#AGOTweetUP: January Edition
December 23rd, 2011
Due to the limited number of spaces at this event please register your interest at http://agotweetupjanuary.eventbrite.com/. We’ll get in touch with successful applicants no later than 12/31/11.
#AGOTWEETUP: JANUARY EDITION
Thursday January 5th, 2012
Let’s Get Creative
To celebrate the launch of our 2012 Winter Program Guide you are invited to a free evening of (social) networking, nibbles and a chance to try one of our fantastic adult courses.
- Meet other art-loving Twitter users, network and make new friends.
- Chat to the team at the Art Gallery of Ontario and find out what’s going on behind the scenes at the Weston Family Learning Centre.
- Get your hands dirty: Try your hands at a life drawing class with one of our great instructors and a real live model.
Event hashtag: #AGOTweetUp
Event Schedule
5.30 – 6.45 p.m. Networking, wine and nibbles in the Weston Family Learning Centre
6.45 – 8 p.m. Life drawing taster class
8.00 – 8.30 p.m More networking, then home!
Can’t make the event? Follow us @AGOToronto for live updates and photos as the night unfolds.
Need more details? Email our Internet and Social Media Content Coordinator, Holly.
Courses and Workshops for Adults
The AGO’s winter offerings for adults include a series of courses and workshops in the Gallery and in the Dr. Anne Tanenbaum Gallery School – a combination of lecture,discussion, tour studio programs that allow adults to engage with art.
From exploration of contemporary to introduction to drawings sessions inspired by AGO works – adult courses and workshops will bring you new perspectives and opportunities to put art into your life. Register now!
Introduction to Sound Art (Winter 2012)
Designed to give participants an introduction to sound as a creative medium.
Hypothesis of Filming Painting (Winter 2012)
This course will investigate the links between painting and filmmaking.
How to Talk to People about Things (Winter 2012)
This workshop uses the AGO gallery setting as a platform to focus on how to communicate with others in difficult situations.
Yoga in the Henry Moore Gallery (Winter 2012)
Develop your skills amongst the reclining figurative sculptures with an experienced Yoga instructor.
Experimenting with Sound Art (Winter 2012)
This workshop examines some of the experimental practices that have shaped the history of sound art.
Pop Culture and the Written Word (Winter 2012)
Through the AGO’s pop art collection, this course will inspire creative and critical writing about modern pop events.
Introduction to Painting (Winter 2012)
This foundation-level course will draw upon the AGO’s painting collections as a platform for teaching methods and techniques.
Bob Dylan and Contemporary Art (Winter 2012)
Using musician Bob Dylan’s life and work as a parallel to a contemporary artist’s path, this workshop will look at the relationship between artists and their audience while also discussing the link between music and contemporary practice.
Tagging Along (Winter 2012)
As part of their exhibition in the AGO’s Toronto Now series, local artists Sean Martindale and Pascal Paquette invite you to join them for an outdoor tour of Toronto artworks.
Working in Series – Acrylic and Oil (Winter 2012)
Learn to develop a body of work in a series.
Advanced Painting and the Creative Process (Winter 2012)
The course will build an experimental approach to image-making and execution. Students will write, draw, sculpt, and work with photography and video to create and manipulate imagery and its meaning according to their own intentions.
Figurative Sculpture (Winter 2012)
Closely guided by instruction, students will focus on sculpting the human form. In addition to developing skills of observation and proportion while working from a live model, students will also be exposed to current applications of life modelling, sculpture techniques, and basic mold making in a contemporary art context.
Casting Workshop – Methods of Mold Making (Winter 2012)
Learn how to incorporate a variety of materials and mold-making applications into your own practice.
Casting Workshop – Making Editions (Winter 2012)
Explore the concept of the original and the copy as you create an artist’s multiple.
Life Drawing (Winter 2012)
Working with life models, students will explore the technical and perceptual skills needed to confidently produce drawings.
Drawing From Gallery to Studio (Winter 2012)
Using originals in the AGO collections as starting points, students embark on a journey through drawing.
Integrated Drawing (Winter 2012)
Examine drawing from the perspective of various disciplines. Combining studio techniques and visits to AGO exhibitions, this course will explore the possibilities of non-traditional materials and approaches to drawing.
Artist Bookworks (Winter 2012)
Students will explore a variety of concepts, techniques, and materials as they produce their own bookwork.
Experimenting with Mixed Media and Printmaking (Winter 2012)
Combining elements of traditional drawing techniques, collage, and printmaking, students will push the boundaries of their own image-making by exploring new methods of production.
Photomontage and Photography (Winter 2012)
Students learn the basics of digital photomontage while focusing on experimentation and composition.
Figurative Photography (Winter 2012)
Study portraiture, the nude, street documentation, and candid photography by focusing on the human form and the roles it plays in photography.
Top 10 holiday gift ideas for culture vultures
November 24th, 2011
Need some holiday gift inspiration? Check out our top 10 holiday must-haves from ShopAGO. We’ve got a wide range of exciting gift options – you can either buy online or come visit us at the Art Gallery of Ontario, 317 Dundas Street West, Toronto M5T 1G4.
1. Brushed stainless steel watering can from Born in Sweden ($65)
Stylish and minimal, yet at the same time striking, this innovative design typifies Born in Sweden’s approach; functional, practical and always aesthetically pleasing. It is made of 18-0 stainless steel with a flexible silicone hose. The hose has a built-in magnet that allows it to be attached to the can’s body when not in use. When watering your plants, simply hold the metal cylinder with one hand and the hose in the other. To start or stop the water flow, just move the metal cylinder up or down.
2. Stainless steel ‘Rocker’ garlic press from Joseph Joseph ($20)
The stylish design of this garlic crusher makes the messy task of cooking with garlic much easier. By using downward pressure and a ‘rocking’ motion it crushes garlic cloves quickly and efficiently, forcing the pieces up through the mesh of holes. Once crushed, the garlic pieces are held in the shallow bowl, allowing them to be spooned or scraped easily into a pan. Additional cloves can also be crushed at this stage before emptying.
3. Handmade glass Fishscape fishbowl designed by Aruliden ($153)
If the fish fan in your life isn’t into plastic plants and neon skulls, why not grab them this beautiful fishbowl? The contours of the bowl add an elegant twist to the classic fishbowl shape.
4. Alarm Dock for iPhone or iPod touch designed by Jonas Damon for Areaware ($50)
Remember those faux wood grain GE flip clocks that sat on every bedside table just a couple of decades ago? The Alarm Dock uses a nostalgic product language to meet the progressively thin and disappearing profiles of consumer electronics. It is at once a critique and an accommodation to new technology. Place an iPhone or iPod Touch running a flip clock app onto the dock, and see an iconic and meaningful form return to your nightstand, mantel, or shelf. Your iPhone or iPod’s dock connector can be pulled through it, allowing your device to recharge while docked.
5. The Art Museum by Phaidon Press editors ($225)
The Art Museum is the finest art collection ever assembled between two covers. This revolutionary and unprecedented virtual art museum in a book features 992 oversized pages of nearly 2,700 works of art. It is the most comprehensive and visually spectacular history of world art ever published. Ten years in the making, this unique book was created with a global team of specialists in all fields of art – including museum curators and educators, who have collected together important works as they might be displayed in the ideal museum for the art lover.
6. Faux fur collar + cuffs designed by Heather Campbell ($65-$95)
Superb faux fur lined with geometric printed silk inspired by artist Sonia Delaunay. Help the fashion-conscious lady in your life stay cosy without sacrificing style this winter. Available in red/black, blue/black, grey/black. AVAILABLE IN-STORE
7. ‘Vessel’ earrings designed by Nervous System ($40-$90)
A fine network of vessels defines the surface of these semicircular earrings and serves as a hollow tube for carrying a loop of sterling silver chain. These 3d-printed nylon earrings hang from surgical steel ear wires.
Nervous System is a design studio that works at the intersection of science, art and technology. They create using a novel process that employs computer simulation to generate designs and digital fabrication to realize products. Drawing inspiration from natural phenomena, they write computer programs mimicking processes and patterns found in nature, using those programs to create unique jewelry.
8. All Natural Clementine Modelling Dough ($12.95)
Strawberry, lemon and lime – fresh, natural scents in a soft, crumble-free, all natural dough for little hands. Coloured with tumeric, carmine and spinach. Three recyclable 4 oz containers. Lasts for more than 12 months when stored in our airtight containers. Ingredients: flour, water, salt, soybean oil, cream of tartar, natural glycerin, natural scent extracts, natural colours (tumeric, carmine and spinach), calcium propionate. Other art supplies (pictured) also available.
9. Mini speaki speakers by DOMA ($18.95)
He may be small in size, but there is nothing small about the sound performance of the MiNi SPEAKi. Simply charge him up with your computer and he’s ready to be your sound companion wherever you go! Ideal for iPods, MP3 Players, computers…anything with an audio jack.
10. POP phones designed by David Turpin for Native Union ($40)
Styled by French designer David Turpin, the POP handset combines classic style with a contemporary edge and is finished with a luxurious soft-touch texture.
The handset has been manufactured with a high quality speaker and microphone and can be used with all mobile phones when fitted with the correct adaptor (sold separately) and when fitted with a USB adaptor (sold separately) can be used for VOIP computer telephone calls (Skype, Google Talk…). This product is fitted with a 3.5mm jack (compatible with the iPhone)
Available in 6 colours
Liveblog: McCready Lecture on Canadian Art by Philip Monk Marshall McLuhan, General Idea, and Me!
November 9th, 2011
Inaugurating their collective enterprise in the heyday of the “medium is the message,” General Idea were often dismissed as camp “triviality.” Yet they created a fictional system based on popular culture that was as coherent as the media analyses of Marshall McLuhan and the International Situationists. The lecture considers General Idea’s contribution to the Toronto School of communication theory. This liveblog follows along with Philip Monk, Director of the Art Gallery of York University and former AGO curator, as he delves into the worlds of Marshall McLuhan and General Idea. The talk is due to begin at 7.00 – we hope you enjoy following along at home. Holly, Internet & Social Media Content Coordinator
A bit about Philip Monk: Philip Monk is Director of the Art Gallery of York University and has served as a curator at both the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Power Plant. A published writer since 1977, he currently is finishing his eighth book Glamour is Theft: A User’s Guide to General Idea, a book as if written in the 1970s and as if written by Roland Barthes (in English translation).
19:04 Georgiana Uhlyarik, Canadian curator, is on stage to introduce Philip Monk.
‘Philip began as a critic and freelance curator in 1977. Last week he was announced as this year’s recipient of the Hnatyshyn Foundation prize for curatorial excellence in contemporary Canadian visual art.’
19.06 ‘Philip has been implicated in the history of General Idea for many years. It has been a complicated and ever evolving history – today is yet another chapter.’
19.07 Philip is now on stage.
‘I installed the 1984 General Idea retrospective – my first installation. (On screen is photos of that moment and of General Idea). What was is about Winnipeg? That’s the initial connection between Marshall Mcluhan, General Idea and me. But this is a talk about Toronto and the Toronto school of communications. It included McLuhan, why didn’t it include General Idea?’
19.10 … And baby makes four.
19.11 Mt title is a menage a trois, or a menage a cinq. MAT is the title of a General Idea exhibition. Two is the number of rivalry or mimicry, which are one and the same. Two insures we would talk about influence – the influence of Marshall McLuhan ON General Idea. It is mechanical. On the other hand we are already caught in the binary logic of either/or… the number three complicates matters.
19.13 The numbers two and three rule everything I say tonight. These numbers rule General Idea’s system – easy to remember, not easy to see. One-two-three – the numeric cosmology rules General Idea’s system.
19.15 GI were the first to recognise the pervasive influence of MM. A General Idea quote – ‘As children of the Summer of Love and spectators of the Paris riots, we were well aware of the International Situations and Society of the Spectacle on one hand, and of MM, drug culture, digger houses, underground papers and free schools on the other.’
19.16 For AA at least, McLuhan was a hero of sorts.
19.17 Commentary was the linguistic basis of much of General Idea’s fabrications. Rather than a specific medium, we need to discover the immersive environment in which General Idea’s system lived.
19.18 MM’s comments about invisible environments could also be applied to GI’s invisible system.
FILE Magazine could find its source in MM’s Industrial Bride. GI always proved that the dated was fertile, camp ground. Creating an archaeology of the past, images of the future, drawn from fortune magazine, where the same kinds that MM used. They were contemporary for MM and retro for GI.
19.20 FILE published from a Canadian point of view. At a high point in Canadian nationalism, GI were nationalistic too. Another MM trait perhaps?
GI’s criticism was produced from an artistic, not an academic point of view, mimicking advertising and popular culture at a higher semiotic level.
19.21 ‘The best weapon against myth is to mythify it in turn… since myth robs language of something, why not rob myth.’ (Barthes quote)
19.22 GI not limited to MM in their media analysis – extended to the Kabalah, de Bord’s Society of the Spectacle and the wildcard of William Burroughs.
19.24 Burroughs offered models, methods and lingo to assimilate and use magazines (1968 novel Nova Express). (Shows WB quote about newpapers and the image virus).
19.26 PM talking about the influence of Levi Strauss and his model of myth on General Idea
19.28 MM was only part of the mythic, subversive mix. I want to look at the relationship between MM and GI in a more diffused way than just tracking influence.
19.29 ‘Perhaps the mere speed up of human events and the resulting increase of interfaces among men and institutions insure a multitude of innovations that upset all existing arrangements whatever.’ – Marshall McLuhan
19.30 In light of MM’s quotation conside this GI quotation:
‘When the junkie, when the art junkies gotta get our fix, we gotta make a connection, we need our correspondences’
19.31 ’In this article seeing art as a system of signs in motion as an archive and indicator and stabilizer of culture as a means of creating fetish onjects as residence for the field of imagery defining a culture, seeing all this and more in many ways we have become aware of the necessity of developing methods of generating realizing stability alternate myths alternate lifestyles.’ General Idea
19.34 ‘We take General Idea at their word as much as we don’t take them at their word. Their work appeared visually as artworks but its event of appearing was performative. The system put their Pavillion in place and kept it standing – a priority given to language.’
19.35 The systematic nature of their work has even now yet to be addressed. Whilst it does not appear, all their operations are linked through it. The systems ruling term, glamour, is a concept who’s operations are achieved through the applications of techniques, produced by strategies and insinuated by tactics.
ONE CONCEPT: GLAMOUR
ONE OPERATION: REVERSIBILITY
ONE TECHNIQUE: CUT-UP
ONE STRATEGY: THEFT
ONE TACTIC: CAMOUFLAGE
19.36 Showing a diagram of Glamour’s operation of reversibility. (Barthesesque diagram)
19.38 I want to cover the early ground that instituted this system. The Pavilion was built on a spacial and temporal fault line – we don’t go far back enough in figuring out where this came from. GI were architect advocates. Through their verbal advocacy the Pavilion was erected. ‘This is the story of General Idea,’ they said. We believed them, but behind every story is a back story.
19.41 Everything is permitted was a Nietzsche slogan GI took from Burroughs. Talking about images banks and the collage/cut-up method.
19.42 Perpetually changing, constantly colliding, different alignments of words and images, ever new configurations.
19.45 The Borderline was a concept MM and GI shared. An ambiguous model signifying domains in politics and psychology, it was a major operative concept for General Idea. ‘Ambiguity is not a symptom of a schizophrenic who travels back and forth across the line’. Mirror, cutup and borderline were one and the same – ‘the vacuum created by your invisibility has to be filled with words.’ The Pavillion was built on this unstable fault, borderline, were the border dweller (GI) performed in stolen moments.
19.49 ‘Two heads are better than one, but it’s really just one more mouth to feed on’ – General Idea
19.51 Words are a method of invasion, even of the image.
19.52 As in the tripod, a motif of their late 1970s work, is a symbol of stablity. They are all each other’s right hand man and would hate to be reduced to a couple. They weren’t always a threesome – a three man they became. They did not conceptually consolidate until 1975 – portraits of themsevles as architects, poodles, baby seals, etc.
19.54 Their association with McLuhan ends in 1975 with the passage of two to three. From Borderline, where one and two dominates, to three. This number three was all about control, constructing our vision. Their fixed point of view was a throwback.
19.57 We cannot judge or argue with a mythic system such as General Idea’s.
19.58 General Idea were a laboratory, a studio, an advertising agency. Their collective dream was the 1984 Miss General Idea Pavilion.
The talk is over – time for some questions for the audience.
Q. Would you say that some of General Idea’s work, or details or their works, fell out of this system by accident, experiment or chance?
A. Crisis was repeated – and they were always able to cope. Whilst the system seems to have continued throughout – there was a deviation of sorts but with the burning down of the Pavilion they turned their back on their early system. In 1986 there was a crisis in moving to New York and they had to dumb it down for Americans which fell out of the system.
‘I Sent my interperatation to AA (Bronson) and he thought it was fundamentally true and groundbreaking.’
‘Everything that they say in their work is related to everything else.’
Q. What do you think happened in 1975? Until 1975 there’s an interest in the mirror and after it’s the interest in the menage a trois… from two to three.
A. They began to consolidate themselves… in 1975 they had to brand themselves because people were confused about them and who they were. It was necessary – that’s how the portrait came about and how the story began. They consolidated into a trio and the business model came up then.A collective dream became more specifically focussed. They had to have an artistic identity when they began showing commercially.
‘Everything in General Idea is coded – you have to read the code words.’
Vanity Fair’s Todd Eberle: Liveblog
October 21st, 2011
Starting at noon today, Vanity Fair’s photographer-at-large Todd Eberle will be giving a talk about his new book, Empire of Space. If you couldn’t make it out to hear him speak, you can follow along on our Liveblog right here instead! You can find out more about Todd at http://www.toddeberle.com/ Holly, Internet & Social Media Content Coordinator
12.02 Weston Family Learning Centre seminar room 3 is packed to the rafters. Clearly lots of anticipation for this talk!
12.05 Todd Eberle is here, looking dapper in trademark hat and scarf.
12.05 Program Coordintor Gilian McIntyre is introducing TE. “Eberle is best known for his interpretative photographs of iconic subject matter.”
12.07 TE is on stage talking about his new book, released back in April. ‘It represents a 30 year span of time and took me three years to compile.’
‘I photograph a number of disparate subjects which is unusual… People rarely go beyond their boundaries. Taking a photograph of something immortalises, elevates it and I get to photograph a lot of iconic things.’
‘Walker Evans had a book where every spread was a pair of images with some relationship to each other. This idea inspired me – you can riff on this pairing idea.’
12.11 TE is going to show us some spreads from his book. The first shows a pair of pictures which reference Chanel.
‘Once I started to pursue the idea of pairs I began to think very abstractly.’
12.14 TE is talking about his obsession with high modernism.
Next shot: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water
I took 5 shots of this building as a teenager – it’s the oldest picture in the book.
‘I’m formally untrained and completely self-taught. I understood that there’s a relationship between art and architecture which is often overlooked.’
12.17 Next shot: Hilary Clinton/Florence Noel
‘I get to meet alot of interesting people… This was the first attempt to soften Hilary’s image which wasn’t completely successful. I knew she was self-conscious about her calves so I made an attempt to hide it.’
‘Florence in this picture – celebration of the last of the living modernists – she became v private and only agreed to be photographed because a friend agreed to participate in this series.’
12.21 ‘There are a number of people in my book who are no longer livi. I’m happy they get to be memorialised in a nice way.’
12.23 ‘I started to see in pairs – like the rotunda of Thomas Jefferson’s house and CERN’s hadron collider.’ (Two striking circular images – HK)
12.25 Shot: Photograph from the roof of the Whitehouse on a day Clinton had gone to Kosovo – there was a marine helicopter practice/ the same Whitehouse lawn during the Obama inauguration.
12.28 TE is talking about the challenges and pressures he faced in shooting/documenting the Oval Office. ‘I photographed the President’s POV of the office.’
12.30 Shot: Bedroom in the nose of Airforce One (during Clinton’s presidency)/TE’s Grandparents’ House
Harrison Ford was allowed on board to take notes prior to filming the movie.
12.33 Shot: Sunset in Conneticut/Sunset in a Frederick Church painting
‘I started to see the world in a different light as a result of the book.’
12.37 Shot: A pair of garden paths – TE’s grandmother redrafted her garden – this is her garden prior to a visit from Martha Stewart, and again years later when she had lost her sight.’ (Very neat to overgrown – HK)
‘The book became about time, memory, history, loss, destruction, age.’
12.43 ‘My boyfriend sequenced the shots in such a way that it became a narrative, a biography.’
12.45 TE is showing a series of pairings between drag queens and Rorsach-esque flowers, a homage to Andy Warhol.
12.48 Shot: Iggy Pop portrait/ a distressed black sofa (the cover of the book). ‘A fetishished detail of a destroyed Barcelona chair.’
12.50 Floor is now open for questions.
Q Do you use photoshop?
A I use it in a subtle way. I tweak little things but you could hardly see the difference. I heighten the colour occasionally.
Q Has the book changed how you think about the world?
A I see in pairs now – it’s bizarre
‘I don’t know why people would bother with film.’
Todd will be signing copies of his book in ShopAGO for the next hour. We hope you’ve enjoyed tuning in to this live blog session.
How to become a zombie Andy Warhol: Everyone gets their 15 minutes of BRAINS
October 19th, 2011
Did you catch zombie Andy Warhol lurching around outside the AGO yesterday? With Halloween just around the corner and the fantastic Toronto Zombie Walk just days away, we thought we would teach you how to recreate the look using easy-to-find tools. Now you too can be the coolest zombie out there, and make amazing jokes about ’15 minutes of fame/brains.’
We think Warhol would have approved too – in 1984 he was turned into a zombie himself by famous make-up artist and scare-man Tom Savini!
We invited the amazing Cassandra Carter from Sculpture Supply Canada to demonstrate how to create the look. This is a basic tutorial, suitable for wannabe zombies of all abilities.
First, here’s your shopping list:
Costume – we got everything apart from the wig from a thrift store.
Black turtleneck sweater
Black pants/jeans
Black shoes
Sunglasses
Blonde wig
Makeup – available from Sculpture Supply Canada or similar store.
Smooth-On Ultimate Wound Kit
PPI Illustrator – FX palette & Zombie palette
Fleet Street Drying Blood – Dark
Ben Nye Blood – Fresh Scab
Ben Nye Character cream foundations – Blue Spirit, Cadaver grey, Black
Neutral setting powder
Red lip liner
Black eye liner
Latex wedge sponge
Black stipple sponge
Small makeup brushes
Step One:
Start by attacking your blonde wig with a comb and scissors to recreate the iconic Warhol look. We found turning the wig backwards worked really well! One you’ve created the shape you want, put the wig to one side so you can start to do the make-up. Now is also a good time to make sure your model is clean shaven (men), exfoliated and moisturized.
Step Two: Wounds
Time to crack open the Wound Kit. This kit isn’t too expensive and contains everything you need to recreate realistic gory wounds. There’s even detailed instructions in the box. It helps to draw out the kind of wounds you want beforehand or use pictures for reference. We went for some detail around the mouth and nose – the key with silicon is that less is more. It sticks to itself, so it’s better to start small and build up. Keep your wounds asymmetrical and they’ll look more realistic. Once you’ve used the silicon to create the shape of the wounds you can then start adding makeup.
Step Three:
Apply the base colour you want to the face, not forgetting to work it into the hairline. We used Ben Nye blue spirit for a grey, undead-ish tone. Apply contour shades and highlights, building up darker tones around the eyes, nose and mouth. Then use powder to set the makeup.
Step four:
Once the base is done you can start adding the finer details. The FX palette can be used to create veins, capillaries, rotted skin, fungus, bruises or anything else you can think of. Add distress marks around the eyes, nose and mouth to give a sense of decay. Use the red lip-liner in the water lines of the eye to make them look bloodshot. You can also use the black stipple sponge and a darker cream foundation in various areas to make the face look even more rotten. The trick here is not to get too carried away with too many colours or things going on – keep it simple! Use the black eyeliner to recreate Andy Warhol’s dark, bushy eyebrows. If you make a mistake, use Q-tips to fix it.
Step Five
Blood time! Grab your fake blood. We kept our blood subtle (we didn’t want to drip on the artwork) but if you wanted to go wild here, you could. It’s really up to you! Once you’ve added the fake blood all you need to do it add in the wig and glasses. One zombie Andy Warhol!
Some top tips to remember:
- Keeping your makeup A-symmetrical is key
- Use reference pictures while applying your makeup
- Take your time
- Draw it out beforehand
- Give yourself time to practice
- Don’t get too carried away with too many colors or too many things going on.
- Keep it simple and effective
- Have fun!
Happy Halloween everyone!
The Walrus Toronto Project Debate: Be It Resolved that Toronto will Never Be Beautiful
October 12th, 2011
Back again for my second live blog of the day. This time we’ll be hearing what a selection of Toronto’s finest have to say about our city. Is it beautiful? Could it be beautiful? Or do we have to resign ourselves to aesthetic mediocrity? Here’s some info about the event…..
“Four prominent Torontonians in two teams will be debating what it takes to make Toronto beautiful, and whether we have the infrastructure, ideas, and resources to do so. This will encompass politics, the arts, architecture, the business community, culture, and Toronto’s local communities. Featuring Jack Diamond and John Barber vs. Nick Mount and Stephen Marche with moderator Amanda Lang and provocation by Denise Balkissoon, Yvonne Bambrick, Matt Galloway and Albert Schultz.”
You can also follow The Walrus’ @davidpleonard for tweets from event, and you should also check out their Toronto Project Soapbox Site for lots more hot Toronto debate. Our liveblog starts at 7pm EST – stay tuned! – Holly, Internet & Social Media Content Coordinator.
Jack Diamond = AD
John Barber = JB
Nick Mount = AM
Stephen Marche = SM
Amanda Lang = AL
18.54 Really busy already – think we’re in for a lively night!
19.00 Opening remarks from the AGO’s Adult Program Coordinator, Gillian McIntyre. ‘We really want the AGO to be a forum for discussion and to play a role in this city. TOnight is out live on Walrus TV.
19.02 Shelley Ambrose, publisher, The Walrus is telling us about the magazine. The foundation has a mandate to stir up debate – the cover of this issue features a story about the state of Toronto – the beginning of a conversation that continues here and on Soapbox. The hashtag for tonight is #TODebate.
‘If this is your first walrus debate, do not be fooled by the position they have have been asked to take. Not all of our debaters necessarily agree with what they are arguing.’
19.06 AL ‘My role is a neutral one… An interesting exercise for a working journalist.’
‘Be it resolved that there be mention of ferris wheels.’ – gets a laugh from the audience.
The speakers are being introduced – architect Jack Diamond, journalist and committed cyclist John Barber (for the motion) and fiction editor of The Walrus, Nick Mount and novelist Stephen Marche (against)
19.12 JD ‘I want to make it clear that we’re not talking about it’s liveability. We’re talking about beauty. There’s general consensus that cities like Paris and Dublin are beautiful – why? They are lucky enough to be built at a time when architecture of fine detail was prevalent. When you lift your eyes in these cities, your heart is also lifted.
19.14 In Toronto… The constitutional arrangement is not about to change anytime soon. The likelihood of provincial politicians giving up fiscal power to the city is as likely as our opponents winning the debate!’
‘Presbyterian narrowness and architectural mediocrity’ – JD describing Toronto.
19.17 NM ‘After the first world war a group of artists refused to produce beautiful art for a society they felt turned Europe into a wasteland. Art would no longer be beautiful – Duchamp’s toilet is the most influential art piece of the 20th century art. Beauty is not the point. Ugly is the new beauty. Where art led, cities followed. Most North American cities were built at a time in which educated taste was hostile to beauty. But there is an emerging trend towards beauty – places like the Brickworks, Dufferin Grove.’
‘There is nothing inevitable about our tastes or out cities – Toronto can be beautiful if we want it to be.’
19.23 JB ‘Toronto has an affinity for ugliness built into it’s DNA. JB is showing ugly photos of Toronto.
‘It dwarfs any other aspect of the city. I can’t imagine saying this is beautiful. This is Toronto the ‘good enough.’ Toronto is about harmony, affordability. Democracy is not a beautiful thing – it is messy.’
19.27 SM ‘Every city has horrible suburbs, including Paris. The point of this debate hinges on the word never – never is a long time. I think it’s an impossible argument to make – even compared to 10 years ago the city is unrecognisable.’
‘The beautiful city we could build comes from money and talent and will. I believe we have all three.’
‘Torontonians care for beauty now. Even Rob Ford, with his limited imagination, understood that something beautiful needed to happen with his ferris wheel. Beauty is an essential part of living in an urban metropolis.’
19.32 JD ‘Noone questions the fact that people want it to be beautiful. The question is about the money. We have the huge millstone of what we have already built. The circumstances are such it is not possible to achieve.’
19.34 SM ‘If we get as good as New York, everyone in this room would be happy with it.’
19.36 JB ‘The images I showed you are of a city of becoming.. Created by people who arrive in the city and want to get a hold on something.’
19.37 JB ‘Contemporary cities are ugly. Apart from in North Korea.’
19.40 SM ‘Postmodern architecture is very well represented in Toronto and it’s very beautiful.’
19.42 AL opens up the floor to the provocateurs.
‘We have to reframe the debate – how can we put the beautiful software on top of e hardware of the city, if the hardware is unchangeable? What can we do with the human infrastructure to make this a beautiful city.’
JD ‘The growing disparity in incomes is the root cause of a great deal of problems.’
JB ‘I believe physical beauty doesn’t much matter – it’s misconstrued by rich people.’
19.49 SM is defending beauty. ‘There are no reproductions of Damien Hirsts in hospital gift shops. Beauty brings us together in times of grief and times of joy.’
19.52 PRovocateur 2, Yvonne Bambrick.
‘As a cyclist I’m interested in th way people move between the beautiful spaces in the city.’
JD ‘Toronto doesn’t favour the pedestrian. Narrowing the roads is progress in my view – we lack the finesse here. In winter we provide little protection above ground. Imagine Toronto with protected streets? We don’t respond to the city by responsive context.
SM ‘It doesn’t mean we can’t improve – I do not find the car to be incompatible with beauty.’
19.57 JB ‘The lack of ambition here is terrible – Toronto could be Amsterdam for cycling but we dont confront the issues.
19.58 Provocateur 3 – Matt Galloway
‘I’ve had beautiful moments in this city waiting for a haircut – get out of the downtown core and pay more attention. We talk down about the city enough – we don’t talk about what is beautiful at a grass roots level. Do we need to change how we think before we are able to be beautiful?
JM ‘We have this thing where we say we’re either Paris, France or Paris, Ontario. BOth of this ideas are excuses. We need to use talent and political will to create beauty.
JB ‘I agree now is the moment… But it’s not happening.’
20.02 Provocateur 4 – Denise Balkissoon
‘The New York Times said Toronto has no street fashion – what is the individual responsibility for beauty?’
JD ‘We have heterogeneous taste in Toronto – which means we don’t have a conventional beauty.
20.06 Final Provocateur – John Lorinc
‘Have we been paying attention to beauty in the wrong spot? Should we be thinking about the ravines?’
SM ‘we’re going to be built on the terms of the 21st century. Just because we’re not Medieval doesn’t mean we can’t be beautiful.’
AL is sharing the Soapbox question – is public space without art a missed opportunity?
NM ‘We surrendered beauty to billboards.’
JD ‘Art needs to be designed with the space, with the buildings – set pieces that work well frame the vista. I don’t think dumping it is a solution.’
20.12
It’s now time for questions from the audience….
‘Can you imagine a person from Vancouver or Newfoundland saying, ‘ahhh, beautiful Toronto?’
JD ‘No, but they come for the film festival.’
SM ‘I think people do say that – the fluidity is a beautiful and unique aspect of Toronto.’
JD ‘We dont develop a huge base in schools for the arts – we kill it. There’s no opportunity to develop.’
SM ‘We’re living in a renaissance – I disagree there’s no matrix for artistic activity in the city.’
Audience Q ‘What is the appropriate role of the use of power?’
JD ‘It’s important not to have aesthetic police.’
NM ‘We need younger people, less white people, more women – architecture is dominated by old White men – it’s time to let the other kids play in the sand box.
20.21 Audience Q ‘Who is the decider if what is beautiful?’
NM ‘There’s not so much disagreement about what is beautiful. Empirical research shows that we all agree – across gender, race, age.’
AL We’re at time!
Gillian McIntire is back on stage to thank the participants. Thank you to everyone that tuned in to the blog – have a great evening!
Nice To Tweet You: An interview with Cory Doctorow
September 7th, 2011
The AGO’s ‘Nice To Tweet You’ series connects our Twitter followers with artists, curators, speakers and experts. We tell you who’s in the hot seat and then you are able to submit your questions to us via Twitter @agoToronto using the #NTTY hashtag.
Our interviewee this week is Boing Boing co-founder Cory Doctorow. As well as founding one of the web’s most insightful and entertaining sites, Cory is also a science fiction author, activist, journalist and blogger. Thank you so much to everyone that submitted questions – here is what Cory had to say:
Is CC sufficient to fix the problems with copyright? Should solutions build upon copyright or is an overhaul necessary?
I think you’ve got an OR gate where you want an AND gate. CC isn’t sufficient to solve copyright’s problems — look at all the fans under threat of lawsuit, and all the musicians and other artists who conspicuously fail to benefit from those lawsuits. But CC is an important instrumental and strategic tool — it helps creators “live as though it were the first days of a better nation”; and it establishes facts in evidence that there is no universal consensus that “all rights reserved” is what every artist wants or needs.
You seem optimistic about the the future freedom and creativity? Is that because of the technology, or humanity itself?
I’m a pessimist because I think things could get very bad if we don’t do something. I’m an optimist because I believe that technology makes it easier than ever for people to work together to get stuff done.
How can copyright serve as an incentive to creativity?
I think that there’s a long continuum of motives and prerequisites for creativity. Some people have a creation within them that can only see the light of day in the absence of broad, automatic copyright (you could never produce the Beastie Boys’ PAUL’S BOUTIQUE in today’s copyright regime, for example). Some works require enormous cash investment and the bulk of investors want expansive, exclusive rights before they stump up cash.
It seems to me that the trick is to formulate cultural policy that allows the greatest diversity of expressions and creators. So, for example, we could fix a formula for pricing music samples:
Gross revenue / (Number of seconds in song/number of seconds in sample/number of other samples layered over that sample)
(or some variation thereupon)
That would make it possible to sample gratis if you have no expectation of income, would pay artists (not lawyers), and would allow Paul’s Boutique to be made today without bankrupting the band. Or we might decide that the best solution is to make sampling preemptively fair dealing (analogous to the decision to exempt fashion from exclusive rights). Determining the right answer is something that we could arrive at through evidence: go and survey a lot of musicians, try a small-scale experiment, see what happens, refine as you go.
But that requires copyright to be viewed as a mere instrument of policy, not an inherent right — that’s something pretty controversial at the moment. But the instrumental view of copyright is at the core of all copyright solutions.
With the societal recognition in recent years that (musical) artists deserve compensation for users who illegally download their music, are we making progress in the public discussion on internet copyright? (as it pertains to creative industries?)
Not that I can see. I think Charlie Angus feinted in the right direction, but then lost the right path. We have societies that offer blanket licenses to radio stations and live venues enabling them to play any music they want. Why not offer ISPs similar (opt-in) licenses that legalize their users downloading of any music they can find, from any source, using any protocol? That’d pay artists, legalize fans, and get us all on the same side. We’d have thorny problems (the analytics and division of income), but these are implementation details. Maybe we could prototype a good implementation by ripping apart our current collectives, holding them to account for their vast administrative overheads and secretive policies on expenditures, and reinvent them as the transparent, Internet-era institutions we need today.
In your opinion, how does Canada stack up against other nations’ efforts in the area of internet copyright?
Pretty poor. C-32 is proof positive that if the USA jumped off the CN Tower, Canada would do it too. James Moore and Tony Clement’s account of why we need the same disastrous WIPO-plus protection for DRM that the US has been drowning in since 1998 was an incoherent mumble that basically came out as “The US Trade Rep demands it, and we haven’t the guts to stand up to him.”
Internet copyright is one of those issues that seems to catch policymakers’ attention for a while, and then it drops off of their radar. What needs to happen to keep this issue front and centre in their minds?
I think we need to stop talking about copyright and start talking about Internet policy. You can’t make an Internet copyright law without making a law that touches on all the other stuff we do with the net: civics, politics, family life, friendship, health, employment, education. Let’s stop pretending there’s an “Internet copyright policy” that stands distinct from Internet policy, period.
Cory Doctorow is at the AGO on Wednesday, September 14 to give a talk, ’Can creativity and freedom peacefully co-exist in the Internet age?’
Wednesday, September 14, 7-8:30 pm
Weston Family Learning Centre
FREE
To find out more about the interview please contact Holly Knowlman via email, Twitter or call 416 979 6660 (ext 426)
Happy Anniversary Gunilda!
August 31st, 2011
On August 31 1911, steam yacht Gunilda sank beneath the waves of Lake Superior. Her wreckage was to become one of the most captivating intact freshwater wrecks in the world. Today, exactly 100 years on, we look back at the life of Gunilda and invite you to learn more about the intricate model ship we hold in the Gallery as part of the Thomson Collection of Ship Models.
Challenge AbEx Challenge One: Keeping It Simple
August 16th, 2011
Challenge AbEx is a test of wit, skill and ingenuity. Four challenges, each one more difficult than the last, will be set during the final three weeks of the Abstract Expressionist: New York exhibition. At each stage of the contest there are great prizes to be won, and one lucky player will also be crowned the Ultimate AbEx Challenge Champion. Find out more about Challenge AbEx
CHALLENGE ONE IS NOW CLOSED: CONGRATULATIONS TO LAURALEA RIVET WHO WAS CROWNED CHALLENGE CHAMPION
Challenge One:
Difficulty level EASY
We’re making Challenge One nice and easy for you. We’re easing you in gradually. Playing nicely. It’s so unchallenging; it’s barely a challenge at all. The winner of the first Challenge AbEx Challenge will receive a fantastic AbEx prize pack and a pair of free tickets to come and experience the show and the rest of the Gallery. Ready? Here’s what you have to do…
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Join the Art Gallery of Ontario on Facebook
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Tag us* in the following Facebook status update “I’m taking part in Challenge AbEx at the Art Gallery Of Ontario.” (You can add more words if you feel like it)
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You have 24 hours to take part in Challenge One. (Although we hope it won’t take you 24 hours to complete)
*To tag us use the “@” key immediately followed by Art Gallery of Ontario (@Art…) You should be able to select Art Gallery Of Ontario from a list once you begin typing.
Easy, right?
Competition closes at 12:00 Wednesday 17 August & we’ll be announcing the winner later that day. The winner will be picked at random from those who successfully tag us. Good luck to everyone taking part!
Don’t forget that whoever performs the best across all four challenges will be crowned the Ultimate Abex Challenge Champion. The Champion will get a bumper prize pack including a family/dual AGO Membership, a night for two at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, AbEx goodies and more.
For more information or to see the terms and conditions please get in touch.
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Join us on Facebook