Pleasure Portal was an immersive evening of relational art, co-curated with Zia Stolbie, that reimagined pleasure as a site of connection, reclamation, and liberation. Drawing on Nicolas Bourriaud's concept of relational aesthetics, this event positioned the artists as facilitators who open pathways for collective experience. Through non-material art forms—video, projection, sound, light, and performance—Pleasure Portal invited artists and participants to engage somatically, experiencing art from the body rather than the mind.

The evening began with a somatic practice to prime participants to experience the work with their sensing body. Through returning to the container of the body we begin to reclaim it as a tool of liberation, holding space for our senses to guide us toward reconnection to ourselves and each other.

By combining art and somatic practice, Pleasure Portal served as both an exhibition and a community gathering where we reimagined what is possible when we prioritize embodied connection over productivity. In this space, pleasure becomes a means of reclaiming agency, inviting us to collaboratively explore a reality where pleasure, community, and shared experience are the foundation of liberation. Pleasure Portal took place on the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam Indian Band), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish Nation), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation) people (Vancouver).

 

Participating artists

Wendy the Witch, Ava Katz, AJ Twinn, Roo Buchan, Tanis Laird, Kyra Philbert, Penelope Hetherington, Brianna Klassen, Imbali Blooming , Anastasiia Vorobiova, Cimarron Ballantyne, Fanny and Jen Frias-Kearse, Brianna Klassen , Shimona Slomowitz , Sher DiMarco, Andrea Bollen , Cydney Eva, Avery Hannig