Midi Onodera: Landscaping – 2 exhibitions

MIDI ONODERA: LANDSCAPING is co-presented by Dandelion and Factory Media Centre

Films + Fortunes + Toy Camera Workshop by Midi Onodera
Dandelion Pop-Up in Jackson Square
2 King St W, Hamilton, ON
June 7–July 23, 2025
Opening + Screening | Saturday, June 7 | 2:00 p.m.

The Series by Midi Onodera
Factory Media Centre
366 Victoria Ave N, Hamilton, ON
June 10–July 23, 2025

Curated by Lesley Loksi Chan
Supported by Derek Jenkins and Kaija Siirala
Dandelion Pop-Up installed by Conrad Marion
Factory Media Centre coordinated and installed by Eli Nolet and Alex Ramsay
Made possible with the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts and Jackson Square

This summer, moving-image artist Midi Onodera calls on her film phantoms, art pals, and
past selves to produce a double-sited exhibition, inviting us to consider a vacant shopping
mall unit and an historic electricity building as landscapes for the wandering spirits of
experimental cinema, commerce, and time.

Through installations of analog films and videos, afternoon screenings, a toy camera
workshop, and a fortune-telling hand puppet, Onodera reflects on the evolving politics of art
and the undying influence of feminist film icons Joyce Wieland and Chantal Akerman on her
practice.

To celebrate the opening of LANDSCAPING, Onodera will debut A Canadian Ghost Story:
The Quilt for Joyce Wieland (2025), a new collaborative film made with Anna Feldman
Gronau. Their creative partnership began with the making of split-screen sensation Ten
Cents a Dance (1985), directed by Onodera, and continued with the poetic Mary Mary
(1989), directed by Feldman Gronau – both of which are featured in this programme. Also
included are Onodera’s seminal film The Displaced View (1988), and her before/after duet
Ville-quelle ville? (1984) and C’est à Qui, Cette Ville? (2022). Pathbreaking and crucial,
these new and early films are presented alongside her ongoing Series project.

Since 2006, Onodera has created an annual series of short videos known as “vidoodles,” a
term she coined to describe her daily video-making discipline, exercises which function
much like journaling or sketching. The full set of Series, spanning from 2006 through the
latest 2024 edition, will be exhibited for the first time in its entirety. Seen together, the
moving-images in this exhibition speak to Onodera’s lifelong quest to understand the
relationships between media technologies, ways of seeing, and the frictional landscapes /
seascapes / cityscapes of her times.

Set across two Hamilton locations – the Dandelion Pop-Up in a former board games shop
in Jackson Square shopping mall and the Factory Media Centre gallery in the former
Cataract Power Company Building – MIDI ONODERA: LANDSCAPING is a seasonal
reshaping of the grounds of filmmaking, its counter-histories and other question-marked
spaces.

LANDSCAPING IN JUNE
Opening + Screening
Saturday, June 7 | 2:00 pm
Join us! opening of LANDSCAPING with “A Canadian Ghost Story: The Quilt for
Joyce Wieland” (2025) by Anna Feldman Gronau & Midi Onodera
preceded rare 16mm screening of Feldman Gronau’s 1989 film, “Mary Mary”

Free Fortune-Telling by Rakkii, the hand puppet (Mystic Oracle)
Saturday, June 14, 2025 | 11:30 am – 1:30 pm | 4pm – 6pm
After a decade spent in isolation and contemplation, Rakkii the fortune-telling
hand puppet returns. Spots are limited, but Rakkii’s opinions are not. Sign up
for a free 20-minute session. info@dandelionfilm.ca

Midi Onodera Selects: “Golden Eighties” by Chantal Akerman
Saturday, June 14, 2025 | 2:00 pm
Screening of Chantal Akerman’s 1986 musical on love and survival amid the
consumerist wonderland of a shopping mall.

Films playing in the Dandelion Pop-Up every Wednesday to Sunday
Ten Cents a Dance (1985), Dir. Midi Onodera. 30 min., shot on 16mm
The Displaced View (1988), Dir. Midi Onodera. 52 min., shot on 16mm
Ville-quelle ville? (1984), Dir. Midi Onodera. 4 min., shot on Super8
C’est à Qui, Cette Ville? (2022), Dir. Midi Onodera. 4 min., shot on Super8

LANDSCAPING IN JULY
Toy Camera Workshop with Midi Onodera
Saturday, July 5, 2025 | 1pm – 5pm
Midi Onodera has collected 40+ toy cameras. In this workshop she will give an artist
talk on how she uses toy cameras in her practice and other ways of seeing. Limited
spots. Sign up. info@dandelionfilm.ca

Free Fortune-Telling by Rakkii, the hand puppet (Mystic Oracle)
Saturday, July 12, 2025 | 11:30 am – 1:30 pm | 4pm – 6pm
After a decade spent in isolation and contemplation, Rakkii the fortune-telling hand
puppet returns. Spots are limited, but Rakkii’s opinions are not. Sign up for a free 20
minute session. info@dandelionfilm.ca

Midi Onodera Selects: “Mary Mary” by Anna Feldman Gronau
Saturday, July 12, 2025 | 2:00 pm
Screening of Feldman Gronau’s 1989 poetic and feminist film on identity, history, home,
and the possibilities for reclamation and reinvention.

Films playing in the Dandelion Pop-Up every Wednesday to Sunday
Ten Cents a Dance (1985), Dir. Midi Onodera. 30 min., shot on 16mm
The Displaced View (1988), Dir. Midi Onodera. 52 min., shot on 16mm
Ville-quelle ville? (1984), Dir. Midi Onodera. 4 min., shot on Super8
C’est à Qui, Cette Ville? (2022), Dir. Midi Onodera. 4 min., shot on Super8