2014 University of Toronto Masters of Visual Studies Graduating Exhibition
Golboo Amani, Ido Govrin, Brendan George Ko and Elyse Portal.
April 1 – 12, 2014
Opening Reception: Tuesday April 1, 2014 // 6 – 8 PM
Golboo Amani
win/win
Golboo Amani is a Toronto-based interdisciplinary artist who creates works focused on process and research through a variety of mediums including photography, performance, space intervention, digital media, and participatory practice. She received her Bachelor of Fine Art from Emily Carr University and is undergoing her Master of Visual Studies at the University of Toronto. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally in venues including the Blackwood Gallery (Mississauga), FADO Emerging Artist Series (Toronto), TRANSMUTED International Festival of Performance Art (Mexico City), and the LIVE Biennial of Performance Art (Vancouver). Amani currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Whippersnapper Gallery (Toronto).
Ido Govrin is an artist, composer and writer. Apart from his ongoing artistic practice, he co-curated five editions of ‘Laptopia’ between 2005-2011, curated the group exhibition, ‘Mother, Ravens!’ in 2012, was the director of ‘Musica Nova’ ensemble between 2008-2012, and still runs the experimental record label, ‘Interval Recordings’, since 2005. Ido Govrin holds a B.A in philosophy from the Tel-Aviv University (2012), and currently attends the ‘Master of Visual Studies’ program at the University of Toronto, Canada.
Brendan George Ko
Aloha
For the 2014 graduate exhibition, Brendan George Ko’s work departs from the term Aloha. Aloha is a word with many meanings but no definition; it is indescribable with words alone and can only be understood through experience. With this project, the many meanings of Aloha are told through stories I have come to know through my connection to Hawai’i.
Elyse Portal
Materia Medica
Materia medica is an installation that investigates physical and spiritual relationships to place. Local materials and ancient technologies, such as dream journeying form Elyse Portal’s praxis. Thus crux of this work is guided by a buried waterway that runs under Philosopher’s Walk at the University of Toronto: Taddle Creek.
Material medica has been developed with the support of the Joseph-Armand Bombarbier Canada Graduate Scholarship (SSHRC). Portal has exhibited work at Whippersnapper (clay bank, 2013), Xchanges Gallery (urbeing, 2012), Moses and Mary’s Sculpture Garden (listening arms, 2011), and the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre (elements, 2008). She has curated exhibitions with the Legacy Art Gallery, Open Space (Greenwoosh, 2011), and Canadian Heritage (Real Eyes, 2006). Portal is an interdisciplinary artist and Plant Spirit Medicine Healer, living in Toronto, ON.
Events:
Monday, April 7 // 7 – 9: In conjunction with her work Materia medica, Elyse Portal will host a talking circle-style program that facilitates public dialogue around place with healers and academics. Also, a dream journey to a local plant will be offered.
Refreshments provided.
Tuesday, April 8 // 8:30 – 10:30 PM: In partnering the work of Ido Govrin, the artist will curate a live experimental music concert, showcasing works and improvisations by local musicians.
Performers include: Rob Cruickshank, Christine Duncan, Ido Govrin, Tilman Lewis and Nick Storing.
FREE ADMISSION
Saturday, April 12 // time TBA: Brendan George Ko will provide a walk-through of his exhibition, discussing the memories and experiences he went through when making the work.
Saturday, April 12 // time TBA: Golboo Amani will curate the Closing Ceremonies for her game win/win. The winners will be announced and awards will be given.
SURVOYEURISM: RECONSIDERING SURVEILLANCE
The Open Gallery, OCAD University
49 McCaul Street
March 31-April 4, 2014
Gallery hours: 12-5pm
Closing Reception: Thursday, April 3, 2014 | 6-10pm
Featuring works by: Patrick Cederberg & Walter Woodman, Germaine Koh, Sean Martindale, Kate McQuillen, Paola Poletto and Tom Sherman
An OCAD University MFA thesis exhibition
Curated by Nives Hajdin
The ubiquity of surveillance in contemporary society has brought forth a dual response in the general public: those who vehemently battle the rising invasiveness and seek to maintain privacy, and those who actively give over private information to others. There is growing inclination to watch others go about their daily lives, and these voyeuristic tendencies continually dominate everyday life.
Survoyeurism: Reconsidering Surveillance examines the blurring of surveillance and voyeurism in society in order to encourage a more mindful consideration of the ease to which information is accessed and exchanged. Through works of installation, print and video, the artists in this exhibition demonstrate how acts of oversharing and instances of watching/being watched can affect individuals both online and in person.
Contact: Nives Hajdin
survoyeurism@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/events/759667024044556/
Opening Reception: Delinquent History By Ryan Ferko
At OCAD University Graduate Gallery 205 Richmond Street West
Thursday April 3rd 7 – 10
Delinquent History is an MFA thesis exhibition by Ryan Ferko.
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 3, 7-10 p.m.
Exhibition runs: April 4-6
Gallery Hours: 12-7 p.m.
Delinquent History is a series of new projects that contribute to an on-going exploration of urban development and its tension with history. Combining performative gestures, site-specific intervention, and gallery specific installation, the exhibition questions the site-specificity of history by looking at it through the lens of urban development.
Facebook Event https://www.facebook.com/events/1426391260942382
Cluster “Obiter dictum”
At Robert Kananaj Gallery 1267 Bloor Street West
Thursday April 3rd 4 – 7
Painting, Sculpture, performance,
Oscar Figueroa, Paulina Wiszowata, Constans.
3 April 2014 to 3 May 2014
Reception: Thursday 3 April 2014, 4pm – 7pm
Facebook Event https://www.facebook.com/events/737766909597318
Claire Scherzinger –Shapes in Progress / Objects in Flux
At Mark Christopher Gallery 55 Clinton Street
Friday April 4th, 7 – 10
Shapes in Progress / Objects in Flux marks Claire Scherzinger’s debut solo exhibition with Mark Christopher Gallery. At its crux, Claire Scherzinger’s work is concerned about examining and, perpetuating the relevancy of contemporary drawing, through interdisciplinary methodologies. She examines the spectrum where a drawing begins as a two‐dimensional image and, reaches a state of object‐hood as a simultaneous exchange of visual information between carefully fabricated and, assembled artifacts. This process allows her to speak fluidly between the languages of drawing and sculpture.
The process of research in areas such as the romanticism of Russian Constructivism, the nature of space and time, as well as the roots of ancestral narratives, is how Claire makes work that is inwardly reflective. More specifically, Scherzinger makes images using pointillism as a process of letting her research physically seep into the paper. This introverted work process, is ultimately posing questions about the self, through the research of diverse interests about the purpose of art, and about the nature of the universe.
Facebook Event https://www.facebook.com/events/435143953297523
Sarah Pierce Lost Illusion/Illusions perdues (part two) with Kayla Krische and Olivia Simpson
At Mercer Union 1286 Bloor Street West
Friday April 4th Artist Talk at 6:30, Reception 7:30 onward
Since 2003, Sarah Pierce has used the umbrella term – The Metropolitan Complex – to describe her practice. Despite its institutional resonance, this title does not signify an organization. Instead, it demonstrates Pierce’s broad understanding of cultural work, articulated through working methods that often open up to the personal and the incidental. Characterized as a way to play with a shared neuroses of place (read ‘complex’ in the Freudian sense), whether a specific locality or a wider set of circumstances that frame interaction, her activity considers forms of gathering, both from the perspective of historical examples and the situations that she initiates.
Sarah Pierce’s Lost Illusions/Illusions perdues (part two) refers to the ‘lost illusions’ of the recent past and present. In this exhibition, support structures from recent exhibitions re-appear as material excluded from the institution’s archive while the galleries are divided into black and white. Artworks or ceramic test pieces belonging to an unofficial archive of works that have been left behind at the Banff Centre, are presented in the form of large posters while the gallery has become a work space to make these objects again, transforming from mutable material to robust form while drying out during the exhibition’s time span.
Facebook Event https://www.facebook.com/events/671542606239329
VERSO Gallery Presents
MAX LUPO: Objects of Note
April 5-27, 2014
Opening Reception & Performance
Saturday April 5 from 4-6 pm
Additional Performances
Saturday, April 12: 1-4
Sunday, April 27: 1-4
Image: Dial Me a Story. Modified vintage telephones, 2014
Exhibition Statement
Max Lupo’s Objects of Note takes all of the things you never knew you wished you had, and puts them in one place. Are you your own worst enemy? Do you need a portable confidence booster? Or are you disturbingly lonely while sitting around the house? These, and many other essential human dilemmas, can all be solved by anObject of Note!
The devices on view present themselves as an object waiting to be touched, and it is through the user’s interaction that the limit of the device’s functionality is revealed. Together the viewer and artist will find that what the objects purport to do is both a very real reality, and an obvious sham.
Artist Statement
In my most recent work I become both inventor, and television infomercial host. The devices I create present themselves as an object waiting to be touched, and it is through the user’s interaction that the true character of each device is revealed. The power of the objects reside in their ability to engage with the viewers on both a tactile and conceptual level.
The objects may attempt to offer a concrete solution for some deleterious human ailment, or perhaps they are simply a lightning rod for irony. In either case, the objects are created to be reactive to the user, in a way that allows them to reveal truths about themselves, the user, and myself – all at once.
PROXIMITY TO ANIMALS Curated by Caitlin Gill
Saturday, April 5 6- 9 Closing Reception
At OCAD University 100 McCaul, Room 265
Exhibition Runs: Tuesday April 1st-Sunday April 6th
Guest Lecture by: Morgan Mavis
Time: Tuesday, April 1, 1-3pm
Location: OCAD Univeristy 100 McCaul, Room 187
ARTISTS: Nader Hasan, Rob MacInnis, Janice Wright Cheney and Amy Swartz
CURATOR: Caitlin Gill
The exhibition Proximity to Animals critically explores the varying and complex proximity animals share with humans across numerous humanities and scientific disciplines. Featuring four contemporary artists who engage with natural history museum and zoo aesthetics as a form of presentation but evoke what the natural history museum and the zoo often conceal: themes of dominance, consumption hierarchy, and human narrative. Proximity to Animals poses the question: when the illusion of nature, personified in the natural history museum and the zoo are lifted, what are we really saying about our relationship with and to the natural world?
OCAD University
100 McCaul St. Room 265
Hours: OCAD Hours of Operation
For More Information:
Contact: caitegill@gmail.com
10TH C MAGAZINE CONTEMPORARY ART BENEFIT AUCTION
Sunday April 6, 6 pm
at Division Gallery, 45 Ernest Ave, Toronto ON
Public Preview – Saturday April 5, 10 am – 6 pm
$100 Single Ticket / $300 Group of Four – The first 50 advance ticket orders will receive the special C Auction Edition Artist’s Book Upgrade, 2014 by Jeremy Laing – Instantly turn even the most embarrassing pulp paperback into a beautiful, limited-edition Artist’s Book.
C The Visual Arts Foundation is pleased to announce the tenth C Magazine Auction 2014, a contemporary art fundraiser featuring works generously donated by over 50 Canadian and international artists. Please join us for an exceptional event in celebration of 30 years of C Magazine! The live auction takes place on Sunday April 6th at Division Gallery (Toronto) with auctioneer services provided by Perry Tung, courtesy of Bonhams Canada, wine selected by Sommelier Christopher Sealy of the Midfield Wine Bar and Tavern and food prepared by SMOCK Cafe. This event is presented by TD Bank with the support of Division Gallery. Funds raised by the auction will support C Magazine and its programming for the coming year, and participating artists will receive a portion of the sales.
With artwork by Jaime Angelopoulos, Sara Angelucci, BGL, Nicolas Baier, Dean Baldwin, Heather Benning, Katie Bethune-Leamen, Cedric Bomford, Tammi Campbell, Mark Clintberg, Douglas Coupland, FASTWURMS, Sky Glabush, Maggie Groat, Jason de Haan, Lauren Hall, Neil Harrison, Colleen Heslin, Barbara Hobot, Vid Ingelevics, Instant Coffee, Jay Isaac, Luis Jacob, Kelly Jazvac, Jean-Paul Kelly, JP King, Anthony Koutras, Kristiina Lahde, Rick Leong, Micah Lexier, Derek Liddington, Jimmy Limit, Annie MacDonell, Sanaz Mazinani, Tegan Moore, Roula Partheniou, Brad Phillips, Ed Pien, Sasha Pierce, Andrea Pinheiro, Juliana Pivato, Public Studio (Elle Flanders and Tamira Sawatzky), Jon Sasaki, Rachelle Sawatsky, Walter Scott, Althea Thauberger, Christopher Kulendran Thomas, Josh Thorpe, Stanzie Tooth, David Trautrimas, Flavio Trevisan, Jim Verburg, VsVsVs and more.
C Magazine is an international contemporary art quarterly devoted to promoting critical discussion through essays, interviews, reviews, artist projects and public education. Based in Toronto, with contributors from around the world, C keeps its readers informed of significant ideas and trends in contemporary art and culture. C Magazine is published by C The Visual Arts Foundation, a registered charitable organization established to present ideas, advance education and document contemporary visual art and artist culture. C Magazine acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund for our publishing activities, the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.
Artist Statement Workshop At Xpace Cultural Centre
2-303 Lansdowne Ave
Saturday, April 5 at 1 – 4
This workshop is FREE. Please RSVP to alicia@xpace.info
According to Wikipdia, an Artist Statement is ‘a text composed by an artist and intended to explain, justify, extend, and/or contextualize their body of work.’
Writing an Artist Statement can be stressful, but it’s also a very valuable and essential skill to have as an artist. Whether it be for school, applying for an exhibition at a gallery or artist run centre, applying for a grant or a residency, an Artist Statement is something that will come up again and again long after graduation.
This workshop will be taught based on our experiences (Amber Landgraff, Director, and Alicia Nauta and Adrienne Crossman, Programming Coordinators) as artists and curators as well as our respective positions at Xpace Cultural Centre. Xpace’s programming is decided based on two calls for submissions a year, plus countless other calls for exhibitions, so we will talk about how to write an appropriately focused artist statement, as well as a more general statement about your overall practice.
Writing about your work in an appropriate and concise way is an invaluable skill to have! We will also have one on one workshopping available, so bring your artist statement at whatever stage it’s at for some feedback.
https://www.facebook.com/events/465920820176073
Camoytopia Persents TEA DANCE By Mary Tremonte
At Artscape Youngplace
Saturday April 5th 4 – 7 pm
In the tradition of afternoon gay tea dances, a daytime dance party for everyone!
Experience Camoutopia, a printstallation and temporary social space, through collective movement – silkscreen printed mirrors, handmade snuggies and more! With lots of lovely daylight, now that the days are getting longer.
Dance to sweet sweet jams from lady Sagittarius powerhouses
DJ Teach
DJ Roughouser
hosted by (Leo) DJ Mary Mack
All ages and sober, with homemade Italian sodas and snacks, sweet and savory
BUFU (By Us For Us) Buteeq will be open, with t-shirts, hankies, badges, and prints from Hazel Meyer, Heidi Nagtegaal, and Mary Tremonte.
PWYC donations accepted, $3 suggested.
Part of Camoutopia: Dazzle, Dance, Disrupt, Mary Tremonte’s MFA thesis show.
Artscape Youngplace (Shaw Givens School) Flex Studio Gold – Room 107
(on the first floor, to the right from the front doors. ramp and elevator available)
http://apache.ocad.ca/events_calendar/eventdetail.php?id=6661
Main Event:
https://www.facebook.com/events/786003928095608/