Admission is free.
Lesbian Rule.
Forget the dead this Halloween.
Feel the pulsing throb of something larger than life in KillJoy’s Kastle.
Each Halloween radical evangelical groups build hell houses. These performer-animated installations showcase a gruesome retribution for the sins of fornication, abortion, suicide, occultism, and—of course—same-sex relationships. This Halloween, Toronto based-artists Deirdre Logue and Allyson Mitchell reclaim this hellish scenario with their sex positive, trans inclusive, queer lesbian-feminist-fear-fighting celebration. Organized by ONE Archives in West Hollywood, KillJoy’s Kastle: A Lesbian Feminist Haunted House is designed to pervert, not convert. This haunted house of freaky feminist skill sharing and paranormal consciousness-raising reanimates the archive of lesbian herstory with all its wonders and thorny complications. Expect horror.
Holey Hell House!
Dare to be scared by gender-queer apparitions, ball-busting butches, and never-married, happy-as-hell spinsters. Get down on riot ghouls and radical vampiric grannies while channeling your inner consciousness hell-raiser. Each evening of nightmarishly non-assimilated lesbian mayhem will include multiple live performances from a spirited group of international and local weirdos.
Deep Lez becomes Creep Lez
Follow your demented women’s studies tour guide through the glorious and grisly KillJoy’s Kastle. Groups are welcome, especially the unruly kind. This ground-up, maximalist, not-to-be-missed haunted house—nailed, knit, and glued by a coven of dedicated feminists—provides a rare glimpse into this dystopic/utopic craftivist world-view.
KillJoy’s Kastle is a unique group-guided performance and we are not booking appointments in advance. We encourage visitors to arrive early (it’s worth the wait!).
KillJoy’s Kastle includes a fully stocked gift shop for all undead lesbian shoppers organized by Otherwild.
ASL interpretation will be available on October 24 and 25.
KillJoy’s Kastle: A Lesbian Feminist Haunted House originated in collaboration with, and through financial support of, the Art Gallery of York University (AGYU), Toronto. This presentation of KillJoy’s Kastle is organized by David Frantz, Curator at ONE Archives at the USC Libraries. Support is provided by the City of West Hollywood through its Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission. Additional support is provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the ONE Archives Foundation.
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Parking
Parking in Plummer Park is located in two lots respectively off Santa Monica Boulevard and North Vista Street. Street parking is also available. Additionally, visitors can park in The Gateway shopping center located at 7100 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90046, where the first hour of parking is free, and walk five minutes down Santa Monica Boulevard to Plummer Park. Locals in West Hollywood might consider talking The PickUp, West Hollywood’s free weekend trolley on Santa Monica.
Bios
For the past 20 years, the film and video work of Canadian artist Deirdre Logue has focused on the self as subject. Using ‘performance for the camera’ as a primary mode of production, her compelling self-portraits investigate what it means to be a queer body in the age of anxiety.
Logue has been prolific and steadfast in her engagement with the moving image and has subsequently produced upwards of 60 short films and videos as well as some of this country’s most celebrated video art installations including Enlightened Nonsense (1997-2000), ten hand- processed performance-based works about childhood worries; Why Always Instead of Just Sometimes (2003-2007), twelve works that are reflections on aging, breaking down and reparation; Id’s Its (2012), an ambitious suite of thirteen installations exploring the richness of our malfunctions and Euphoria’s Hiccups (2013) an intentionally intense, site specific work incorporating upwards of 20 small video screens, still imagery, sound and psychoactive plants; cross-pollinating Logue’s tendencies towards obsession and addiction with contemporary thinking on healing, landscape and mindfulness.
Allyson Mitchell is a maximalist artist working in sculpture, performance, installation and film. Her practice melds feminism and pop culture to investigate contemporary ideas about sexuality, autobiography and the body, largely through the use of reclaimed textile and abandoned craft. These articulations have resulted in a coven of lesbian feminist Sasquatch monsters, a room-sized Vagina Dentata, an army of super genius Holly Hobbies and a woodland utopic library complete with a wishing well of forbidden political knowledge. Her works have exhibited in galleries and festivals across Canada, the US and Europe, including Tate Modern, the Textile Museum of Canada, the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, the Andy Warhol Museum, Walker Art Center, The British Film Institute, Winnipeg Art Gallery and the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Mitchell is based in Toronto, where she is an Assistant Professor in the School of Women’s Studies at York University. She is represented by Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects and she runs FAG Feminist Art Gallery with Deirdre Logue.
Press
SDGLN: Timothy Rawles, “KillJoy’s Kastle” is a unique L.A. horror funhouse of feminism and LGBTQ history, October 15, 2015
WEHOville: Lesbian Feminist Haunted House Opens in WeHo, October 15, 2015
Los Angeles Times: Carolina A. Miranda, Inside West Hollywood’s feminist haunted house: Zombie folk singers and body-positive vampires, October 16, 2015
The West Hollywood Lifestyle: “Killjoy’s Kastle: A Lesbian Feminist Haunted House” Opens In West Hollywood, October 16, 2015
L.A. Weekly: Sascha Bos, Killjoy’s Kastle: A Lesbian Feminist Haunted House, October 16, 2015
LAist: Juliet Bennett Rylah, KillJoy’s Kastle, A Lesbian Feminist Haunted House, Opens Tonight In WeHo, October 16, 2015
KPCC: Zac Pennington and Claire Evans, 5 Every Week: Feminist haunted house, Jem & The Holograms and Marc Horowitz’s solo show, October 19, 2015
KPCC: Leo Duran and Maya Sugarman, Inside that lesbian feminist haunted house everyone’s talking about, October 21, 2015
Hyperallergic: A Queer Feminist Haunted House Filled with Riot Ghouls and Polyamorous Vampires, October 21, 2015
The Huffington Post: Tricia Tongco, This Lesbian Haunted House Is The Best Way To Celebrate Halloween, October 23, 2015
KCET’s Artbound: Myriam Gurba, Killjoy’s Kastle: A Romp Through a Lesbian-Feminist Haunted House, October 23, 2015
WifeyTV: KillJoy’s Kastle: A Lesbian Feminist Haunted House, October 23, 2015
Broadly: , Confronting the Ghosts of Feminism in a Lesbian Haunted House, October 26, 2015
Spectrum: Kerry Cardoza, KillJoy’s Kastle, a lesbian haunted house explores what’s scary about feminism, October 26, 2015
HorrorBuzz: Norman Gidney, KillJoy’s Castle, A Lesbian Feminist Haunted House, October 27, 2015
The Huffington Post: Lisa Derrick, KillJoy’s Kastle: Sexiest, Smartest Haunted House Ever!, October 28, 2015
AfterEllen: Trish Bendix, Killjoy’s Kastle: A Lesbian Feminist Haunted House exposes the true horrors of modern society, October 29, 2015
The Lesbian News: Halloween with Killjoy’s Kastle, a lesbian feminist haunted house,
Review: KillJoy’s Kastle: A Lesbian Feminist Haunted House, October 29, 2015
The Huffington Post: QueerView, One Interesting Option This Halloween: A Lesbian Feminist Haunted House, October 29, 2015
The Daily Beast: Inside Killjoy’s Kastle, the Lesbian Feminist House of Horrors, October 30, 2015
Ms. Magazine: Stephanie Hallett, KillJoy’s Kastle: Where Lesbian Feminist Tropes Go to Die, October 30, 2015
Pacific Standard: Madeleine Thomas, Behind the Curtains at KillJoy’s Kastle, October 30, 2015
Women in the World: Los Angeles’ lesbian feminist house of horrors, October 30, 2015
The Economist: , KillJoy’s Kastle: a gleeful sexual satire, November 2, 2015
Carly Come Lately: Killjoy’s Kastle, A Lesbian Feminist Haunted House: Processing My Diva Cup Demons, November 5, 2015
Hyperallergic: Best of 2015: Our Top 10 Los Angeles Art Shows, December 16, 2015
