AA Bronson and Peter Hobbs: Queer Spirits (Winnipeg)

In 2007 AA Bronson was invited to Winnipeg to speak at a gathering organized by Plug In ICA called Art Tomorrow; a symposium on the future of art galleries, artist-run centres and art museums. Bronson—the surviving member of the internationally renowned artist collective General Idea—held a longstanding connection to Winnipeg,the city where G.I. originally formed.

Art Tomorrow was a timely public discussion held at the historic Fort Garry Hotel, as Plug In was in the planning stages for a new building. The day after the event, Bronson wandered around downtown waiting for his flight. He called Plug In ICA Director Anthony Kiendl and excitedly said—"I know where you should build your new building—at the Army Surplus store.” The store had stood vacant for several years, “I feel a spiritual power emanating from the site.”

As fate would have it, the site was later proposed to Plug In by its joint-venture partner the University of Winnipeg. It was meant to be. Prior to the old Army Surplus building being torn down to make way for the new centre for art and education, Bronson suggested holding an invocation in the building. It was subsequently organized, with the participation of filmmaker Noam Gonick and artist Michael Dudeck.

“I consider myself the unofficial queer shaman of Winnipeg,” wrote Bronson, “Everything fell into place for the next Invocation: filmmaker Noam Gonick waved his magic wand, and Anthony Kiendl of Plug In willed it into being. We found ourselves in the abandoned Army/Navy store of my youth, in a cold white winter, naked, with rooster feathers. Larry Glawson photographed the premises as we prepared our cubic cocoon, before we disappeared for the night.”

There was no publicity. It became a chapter in Queer Spirits, published by Creative Time and Plug In ICA (2011). Plug In commissioned an edition of silkscreen prints by Bronson to mark the opening of the new building in 2010, which were part of the first exhibition.