Rumour, WORLDPOOL

Judith Doyle Network Archive

September 18 - October 18, 2026

Opening reception: September 18, 6-8pm

Curated by Kunstverein Toronto

Rumour, WORLDPOOL: Judith Doyle Network Archive opens on September 18 at the plumb, in collaboration with artist Judith Doyle. The exhibition revisits the archives of WORLDPOOL and Rumour Publications – two artist-led initiatives co-founded by Doyle in the late 1970s.

From 1978 to 1979, the teleculture collective WORLDPOOL – an ad-hoc group of artists, writers and proto-IT workers, including Judith Doyle, Fred Gaysek, Willoughby Sharp and Norman White – met weekly at 7:20 p.m. on Wednesdays at 720 Queen Street West in Toronto. They served dinner and used fax and Slow-Scan machines to exchange collaborative artworks with artists and collectives in cities including New York, Vancouver, Victoria, Tokyo and Los Angeles. WORLDPOOL operated out of the storefront office of Rumour Publications, an artist-run press led by Doyle and Gaysek. As Rumour published chapbooks and hosted workshops, exhibitions and performances by artists and writers including Kathy Acker, Philip Monk, Judy Rifka, John Greyson, Gaysek and Doyle, WORLDPOOL continued to meet weekly, testing the possibilities of emerging telecommunications technologies to create alternative networks through live collaboration and exchange.

The exhibition, readings, performances, workshops and participatory fax events aim to re-activate Rumour and WORLDPOOL’s activities and networks, and their joint experiments with language, communication, collective authorship and collaborative, anti-institutional writing and making.

Curated by Kari Cwynar and Kara Hamilton of Kunstverein Toronto.

This exhibition is possible with the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts.