening art party in 2015.

Scream Choir is 2014 a sound piece consisting of a large group of people screaming in the formation of a traditional choir.[http://hemisphericinstitute.org/hemi/en/enc14-urban-interventions/item/2318-enc14-performances-scream-choir The Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150616093033/http://www.hemisphericinstitute.org/hemi/en/enc14-urban-interventions/item/2318-enc14-performances-scream-choir |date=16 June 2015 }} Retrieved 1 February 2016. The Laughter Choir is a similar 2015 sound piece with a choir of laughter and was performed at Art in the Open in collaboration with Sarah Wendt (and Russell Louder assisting) along with Scream Choir.{{Cite news|url=https://thistownissmall.com/art-in-the-open-art-a-ciel-ouvert/|title=Art in the Open / Art à ciel ouvert|date=2013-02-18|work=this town is small|access-date=2018-08-21|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822014957/https://thistownissmall.com/art-in-the-open-art-a-ciel-ouvert/|archive-date=22 August 2018|url-status=live}} Fake Orgasm Choir is a 2016 work featuring a large group of people standing in the formation of a traditional choir. Instead of singing notes, they fake orgasms.{{Citation|last=kalileoyuen|title=Fake Orgasm Choir|date=2016-03-06|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROKhPKMbeg0|access-date=2018-08-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190101220645/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROKhPKMbeg0|archive-date=1 January 2019|url-status=live}} In 2017, Short used their previous experiences in working with the voice as an instrument and presented a human noise workshop on sound experimentation and production from the body at Sound Acts co-curated by FYTA in Athens, Greece.{{Cite web|url=https://www.soundacts.com/coral-short.html|title=Coral Short|website=SOUND ACTS|language=en|access-date=2018-08-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822050001/https://www.soundacts.com/coral-short.html|archive-date=22 August 2018|url-status=live}}

Future Visions is a 2014 work presented as a website of over 100 video tarot cards representing queer voices from Europe and North America.[http://www.htmlles.net/2014/index.php?page=events&lang=en&evId=92 The HTMlles 11] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160217172841/http://www.htmlles.net/2014/index.php?page=events&lang=en&evId=92 |date=17 February 2016 }} Feminist festival of media arts + digital culture. 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2016. Other performance pieces include Gay Incantations (2013),[http://www.sadmag.ca/news/2013/03/gay-incantations-x-the-one-project/ Sad Mag. "Gay Incantations x The One Project". March 5, 2013] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208135442/http://www.sadmag.ca/news/2013/03/gay-incantations-x-the-one-project/ |date=8 December 2015 }} Nest (2014),Feminine Moments – Queer Feminist Art Worldwide. Retrieved 28 November 2015. [http://www.femininemoments.dk/blog/nest-by-coral-short/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208163858/http://www.femininemoments.dk/blog/nest-by-coral-short/ |date=8 December 2015 }} and Plush (2015).

In 2016, Short began curating regular film screenings in Berlin, including a sporty queer video program called 'Pumped' for Gegen, Berlin's biggest queer party.{{Cite news|url=http://gegenberlin.com/2016/06/13/gegen-olympics/|title=ↂ GEGEN OLYMPICS ↂ|date=2016-06-13|work=gegenberlin|access-date=2018-08-21|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711215857/http://gegenberlin.com/2016/06/13/gegen-olympics/|archive-date=11 July 2017|url-status=dead}} In 2017, they received a grant from Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa to pay 115 of the video artists they curated that year.{{Cite news|url=https://coralshort.wordpress.com/2018/01/15/venice-berlin-amsterdam/|title=Venice, Berlin, Montreal, Amsterdam!|date=2018-01-15|work=coral short|access-date=2018-08-21|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822015039/https://coralshort.wordpress.com/2018/01/15/venice-berlin-amsterdam/|archive-date=22 August 2018|url-status=live}}

In 2018, they began a series of short eco performance works on their Instagram.{{Cite web|url=https://coralshort.wordpress.com/2018/07/24/summer-healing/|title=Summer Healing|last=Short|first=Coral|date=July 24, 2018|website=Coral Short|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822014932/https://coralshort.wordpress.com/2018/07/24/summer-healing/|archive-date=22 August 2018|access-date=August 21, 2018|url-status=live}} They also facilitated three plant based ASMR workshops with Jean P'ark at Martin-Gropius-Bau as part of Welt ohne Außen: Workshops, curated by Isabel Margarita Lewis. These workshops were an opportunity to hear and create beautiful noises as well as relax.{{Cite web|url=https://www.berlinerfestspiele.de/de/aktuell/festivals/gropiusbau/programm_mgb/gropius_bau_ausstellungen/gropius_bau_18_welt_ohne_aussen/workshops_welt_ohne_aussen/gb18_welt_ohne_aussen_workshops_detail_260565.php?openedFromSearch=true|title=Coral Short & Jean P\'ark: Ecosensual Echos|website=Gropius Bau|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822015103/https://www.berlinerfestspiele.de/de/aktuell/festivals/gropiusbau/programm_mgb/gropius_bau_ausstellungen/gropius_bau_18_welt_ohne_aussen/workshops_welt_ohne_aussen/gb18_welt_ohne_aussen_workshops_detail_260565.php?openedFromSearch=true|archive-date=22 August 2018|access-date=August 21, 2018|url-status=live}}

=Films=

  • Gay Incantations
  • Genderless Jellyfish (2013)
  • HUMANimals
  • Lesbian Hand Gestures
  • We Don't Want to Marry

Short was awarded the Hot Shorts award at the 2012 Inside Out Film and Video Festival. In 2014, Short withdrew We Don't Want to Marry from the Vancouver Queer Film Festival program because the festival accepted advertising from a pro-Israel group Yad b'Yad.Natasha Barsotti. "UPDATE: Queer film festival criticized for pro-Israel program ad". DailyXtra. 14 August 2014. [http://www.dailyxtra.com/vancouver/news-and-ideas/news/update-queer-film-festival-criticized-pro-israel-program-ad-91143] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208042757/http://www.dailyxtra.com/vancouver/news-and-ideas/news/update-queer-film-festival-criticized-pro-israel-program-ad-91143 |date=8 December 2015 }}

References

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