Kirk Tougas

Kirk Tougas is a noted experimental film artist, director of photography, producer, director, curator, and founder of the Pacific Cinematheque in Vancouver, Canada. With over 250 professional credits, he is recognized as one of Canada’s pre-eminent feature documentary cinematographers. Representing many cultural, anthropological, social, and political themes, these films have been broadcast on every major network and have garnered more than 80 festival awards, including Emmy and Peabody awards, and 13 awards and nominations from the Canadian Academy of Cinema. Creator of numerous experimental films, he has been variously described as a structural or conceptual artist. His experimental and personal films have broadly pursued three themes: the inherent nature of the film medium (and later the digital video medium) and its message; portraiture and self-imaging as a human phenomenon from cave walls to the Selfie; and the poetics of a medium composed of image, sound and time.. He is best known for the politics of perception and the framing of perception which along with his other works have been distinguished with screenings and installations in many countries. in museums, universities, art schools, art galleries and film festivals. Among the more notable international exhibitions: CINEINFINITO #118, Santander, Spain 65th OBERHAUSEN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Germany FRACTO, Berlin EXPERIMENTADESIGN, Lisbon, Portugal SYROS INT’L FILM FESTIVAL, Greece TOKYO METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF PHOTOGRAPHY YEBISU INT’L FESTIVAL FOR ART & ALTERNATIVE VISIONS, Japan MUSEE JEU DE PAUME, Paris ECOLE DE BEAUX-ARTS, Bordeaux, France ECOLE NATIONALE SUPERIEURE DE CREATION INDUSTRIELLE, Paris MUSEO DE BELLAS ARTES DE BILBAO, Spain CENTRE GEORGES POMPIDOU, Paris CINEMATHEQUE QUEBECOISE, Montreal THE INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART, London, England VANCOUVER ART GALLERY, PACIFIC CINEMATHEQUE, “The Impossible Self”. FESTIVAL OF FILMS ON ART, Montreal AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL, New York 11eme FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DU FILM D’ART, UNESCO, CENTRE GEORGES POMPIDOU, Paris MYKONOS BIENNALE, Greece CINETECA NAZIONALE, Rome ECOLE SUPERIEURE DES BEAUX ART DE GENEVE, Switzerland MK2 TV, Paris FILMOTECA ESPANOLA, Madrid, Barcelona CINEMA DU REEL, Paris 6th VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 41st EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Scotland OREGON ART INSTITUTE, Portland EMILY CARR COLLEGE OF ART, Vancouver NATIONAL FILM WEEK, Canada “ELECTRA – LES PLASTICIENS DE LA LUMIERE”, MUSEE D’ART MODERN DE LA VILLE DE PARIS VANCOUVER ART GALLERY, “Art & Artists, 1931-1983” FESTIVAL D’AVIGNON, France SHERIDAN COLLEGE OF APPLIED ARTS & TECHNOLOGY, Ontario XI BIENNALE D’ART MODERNE, CENTRE GEORGES POMPIDOU & MUSEE D’ART MODERNE DE LA VILLE DE PARIS ECOLE DES BEAUX ARTS, Tours, France LA CINEMATHEQUE FRANCAISE, Paris GRIERSON FILM SEMINAR, Ontario MAISON DES BEAUX ARTS, Paris MUSEE d’ART MODERNE, “CANADA TRAJECTOIRES”, Paris 7th BELLEVUE FILM FESTIVAL, Washington 10th ANN ARBOR FILM FESTIVAL, Michigan Completed works include: Feminist Portrait (1972), the politics of perception the framing of perception Did you used to be R.D. Laing?, Return to Departure: the Biography of a Painting or Watching Pigment Dry and Other Realisms, ARTIFACT (circa 2006) and the medium is the message. Works in progress include: Xtinction Song, Feminist Portrait (2020), Speak White Frenchie Self ? the American Dream. ╬