OMA conference

If you are in or around Ontario this October and you have an interest in Museums, may I suggest the Ontario Museum Association’s annual conference!

October 21 – 23, 2009 in Hamilton

Check it out here!

More Add-Art goodness!

Coming May 21st a new Add-Art show:

A story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end…but not necessarily in that order. (After Godard)

—

Photography to the amateur is recreation, to the professional it is work, and hard work too, no matter how pleasurable it may be.
-    Edward Weston

This exhibition grew from a desire to create a digital manifestation of a belief. The belief was that truly extraordinary artworks occasionally appear effortless and easily consumable to the viewer. The images that comprise this exhibition serve as a reminder of the countless hours spent in conception, preparation, and finally production of an artwork.

In their statements and of their respective works, both photographers grapple with fleeting and rare moments; yet these moments, occasionally have the power to resonate far beyond the split second it takes for the shutter lens to frame them. Incredibly, Add-Art is the perfect medium (in my opinion) for artworks that struggle to deal with these kinds of instances. Hopefully the glances that you sent into the corners of your monitor as a result of using Add-Art occasionally capture your attention beyond a fleeting moment. Ideally these works force a prolonged, contemplative stare of you and cause you to reflect back on yourself and the process that created them.

Roger Cardiff and Mariam Magsi are two photographers based in Toronto, Canada. Cardiff’s images in this collection are all original photographs that have been digitally manipulated to the point of surrealism and dream-like states. Working in a variety of traditional and new media tools to achieve his vision, he creates his artwork to capture fleeting moments and once in a lifetime encounters. Mariam Magsi was born in Karachi, Pakistan and her works are shaped by the desire to meld and integrate two different systems of belief through photography, while attempting to deconstruct the “essence of nothingness”.

Ivan Tanzer is an independent curator and museum consultant based in Toronto, Canada. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto’s Museum Studies programme, and this is his second exhibition with Add-Art.

http://www.behance.net/CardiffInk
http://mariammagzithelair.spaces.live.com/
http://ivantanzer.wordpress.com/

Canadian Museums Association Annual Conference in town

It has begun. The CMA has landed at the Royal York here in Toronto (25th-28th), and if you felt like paying between 150-835$ you too could find a spot amidst plenty of museum folks. I will be heading down on Friday and Saturday but my real reason/concern/opportunity/secret fear is my talk on Friday afternoon as part of the second Charrette: Student & Professional Exchange, Part II. I will be talking about the Add-Art project (which if you’ve read a few of my posts is my current curatorial focus) and hopefully inciting some institutions to check it out and maybe even to take up the challenge of using it.

Following the CMA another conference worth mentioning is the “Spring Forward! Resource Fair for Emerging Arts Professionals” being held March 30 @ UrbanSpace Gallery, 401 Richmond Street West, Toronto (FREE, YAY!) (Thanks Sky)

It’s going to be a busy week, which of course calls for good music:

Heartless – Kanye West

Enjoy!

Happy Holidays from Montreal!

I’ve gone but I’ll be back. Happy Holidays to you and yours!

I’ll be back with a look at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts’ [Warhol Live] exhibition!

{Edit} Music + Art = Natural

Very interesting exhibition, drawing parallels between how music and art each influence each other. A lot of Stones album covers, a few Elvis’, trippy disco room!

Delay of game…

As promised a review of the AGO, in a condensed form of course. The AGO is in many ways an incredible institution. The building, the art, and the people make it a wonderful place to visit and more importantly to be a part of. (Emphasis on public partnership and participation!) Though I tried, and I knew I would fail, I was unable avoid a comparison between the AGO and the ROM, so bear with me for a second.

Though each museum set out to achieve different things in very different ways, the AGO succeeds far more thoroughly than the ROM at meeting its own objectives. If the ROM was attempting a “renaissance” – a rebirth of learning and culture, they have failed. If they were attempting to make an international statement with little more than a building and a world class collection then they have succeeded. Where the ROM has failed, and this is of course its main failure, is in the design of a museum for people. A museum ought not to be the place where “objects go to die”, but rather a place where ideas are shared and circulate freely as mediated through a collection of objects. [End Rant...]

The AGO is lovely, it is wood rather than metal, it is clean lines and curves rather than jagged edges and dark recesses. (Modernist sensibilities much?) It chooses to let light in rather than block it out, something conservators must cringe about. Besides the Frank Gehry building in all its splendor, one of the most important developments at the AGO has been to bring out a far greater percentage of the permanent collection than ever before, yet this development is also my first concern. Whether it be through a token gesture of open-storage in the sub-street level concourse of Inuit Art, shame, or through the twenty plus galleries dedicated to the Thomson collection, an overly grand commemoration of the principal donor(?)- see also his ship models display, many questions remain.

But despite a few things I object to, perhaps “object” is too strong a word, some things that merely cause me to raise an eyebrow and wonder…the AGO is seemingly set for clear albeit challenging seas (pun intended).

In my next post I will go into detail about some of the successes of the museum’s curatorial and collection choices, as well as a review of its small cafeteria below “Frank’s”. A man’s got to eat after all…

If you are interested, a show I curated will be viewable at add-art.org on Dec 4th, which is in about 25 minutes.

After the hype: The AGO week 2

Rather than face the onslaught of people who last weekend must have rushed to the Art Gallery of Ontario for its grand re-opening I have decided to visit approximately a week after inauguration. The Frank Gehry expansion is the latest major expansion at the AGO, but by all means this is not the first time the AGO has “transformed” itself. Since 1911 the AGO has undergone numerous site expansions, renovations, and of course new constructions. If my memory servers I’m pretty sure this is phase 4 for the AGO, definitely one of the largest and most visible changes, but no less important than previous steps in its development. If you are curious you can travel back in time and follow the developments of the AGO (formerly the Art Gallery of Toronto…did you know that?) here.

On November 14th, Torontoist.com visited, reviewed, and documented their take on the new AGO. Rather than reiterate the content, visit and be sure to check out the pics!

As a recent lapsed member of the ROM I have high hopes for the AGO which I will be visiting tomorrow, who knows, they might even get a new member out of me! Rather than contrast with what I view as the ROMs failed attempt to recreate itself, I’m going to try to objectively appreciate each as a distinct take on the two extremes of the Toronto museum scene. I’m going to let the building, art, and ideas talk for themselves and report back once I’ve digested it all! To be continued…

Old work, new Masters

So last night I checked out a show by a friend of mine who is attending OCAD’s Masters of Fine Arts in Criticism & Curatorial Practice (I joke that they are one “c” short of the CCCP). It was a fresh show introducing some interesting artists and some great work in a small white-cube space.

It is being held at the OCAD Graduate Exhibition Space (205 Richmond St. W) from November 11-22, 2008 and I invite you to check it out.

Flyer

Although there is nothing mind-blowingly new about the art there is one piece which really stands out and literally draws you in.

I strongly recommend going into the Fort! Yes the fort! Cardboard, bean-bag chairs, books on art criticism, plants, a sky-light, fun!

For your ipod: Fort Minor – Where’d you go?

The Setup

Welcome to the first post on Curator in a quandary. Just a quick post to present work by Adrianne Rubenstein which will be featured on add-art.org as of December 4th 2008. Please head over and check it out!

From the Yellow Series

From the Q Series

Since graduating from NSCAD and moving to Toronto, Canada in May 2006, Adrianne Rubenstein’s practice has centered on exploring the connections between humans and honeybees, their intelligence, machine-like architecture and their unique ability to communicate. Her work is an attempt to give form and a creative twist to the connections, perceptions, and distinctive character of an insect we almost always take for granted.

In the 1800s, the invention of the Langstroth hive with its removable shelves made it possible to harvest honey without harming the brood, thus making way for contemporary beekeeping and the mass production of food. This practice has made way for industrial agriculture and beekeeping companies that manage thousands of hives primarily for the pollination of cash crops. Rubenstein’s work involves direct contact and observation of honeybees, and explores how bees perceive their surroundings and their relationship with us.

“Bees are a mystery, sure they can be studied and explained, but they also provoke a meditative space where it’s just the idea that counts.”

For this show, eight bodies of work are presented, each unique, yet a part of a larger whole. Whether it is through the distinct use of colour, space, texture or style, each work offers a glimpse into an artist’s take on the language of bees and their continued elusive and mysterious nature.