Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than the Real Thing

Film

Born 1978 in San Francisco, CA
Lives in Los Angeles, CA

Aron Kantor’s film Interdimensional Pizza Portal from 2023 offers an updated version of camp, providing an alternative to the focus on trauma and shame in mainstream entertainment’s depictions of LGBTQ+ subjects. Focusing on the character of Grover, who conducts an occult ritual and conjures a pizza from an interdimensional portal at home, Kantor’s film depicts the quest for expanded consciousness through substance-induced experimentation, connecting his film to the 1960s queer counterculture and its psychedelic sensibility. Influenced by science fiction, horror, and comedy—and conveying a surrealist sense of absurdity—Kantor’s film suggests that dwelling on one's worries or anxieties will only obstruct the more life-affirming experiences that await beyond the realms of our imagination.