Shop owner says show will go on
Obscenity charges may be laid

DANIEL GIRARD
WESTERN CANADA BUREAU
Jun. 23, 2003. 06:22 AM
VANCOUVER—Sex shop owner John Ince has a blunt message for Vancouver police threatening to throw the book at him — the clothes will come off and the show will go on.

A defiant Ince said he will follow through on plans to stage a play in his store Thursday featuring two actors engaged in oral sex for an audience despite a warning from police that such an act could expose him, the performers and producers to charges of obscenity.

"We don't want to hide what we are doing from police," said Ince, a lawyer and owner of the Art of Loving in Vancouver's trendy Kitsilano. "We're confident that when they see what we are doing they will recognize it as wholesome and healthy'' rather than deserving of criminal charges.

Ince, a long-time critic of what he calls "archaic" laws labelling sex a dirty thing, said the show Public Sex, Art, and Democracy will mark a Canadian first when 35 people pay $20 each to see a couple perform oral sex as part of a new exhibit on the subject.

Each audience member for the three-night run, two of which are already sold out, will be at least 19 years old and warned at the door that the show is sexually explicit, he said.

"I'm entirely motivated by political and artistic reasons in doing this and nothing whatsoever in promoting this store," Ince said at a news conference held in the shop against the backdrop of sex merchandise.

Ince said he will defend himself if charged, but he hoped that police and the crown would look the other way because the show is before "a willing audience, in a private location."

Constable Sarah Bloor said because the obscenity law is in the Criminal Code, police must enforce it. If the show goes ahead, she said, then the vice squad will investigate and collect evidence for a report to the crown, which will determine if charges are warranted.

"We don't have ruling on whether the law is considered to be against someone's Charter rights or not," Bloor said. "It's ultimately a debate that needs to take place in the courts."

Bloor also defended her use of the phrase "immoral theatrical performance" in the headline of a news release warning of the likely police response to the show, noting that that is how such an event is defined in the language of the Criminal Code.

Show producer Martin Guderna said that in addition to exhibiting 12 drawings of people engaged in oral sex he will have a couple — Tanya Seltenrich, 23, and her boyfriend of more than two years, Dana Williams, 28, —perform "non-simulated sexual activity."

That 25-minute part of the show, which will also involve oral sex, will result in him producing an "accurate, genuine documentation of erotica" on three-metre canvas, he said.

Seltenrich, a fine arts graduate from the University of Victoria, said she hopes the show will "cripple the sexual stigma and bring about a more sex-positive attitude" in society.

Williams, who has acted in independent and short films and been an artistic model, admitted the public scrutiny of the show has been more intense than they had expected.

"We would have run away if we didn't feel strongly about it," Williams said. "But we know that we're not doing anything wrong."

Ince's lawyer, Rishi Gill, called the police "reckless" for labelling the show immoral. The obscenity laws are unclear, he said, suggesting the performance might be seen to have "artistic merit" and criminal charges might violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

For something to be deemed indecent and obscene, Gill said there must be proof that it causes harm, which would be very difficult to do under the circumstances of this show.

Additional articles by Daniel Girard

JEFF VINNICK FOR
THE TORONTO STAR
Tanya Seltenrich and her boyfriend Dana Williams will perform oral sex in a show to be staged in Vancouver Thursday