In Conversation with Jess Dobkin & Laura Levin

Video (1:02:26) On this episode of In Conversation, James Campbell is joined by Jess Dobkin and Laura Levin. Video by Intellect Books and Journals, 2024.

Laura Levin is associate professor of theatre and performance at York University (Toronto) and York research chair in art, technology, and global activism. She is the editor of Jess Dobkin’s Wetrospective, a book that reflects on Jess Dobkins playful and provocative practice as performer, activist, curator, and community leader. At the same time, it grapples with a question that is vital for art and performance studies: How do archives perform?

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About Jess Dobkin

Jess Dobkin is a performance artist based in Toronto, Canada.She is best known for her 2006 work The Lactation Station. She has a B.A. in Women’s Studies from Oberlin College, and an M.F.A. in Performance Art from Rutgers University. She is a Fellow at the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies at the University of Toronto. Jess Dobkin has been working as an artist, curator, queer community activist, and teacher for more than 25 years. Creating and producing intimate solo theatre performances, large-scale public happenings, socially engaged interventions, and performance art workshops and lectures. Her film and video work are distributed by Vtape, Toronto, and her performance work is held in performance art archives internationally.