Harbourfront Centre launches its nine
fall visual arts exhibitions, September 28 to November 9
TORONTO — Harbourfront Centre is pleased
to launch its fall visual arts exhibitions showcasing the works
of contemporary artists in book arts, craft, architecture, photography
and video. The public opening reception takes place on Friday, September
26, from 6 to 10 p.m. with speeches at 7 p.m. at Harbourfront Centre,
235 Queens Quay West.
Admission to the reception and the exhibitions is free. The exhibitions
run from September 28 to November 9, unless otherwise noted. For
information, the public can call 416-973-4000 or visit
www.harbourfrontcentre.com.
Exhibition hours for main gallery: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
and Sunday, noon to 6 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, noon to 8 p.m.;
closed Monday except holiday Mondays, noon to 6 p.m. Regular hours
for The Craft Studio: Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sunday,
10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Fall Visual Arts Exhibitions
- Arcade: Panya Clark Espinal, John Dickson, Alex Geddie,
Gordon Hicks, Annie MacDonell and Sally McKay have taken decommissioned
exhibits from the Ontario Science Centre that once sparked curiosity
about science and transformed them using the lexicon of art.
Also features new writing by award-winning sci-fi author Robert
J. Sawyer.
- DANCE DANCE REVOLUTIONS COMPANY: Margaux Williamson features
a video installation composed of footage taped from the internet
of teenagers from around the world dancing in their basements.
- I Stand on Guard: Mona Kamal is a photography installation
that examines whether Canadian multiculturalism helps Canadians
preserve their cultures, or whether it creates a strange hybrid
of identities.
- Book Variations, organized by the Canadian Bookbinders and
Book Artists Guild, presents the work of 49 book artists from
across Canada.
- PERSONAL SPACE features installations by Donald Chong, lateral
architecture and NIPpaysage, along with new writing by Andrew
Westoll.
- In 2 x 6, new Craft Studio artists-in-residence present
work drawing attention to the broad range of expression in contemporary
craft practice.
- Bye - Bye Baby + Celestial Echoes: Michelle Sank features
two bodies of photographic work that looks at developing adulthood
within the milieu of today’s British society.
- I don’t ever want this to end: Geneviève Jodouin explores
how quiet moments can bring people closer together.
- New book work by Calgary artist Angela Silver in Etym.
Arcade: Panya Clark Espinal, John Dickson,
Alex Geddie, Gordon Hicks, Annie MacDonell and Sally McKay A museum
or science centre is often the first place many get to view and
interact with displays that illuminate the wonders behind our everyday
experience of the world. The Ontario Science Centre’s Science Arcade
is such a place. For almost four decades, it has engaged visitors,
hands-on, in exhibits that inspire and compel us to see how science
plays an integral part in our lives, etching memories of delight.
It’s fun. It’s science. Can one come to see it as art? What new
wonders might one see in that act?
Now, Harbourfront Centre brings the two seemingly opposite disciplines
of art and science together to address those questions, and to explore
a new arcade. Six artists have taken decommissioned exhibits that
once sparked curiosity about science and transformed them using
the lexicon of art. Panya Clark Espinal, John Dickson, Alex Geddie,
Gordon Hicks, Annie MacDonell and Sally McKay are all artists with
a keen interest in science and digital media. To further explore
the correlation of disciplines, included in the exhibition is "The
Transformed Man," a personal essay by science fiction writer Robert
J. Sawyer, presented in partnership with Authors at Harbourfront
Centre. The artistic transformations in the exhibition transcend
perceived barriers between art and science and create new focus.
Arcade provides a holistic approach to science and art that appreciates
its interdependence of ideas and creative arrangements.
DANCE DANCE REVOLUTIONS COMPANY: Margaux Williamson The exhibition
features a video installation composed of footage taped from the
internet of teenagers from around the world dancing in their basements
with a song from musician Ryan Kamstra, end of poverty.
I Stand on Guard: Mona Kamal
A photo-based installation questions whether
Canadian multiculturalism helps Canadians preserve their cultures,
or whether it creates a strange hybrid of identities. Kamal asks
"does Canadian multicultural policy educate us about other cultures
or does it make us more ignorant? In the exhibition, there is a
photograph taken in Lake Louise, Alberta in the 1980s of Kamal’s
visiting aunt from India who is wearing a sari. There is confusion
to many viewers as to where this photo was taken because of her
aunt’s dress. According to Kamal, many want to believe that it was
taken in the Himalayas despite the canoes in the background.
Book Variations
Organized by the Canadian Bookbinders
and Book Artists Guild, Book Variations presents the work of 49
book artists from across Canada. The exhibition covers a wide range
of forms, including fine binding, fine printing, and calligraphy,
with the major emphasis on artists’ books. Among the book artists
featured are William Reuter (Ontario) who perfected letter press
printing at his Aliquando Press; the fine binding by Diane Andre
(Quebec); and many other exciting and enjoyable examples of the
book arts.
Founded in 1983, the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild
(CBBAG) attracts members from all quarters of the book arts community—binders,
printers, paper decorators and marblers, calligraphers, and papermakers.
CBBAG offers workshops in most book arts subjects. Its bookbinding
courses constitute the only comprehensive bookbinding education
in Canada.
PERSONAL SPACE: Don Chong, lateral architecture and NIPpaysage Canada's
Donald Chong Studio, lateral architecture and NIP paysage were invited
to create installations in response to the of idea personal space.
The exhibition PERSONAL SPACE also features new writing by Andrew
Westoll in response to his own reflections and questions posed by
this idea, which is presented in partnership with Authors at Harbourfront
Centre. Participating firm NIPpaysage is part of Québec Now!, a
celebration of contemporary Québec arts and culture in Toronto.
PERSONAL SPACE runs until January 4, 2009.
The objective of Harbourfront Centre’s architecture gallery is to
present exhibitions that educate, challenge and question the thoughts
and the ideas which inform contemporary architecture. It is a multi-functional
space, which is able to present exhibitions, be a classroom and
a meeting space for the discussion of issues relating to architecture.
This exhibition space is made possible by the generous support of
Core Architects Inc., du Toit Allsopp Hillier | du Toit Architects
Limited, Kirkor Architects & Planners, and the generous support
of the Canada Council for the Arts.
2 x 6: Micah Adams, Alisha Boyd, Niko Dimitrijevic, Julie Laschuk,
Benjamin Kikket and Rose-Angeli Ringor New Craft Studio artists-in-residence
showcase work that draws attention to the broad range of expression
in contemporary craft practice. In a continuation of Harbourfront
Centre’s mandate to foster links and collaborations within the artist-in-residency
programme, it is emphasizing possibility. Curated by Melanie Egan
and Patrick Macaulay.
Bye - Bye Baby + Celestial Echoes: Michelle Sank Two bodies of photographic
work by UK-based artist Michelle Sank looks at developing adulthood
within today’s British society: Bye - Bye Baby (2001-06) and Celestial
Echoes (2001-03). This volatile stage of life has long been recognized
as a critical time of conflict and turmoil. As they move from childhood
to adolescence, both boys and girls have to redefine themselves.
The way they interact with the world around them in a purely physical
sense, as well as in a social and psychological one, has been of
continuing interest to Sank.
Through sensitive interaction with her subjects and sustained aesthetic
rigour, Sank succeeds in making quiet but distinctive comments on
the status, perception and representation of young peoples in contemporary
society. Her images reflect a preoccupation with the human condition
and to this end can be viewed as social documentary. The exhibition
features c-prints located inside York Quay Centre and two large-scale
prints on the exterior of the building.
I don’t ever want this to end: Geneviève Jodouin Often, quiet moments
can bring people closer together. This work explores the small moments
where very little is said or done in order for a connection to be
made.
Etym: Angela Silver
New book work by Calgary artist Angela
Silver in Etym (the exhibition at Service Canada at Harbourfront
Centre).
FOCUS: Pause
Harbourfront Centre wants you. to. slow. down. In a world where
we are constantly bombarded with information and images, what happens
when someone really takes the time to reflect? From September to
May, Harbourfront Centre wants you to pause and make a connection
to art, technology, the world. Find time for yourself by taking
one of our Courses and Workshops; reflect while you wait for the
World Stage curtain to rise; indulge in a great book during the
2008 International Festival of Authors. Harbourfront Centre—time
well spent.
|
|
