My Dybbuk
Animation, 1 min, 23 second excerpt from 20 minutes, 2018
I am currently working on an experimental animated documentary entitled, My Dybbuk. Using the hand-drawn technique of rotoscope animation, this film tells the life story of the legendary Canadian theatre director, John Hirsch. In my film, Hirsch, who died of AIDS in 1989, magically appears in today to tell me about his incredible life and inspire a new generation of artists.
Gay Alien Shame Parade (GASP!)
Animation, 5 minutes, 2017
A collaboration with Scott Sørli.
Gay Alien Shame Parade (GASP!) was created for Nuit Rose, an arts festival at Pride Toronto, 2017. The previous year, Black Lives Matter - Toronto intervened in the Toronto Pride parade, resulting in significant changes to Pride 2017. Among the most controversial of BLM-Toronto's demands was the "Removal of police floats in Pride marches and parades." The artists were surprised and disturbed by the frequently negative response to this demand from largely cis white men that they encountered on social media and in person. These men had no memory, nor understanding, of the long history of police violence against the LGBT+ communities, and especially against People of Colour, a history that continues today. In solidarity with BLM-Toronto, the artists animated a satirical Shame Parade in another world, composed entirely of floats that document police violence against the LGBT+ communities in the greater Toronto area from the 1940s to the present day.
This video is distrubuted by Vtape. for public screenings, please contact: http://www.vtape.org/distribution.

Grine Kuzine
Installation at Fentster, curated by Evelyn Tauben, 2016
This site-specific installation recreates my late grandmother Sylvia's 1930s kitchen using recycled cardboard to reflect on past and present hardships of starting life anew as an immigrant. The installation’s title originates from a well-known 1920s Yiddish song, Di Grine Kuzine (The Greenhorn Cousin) about an expectant newcomer to America who has become disillusioned by the harsh realities of immigrant life. Like the young woman in the song, Sylvia toiled at part-time jobs, saving to bring her husband to Winnipeg from Poland before WWII, despite being swindled by a fraudulent immigration agent. Hearing this song in as a child, I mistook the unfamiliar Yiddish words to mean “The Green Kitchen.” In the cardboard kitchen filled with green Wandering Jew paper plants, a young Sylvia sits alone, waiting. As with many cultures, for Jewish immigrants the kitchen is often a locus of memory and sharing enduring traditions through food. The installation raises questions about the responsibility of descendants of immigrants to support new arrivals to our country and prods us to consider what is handed down and what is lost in translation—between cultures, between places, between generations—through the immigrant experience.
Documentation photos by David Kaufman.




Analog Pride Pavilion (APP)
A performance at Artscape Youngplace by Evan Tapper and Scott Sorli, created for Nuit Rose, June 25, 2016.
APP participants encountered APP facilitators who wrapped participant's phones in EMF shielding fabric, blocking all social media and dating apps. Participants where then asked to perform the following actions.
1) make eye contact with a stranger.
2) Introduce themselves.
3) Engage in conversation on at least two topics. If participants required assistance with this task, APP facilitators would provide conversation starter cards on request.
4) Conclude the conversation.
5) Thank the other APP participant.
Walls Becoming Windows
Installation, Nuit Rose, World Pride Toronto, 2014
A collaboration with Scott Sorli, projected from the windows of the 519 Church Street Community Centre onto the World Pride street festival. Through moving images and text, the installation asked viewers to consider the historic and contemporary accessibility and visibility of Queer space. In Toronto currently, most LGBTIQ community spaces, bars, restaurants, and shops have signs and large windows that face the street. Historically, these spaces were unmarked, windowless, isolated, and hidden. This is still true in parts of Canada and around the world. The text read, “I remember the first time I saw signs and windows on a gay bar. Used to unmarked doors and shadowed lanes, I was taken aback by my reflections”.
Missed Portraits
A performance on February 12, 2014 at the Rhubarb Festival, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. I asked people to sit for a portrait of someone they miss. As they shared their favorite memory of that person, I made a painting based on that memory. A live video of the painting process was projected above us, beside the memorial wall of the theatre. The paintings were gifts for the participants.
Thanks to Laura Nanni and Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.
Performance Night Interdisciplinary School (PNIS): Master Class
Installation, Nuit Blanche Toronto, 2012
This was an absurd parody of academia where the public
was invited to watch and participate in a 10-minute master
class. After a quick lecture on the history of performance art,
participants selected sound, video, and their artistic intent,
from a range of ridiculous options. Then participants
performed their original work for a live audience. A class
critique and graduation ceremony followed each
performance.
Dal Puri Diaspora
2012, 81 min
A documentary retracing the journey of Caribbean rotis across three continents, directed by Richard Fung. Animation by Evan Tapper.
Shot in Toronto, Trinidad and India, this documentary tracks dal puri’s remarkable passage across space and time, linking colonialism, migration and the globalization of tastes.
more about the film
Listening Portraits
Nuit Blanche Toronto, commissioned by The Spoke Club, 2011
I drew portraits of strangers without seeing them. The artist and subjects sat separately in plexiglass booths with an opaque wall between them. The conversation between the artist and subject was amplified through microphones and speakers. A video of the live drawing was projected above us. In our conversation, strangers revealed details about their lives that informed the portraits I drew.
Kumbaya Crafting With Friends
A 2-hour performance and site-specific installation (excerpt is 1 min, 12 sec) with crafts materials, karaoke, yoga, drum circles, tai chi and chi tea.
The event happened at the Spoke Club, an exclusive private members club for individuals in media, entertainment and the arts. Toronto, 2011. Thanks to Shantha Roberts.
Swoon
Installation, projected animation, framed woodcut, torn duvet with feathers, Gallery 1C03, University of Winnipeg, 2010, 13 min animation loop projection (excerpt 1 min, 24 sec)
Inspired by a woodcut from the University of Winnipeg's art collection, this project explores issues of myth, art history, education, and sexual violence.
Dear Mom and Dad
Animation, 2009, 1 min, 30 seconds, commissioned by the Toronto Animated Image Society and Gallery 44
Slides from of my parents wedding reveal another time when they are so young. Using animation, I attempt to save them from a very difficult future.
Travels With My Brother
15 min, 30 sec, (excerpt 5 min, 23 sec) 2010 Documentary by Christine Alexiou and June Chua. Animation by Evan Tapper.
Using stop-motion animation this film is an extraordinary lens to see and understand the world of Vas, an autistic man, and his unique relationship with his older sister.
Film Web Site
Eddy Explains, It's Not You
Installation, Interaccess Electronic Media Arts Centre, 2008
Participants joined a 3D animated satyr in making crafts as he struggles with issues of sexuality, aggression, and violence.
High Holiday Office Hours With the Almighty Creator of the Universe
Performance, 12 hours, 2008
Visitors met god, his secretary Sheila, and his
intern Brad to atone for their sins before Yom
Kippur in the gallery basement. Presented by the Koffler
Gallery in partnership with InterAccess Media Art Centre.
She Asani Kirtzono
video, 2008, 5 min
This video references the division of men and women in traditional Jewish prayer and the alienation I feel due to misogyny in the Jewish religion. Commissioned for the Off the Wall: Artists at Work, 2008 residency at the Jewish Museum, New York
I Teach Young Men How to Make Art
animation, 2008, 1.5 min
A student’s assignment causes me to consider the misogyny in art and what my responsibility is as a teacher, an artist, and a man. Images for this video were found using an academic art history image database, with the key word "rape".
Anima
3 hour performance/installation at Rhubarb Theatre Festival, Toronto, 2008
Evan (as a satyr) facilitated an arts and craft workshop with participants as they watched the video, Daily Inspirations.
Ice 9
Animation, 2007, 2 min
On one side of the split screen, I run across a frozen river.
One the other side, in stop-motion animation, a baby cast in
ice forms from water on my body. The voice-over speaks of
family tragedy and science fiction.
Cold Heart
video, 2007, 1 min
A collaboration with June Chua. Can one make peace with a difficult memory before it melts away?
Artist Seeks...
animation, 2006, 1.5 min
While a telephone message plays, a strange intimacy is revealed in the flashing backgrounds of images from online dating profiles.
Self-portrait As A Tortured Artist (With Positive Feedback)
video, 1.5 min
In this humorous video, a recorded telephone message is used to explore the realities of being an artist.
How Was Your Day Dear
Animation, 2006, 2 min
Using an audio waveform to illustrate aggression, I recall a
difficult memory. The relationship of the artist and the
listening audience echoes this memory and becomes a
source of frustration.
In Search of Vashti
Site-specific audio installation created for the Institute for
Contemporary Culture at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto
The 45 min audio loop plays continuously (24 hours) on
headsets inside a custom built bench. Participants were
asked to tell the story of what became of the ancient Queen
Vashti, a feminist hero from the Book of Ester. The
participants were women from diverse backgrounds, such as
rabbinical scholars, academics, museum staff, artist,
activists, and women’s shelter staff.
It's OK Michael
Animation, 2005, 1 minute, 30 seconds, commissioned by Charles Street Video and the Images Festival
In this animation, the artist goes back in time to help a scared high school bully.
Graphic Material
Animation 2003, 2 min
The pages of a brutal manga comic book are are animated to explore issues of identity, masculinity, and misogyny.
Mata Ashita
video, 2004, 5.5 min
Mata ashita literally means “same tomorrow”, a Japanese phrase co-workers say to each other when leaving work for the day. In this strange collaboration with Gilles Gabriel Grassioulet, two alien artists explore social boundaries in daily performances.
My Hero
video, 2003, 1 min
A short video where a hero is found in the most unexpected place.
I See You Everywhere
These photographs taken in China and South Korea where published in a book for the Center for Contemporary Art Kitakyushu Research Program, 2003-04.
Sick Day
Animation, 2002, 7 min, 30 sec
The protagonist is forced to confront his depression and isolation as the contents of his life are mysteriously pulled from his apartment, during a TV, game show.
Self-portrait as a Teletubby
video, 2003, 3 min
In this private performance, a shaved patch of chest hair becomes a space for contemplating the art making process.
The Past is Unpredictable
video, 2002, 1 min
A collaborative drawing, performance, and video project with Rebecca Vaughan.
Tumor
animation, 2001, 3 min
This strange, 2D computer animation uses dark humour to examine the intricacy of displaced fear and personal loss.
Fleeting Intimacy
Video from a 30-day performance, excerpt is 3 minutes, Carnegie Public Library, Pittsburgh, 2001
Strangers share personal stories while posing for free portraits, exploring the intimacy between the artist and subject.
Lot
video, 2001, 2 min
This video examines a misogyny that is deeply rooted in myth and personal history.
Untitled (Self-portrait in Blue)
video/8 mm film, 2001, 3 min
This absurd parody of an art film was shot on 8mm film, hand-painted and animated, then transferred and edited on video
Do You Share Chemistry?
mixed media collage, 16" x 20", 2000, Created for Ace Art's Paperwait publication.
This began with a quiz page from Complete Woman magazine. The page is covered with text and drawings to appear as though it was found in the waiting room of a doctor's office. This work expresses the stress of waiting for HIV test results.
Man Made
multimedia installation, 1999, Ace Art, Winnipeg. This project involved sculpture, robotics, 3 video monitors and 6 audio channels. Based on the riddle of the sphinx, I created sculptures that represented myself at three stages. A young boy crawls up from a bed of broken plates. The office worker sits with two feet at a glass desk. The artist stands on one leg with crutches.
Unicorn Men
mixed media drawings, 3'x2' 1996-99 (web images are details)
These images obsessively piece together diverse icons of masculinity in order to examine and deconstruct codes of gender representation within high and popular culture.
Sweet Truth
sculpture with 2 channel video and audio, 1996, 6 x 7 'x 4'
This work examines the consumption and internalization of misogynist culture.
Schneidy, We Hardly Knew Ye & Other Tales of Misguided Masculinity
performance, 1997, 45 min, Cinematheque Theatre, Winnipeg Fringe Festival (excerpt 1.5 min)
A multimedia extravaganza with actors, live music, puppets, and video projections. and set to the music of Evita, this project featured Schneider from the TV sitcom, One Day at a Time. Thrown into a sudden identity crisis, Schneidy embarks on a journey to find himself. Thanks to Jarod Charzewski and Erin McFee.
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane & Other Tales of Post-Pubescent Angst
Performed at the Cinematheque Theatre, Winnipeg Fringe Festival,
1996, 35 min, excerpt 2.5 min,
A bizarre multimedia musical performance about gender and representation. This was a collaboration with Liz Schaeffer. Thanks to Erin McFee and Jarod Charzewski.