2boys.tv
| Company type | Artistic partnership |
|---|---|
| Industry | Performance art, video art, installation art |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Headquarters | Montreal , Canada |
Key people | Stephen Lawson, Aaron Pollard |
| Products | Video-enhanced performance, video art, installation work |
2boys.tv is a Canadian artistic partnership consisting of Stephen Lawson and Aaron Pollard, operating out of Montreal, Quebec since 2001. Lawson is an alumnus of the National Theatre School of Canada, while Pollard completed his studies at the Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design and Concordia University. The collaborators, who are also partners, perform under the aliases Gigi L'Amour and Pipi Douleur. Their creative practice encompasses video-enhanced performance, video art, and installation work, showcased throughout various art venues and queer spaces across the Western Hemisphere, Europe, and New Zealand. They have garnered attention for their lavish and dynamic theatrical productions.
Peter Dickinson, a scholar in performance studies, emphasizes their unique fusion of a camp sensibility influenced by drag culture with intricate video projections, a mix of original and sourced soundtracks, lip-syncing, and immersive site-specific installations. 2boys.tv is noted for treating video as a malleable medium, frequently employing it in sculptural forms rather than conventional screen presentations.
The duo's name, 2boys.tv, emerged from their search for an available web domain. The ".tv" suffix alludes to both transvestism and transversalism. Additionally, it corresponds to the country code top-level domain for Tuvalu, a small island nation utilizing its domain sales to generate revenue amidst environmental challenges posed by global warming. The artists have remarked on the straightforwardness of their name: "Of course, we're two boys."
Selected performances and presentations
- CatoptROMANTICS (2019)
- Tightrope (2011–2016)
- (re)Generation (2012)
- Phobophilia (2008, 2009, 2011)
- Zona Pellucida (2009)
Installations
- ARCADE series (2009, 2011)
- Persephone (2007)
Selected films and videos
- Teddy Bears' Picnic (2001)
- 15 Questions (Something Blue) (2002)
Publications
Lawson, Stephen. "Emcee Etiquettes: Experts Weigh In on How to Host the Perfect Cabaret Night." Canadian Theatre Review, vol. 177, 2019, pp. 67–72.
Pollard, Aaron and Stephen Lawson. "Bonus Insert." Canadian Theatre Review, vol. 150, 2012, pp. 1–17.
Pollard, Aaron and Stephen Lawson. "Tightrope, Translation and Transformation." Performance Research, vol. 21:5, 2016, pp. 131–133.
Awards and recognitions
In 2009, they were honored with the Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award by the Canada Council for the Arts for exceptional contributions to Interdisciplinary Arts.
External links
- Articles with short description
- 20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people
- 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people
- Art duos
- Canadian artist groups and collectives
- Canadian drag performers
- Canadian LGBTQ artists
- Canadian performance artists
- Canadian queer artists
- Canadian video artists
- Living people
- Year of birth missing (living people)