Artist

Kim Tomczak

Kim Tomczak is a multidisciplinary artist primarily known for his work in performance, photography, video and photo/text work. Since 1983, he has worked exclusively in collaboration with Lisa Steele. They have received numerous grants and awards, including the Bell Canada prize for excellence in Video Art, a Toronto Arts Award and in 2005, a Governor General’s Award for lifetime achievement in Visual & Media Arts.

Major public art commissions awarded to the two include Love Squared, screened on the video board at Yonge & Dundas in Toronto and Watertable, a light and sound installation that marks the original shoreline of Lake Ontario.

Tomczak is a co-founder of Vtape, a Toronto media arts centre and taught at the University of Toronto in the Department of Visual Studies.

Most recently, Steele + Tomczak have been exhibited in Instanbul at Akbank Sanat (
Metamorphoz) and Sophia, Bulgaria at the Central Bath (Opening the Closed Shops). In February 2009, their 4-channel video installation work "Becoming…" was featured in the Berlin Film Festival, Forum Expanded. Fall 2009 exhibitions include: a major installation, Speak City, featured in TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival), photo-text works from 2003-9 The funniest thing... at Diaz Contemporary, Toronto, photo series from the 1970s at VMAC Gallery. A major survey of their photo and video work opened at the Wharf Centre d'art Contemporain de Basse-Normandie in January 2010. In June 2010, their video installation work is included in Empire of Dreams at MOCCA in Toronto.

Artist Code: 038

Videography

Falling Up

2007, 06:05 minutes, colour, English (text only)

Free Speech - installation

2006, 01:35 minutes, colour, Silent; English & French Text

Make Love Not War - installation

2003, 02:10 minutes, colour, Silent; English & French Text

Practicing Death

2003, 03:13 minutes, colour, silent

We're Getting Younger All The Time

2001, 20:05 minutes, colour, silent

Power - installation

1998, 01:56 minutes, colour, Silent; English & French Text

Stand Up - installation

1998, 01:32 minutes, colour, silent

Blood - installation

1998, 01:31 minutes, colour, Silent

The Blood Records written and annotated

1997, 49:20 minutes, B&W & colour, English & French

Legal Memory

1992, 79:49 minutes, colour, B&W, English

White Dawn

1988, 09:05 minutes, colour, English / French

Private Eyes

1987, 18:29 minutes, colour, English

See Evil

1985, 28:08 minutes, colour, English

Paradise Lost

1981, 23:18 minutes, colour, English

Vancouver Canada Or They Chant Fed Up

1980, 23:00 minutes, colour, English

A Demonstration of The Fear of Pain

1980, 14:00 minutes, colour, English

One Hundred Years of Aggression

1979, 18:32 minutes, colour, English

Herman Nitsche At The Western Front

1978, 05:00 minutes, colour, English

Everything is Illusion Except Power

1978, 04:30 minutes, colour, English

Critical Writing

Video Art: Keeping it New
What's Up Yukon, Sept. 14, 2007.
Pleasure Dome Brochure: Winter 2006
by Unknown. Pleasure Dome, Winter 2006.
Change makers honoured in G-G visual awards
by Sarah Milroy. The Globe and Mail, Mar. 9, 2005.
Canada honours art pioneers
by Ciara Byrne. The Newspaper, Mar. 10, 2005.
Video artists earn top honours: New winners in visual, media arts
by Peter Goddard. The Toronto Star, Mar. 9, 2005.
Genealogies of Blood and Breath
by Sky Glabush. Border Crossings, 2005.
Lisa Steele + Kim Tomczak
by Peggy Gale. The Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts 2005, 2005. Toronto: Canada Council for the Arts, 2005.
Video art 'trailblazers' win Gov. Gen. awards
by Pacienza Angela. Winnepeg Free Press, Mar. 9, 2005.
Vancouver's Paul Wong among Gov. Gen. winners in visual, media arts
by Angela Pacienza. The National Post- Vancouver Edition, Mar. 9, 2005.
Après la pluie, le désert fleurit
by Martine Rouleau. Vie des Arts, 2004, v. 49, no. 197.
STEELE - TOMCZAK: Trouble Tracked to the Depths of the Body
by Paul Ardenne. Lisa Steele - Kim Tomczak, 2003. Toronto: Pleasure Dome, 2003.
Mourning Pictures: Trouble Tracked to the Depths of the Body
by Mike Hoolboom. Lux: A Decade of Film and Video, 2000. Toronto: YYZ and Pleasure Dome, 2000.
Picturing the Toronto Art Community: The Queen Street Years
by Phillip Monk. C Magazine, Sept. 1998, no. 59. Toronto: C International, 1998.
Blood Records re-examines treatment of tuberculosis
by Christopher Hume. The Toronto Star, Dec. 6, 1997.
Kim Tomczak: Video Artist
by Roger Matuz. Contemporary Canadian Artists, 1997. Toronto: Gale Canada, 1997.
The Self - Isolation Ward
by Donna Lypchuk. EYE WEEKLY, Dec. 4 Winter, 1997.
The Destabilized Landscape: Post-Colonial Space and Unreal Estate
by Lisa Steele and Kim Tomczak. The Post-Colonial Landscape, 1996. The Edmonton Art Gallery, The Mendel Art Gallery, 1996.
Video Collaborators: A report from the interior
by Nelda Rodger and Nina Czegledy. Azure, Nov. 1993, v. 10, no. no. 91.
Subjects on the Threshold: Problems with the Pronouns
by Renee Baert. Parachute, Winter 1993, no. 69.
1993 Toronto Arts Recipients Announced
by Tom Wong. Arts Foundation News, Fall 1993, v. 5, no. 3.
Self-lessness: Buffalo Gals
by Sandra Haar. Fuse, June 1990, v. 13, no. 5.
Buffalo Gals go 'round feminism
by Donna Lypchuk. Metropolis, Feb. 8, 1990.
Clock ticking on AGO video show
by Randi Spires. The Toronto Star, Jan. 12, 1990.
Video News: Saving the Euclid Theatre
by Kim Tomczak. Fuse, June 1990, v. 13, no. 5.
Video News
by Kim Tomczak. Fuse, Fall 1990, v. 14, no. 1+2.
Buffalo Gals
A Space (Artists Space), 1990. Toronto: A Space (Artists Space), 1990.
Videotape show the fruit of a happy marriage of talents
by John Bentley Mays. The Globe and Mail, Nov. 25, 1989.
Collaborative Videotapes: Descriptions by the Artist
by Lisa Steele and Kim Tomczak. 4 Hours and 38 Minutes, 1989. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1989.
Video News
by Kim Tomczak. Fuse, Jan. 1989, v. 12, no. 4.
Video News
by Kim Tomczak. Fuse, Apr. 1989, v. 12, no. 5.
Art Beyond the Galleries: Olympic festival takes visual exhibits...
by Stephen Godfrey. The Globe and Mail, Feb. 20, 1988.
Video News
by Kim Tomczak. Fuse, Nov. 1988, v. 12, no. 3.
Video News
by Kim Tomczak. Fuse, Apr. 1988, v. 11, no. 5.
Video Exhibition: Total Recall
by Sarah Diamond and Gary Kibbins.
Art Given Social Voice: Six artists probe experiences and images
by Nancy Tousley. Calgary Herald, Jan. 23 Winter, 1988.
Video Structures: Back to Basic Memory
by Clive Robertson. Parallelogramme, Summer 1987, v. 12, no. 5.
Statement of Intention
by Lisa Steele and Kim Tomczak. Toronto: A Play of History, 1987. Toronto: The Power Plant, 1987.
Private Eyes: a review by Elizabeth Schroder
by Elizabeth Schroder. Fuse, Summer 1987, v. 10, no. 2.
Doing the Documentary-Suggestive and Didactic
by Gary Kibbins. Fuse, Summer 1987, no. 46.
On Signs & Sex: Visual Evidence "A series of video screenings,...
by Kathy McLeod and Nancy Shaw. Fuse, Fall 1987, v. 11, no. 3.
Video News: Visual Evidence "A series of video screenings,...
by Kim Tomczak. Fuse, Spring 1987, v. 10, no. 6.
V/TAPE: Visual Evidence "A series of video screenings, workshops,...
by Kim Tomczak. Video Guide, Oct. 1987, v. 9, no. 1.
Video News
by Kim Tomczak. Fuse, Summer 1987, no. 46.
La Video S'en Va...
by Renee Baert et al. Parachute, Spring 1986, no. 42.
Video In Canada: In Search of Authority
by Renee Baert. From Sea to Shining Sea, 1986. Toronto: The Power Plant, 1986.
Explicit But Equal : Toward A New Pornography
by Karen Knights. Video Guide, Dec. 1986, v. 8, no. 4.
New Tapes
by Brendan Cotter and Kim Tomczak. Video News, 1986.
Everyday Events
by Karen Knights. Video Guide, 1986, v. 8, no. 1.
Kim Tomczak: Interview
by Jeannette Reinhardt. Video Guide, 1986, v. 3, no. 2.
We Interrupt You For This Message: A review of "A Retrospective of...
by Mary Ellen Lower. Video Guide, Sept. 1986, v. 8, no. 38.
Video 84
by Bruce Ferguson. Vanguard, Feb. 1985, v. 14, no. 1.
Breaking Through: Conscience and the Status Quo
by Renee Baert. Breaking Through: Conscience and the Status Quo, 1985. Toronto: A Space/ Vtape/ The Toronto Arts Council, 1985.
The art of anti-censorship
by John Bentley Mays. The Globe and Mail, June 7, 1985.
Canada - Video: A Medium in Search of its Task
by René Coëlho. Canadian Video Art, 1985. S.N., 1985.
Video Works: Western Front Video
by Karen Knights. Video Guide, 1985, v. 8, no. 1.
Issues of Censorship
by Jim Miller et al. Issues of Censorship, 1985.
Street Culture
by Merike Talve. Video Guide, Aug. 1984, v. 6, no. 4.
Video in Canada: Process and Production
by Renée Baert. Video '84, - Recontres Vidéo Internationales de Montreal, 1984, v. sept.
Modern Times: A Review
by Kim Tomczak. Video Guide, Oct. 1984, v. 6, no. 5.
The New Work Show
by Victor Coleman. Vanguard, Nov. 1984, v. 13, no. 9.
Letters: Government and the arts
by Gerard Creurer et al. Maclean's, Jan. 3, 1983, v. 96, no. 1.
Language and Representation
by Tim Guest. Parachute, Spring 1982, no. 26.
Tomczak bashes the senses
by Tibor Kolley. The Globe and Mail, Jan. 9 Winter, 1982.
Art
by Lisa Balfour Bowen. The Toronto Star, Jan. 16 Winter, 1982.
York mayor takes on arts: Avant garde art debate
by Stephen Dale. NOW, July 1, 1982, v. 1, no. 42.
Art arbiter
by Unknown. The Globe and Mail, Oct. 22, 1982.
A more elevated sort of ordure
by Les Bewley. Vancouver Sun, Nov. 20, 1982.
Metro withholds funds from four arts groups
by Unknown. The Globe and Mail, June 12, 1982.
Art watchdogs
by Chris Temple. The Globe and Mail, Nov. 1, 1982.
Video Video: See what's being Said
by Bruce Kirkland. The Toronto Sun, Sept. 2, 1982.
Kim Tomczak: Paradise Lost
by Jennifer Oille. Vanguard, Dec. 1982, no. 9/10.
A Question of Place 2
by Jennifer Oille. Vanguard, Nov. 1981, v. 10, no. 9.
Fromer aims to project talent onto buidings all over town
by Vicky Sanderson. The Globe and Mail, Aug. 29, 1981.
11e Biennale De Paris: Les Canadiens
by Unknown. Parachute, Fall 1980, no. 20.
Kim Tomczak
by Andrea Anderson. Vanguard, Summer 1980, v. 9, no. 5/6.
Performance Kim Tomczak
by Kim Tomczak. Parachute, Fall 1980, no. 20.
The Living Art Performance Festival
by John Bentley Mays. Vanguard, Feb. 1980, v. 19, no. 1.
The Lisa Steele Tapes: Investigation and Vision
by Catherine Russell. North of Everything: English Canadian Cinema Since 1980, 1980. University of Alberta Press, 1980.
Susan Britton
by Kim Tomczak. Video Guide, June 1979, v. 2, no. 2.
The Nine Tape Test: New Videos at Pumps, Vancouver
by Kim Todd. Centerfold, Aug. 1979, v. 3, no. 6.
Video et Performance
by Rene Blouin. Living Art, Mar. 1979.
4 Hours and 38 Minutes
by Philip Monk and Dot Tuer. 1989. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO).