ORAIB TOUKAN | WHEN THINGS OCCUR
SATURDAY 17 MARCH – SATURDAY 28 APRIL 2018
presented in collaboration with the Images Festival, April 12 – April 20, 2018

IMAGES FESTIVAL RECEPTION & ARTIST TALK
SATURDAY 14 APRIL, 2:00PM at YYZ
TALK WILL BEGIN AT 3:00PM at the Common on the 4th floor.

 

ORAIB TOUKAN| WHEN THINGS OCCUR
When Things Occur is based on Skype conversations with Gaza-based photographers, fixers and drivers who were behind specific images that were transmitted from screen to screen in the summer of 2014. The film probes the face of mourning and grief- its digital embodiment, transmission, and representation. It asks how the gaze gets channeled within the digital realm, and how empathy travels, digitally. Equally, how the documentary signifier – and its abstraction – operate when viewing suffering. What exactly is viewing suffering ‘at a distance’- and how many meters or kilometers is that? What is the behavior and political economy of the image of war? And who is the ‘local’ in the representation of war? What is the daily routine of those who represent war?

ORAIB TOUKAN is an artist and Clarendon Scholar at the Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford. She is visiting tutor at the Ruskin School of Art and the International Academy of Fine Arts in Ramallah, Palestine. Until Fall 2015, she was head of the Arts Division and Media Studies program at Bard College at Al Quds University, Palestine. Recent exhibitions include the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Heidelberger Kunstverein, Qalandia International, The Center for Contemporary Art Glasgow, the Asia Pacific Triennial, the Mori Art Museum, and the 11th Istanbul Biennale.

MARIE-MICHELLE DESCHAMPS + BRYAN-K. LAMONDE | BETTER TIMES
SATURDAY 13 JANUARY 2018 – SATURDAY 03 MARCH 2018

OPENING RECEPTION
FRIDAY 12 JANUARY 2018, 6:00PM-8:00PM

MARIE-MICHELLE DESCHAMPS + BRYAN-K. LAMONDE | BETTER TIMES

In 2012, Marie-Michelle Deschamps and Bryan-K. Lamonde collaborated on The Twofold Room, a book-object linking philology and architectural form. This book took the reader on a journey following a horizontal line; a line starting with a red carpet, breaking at the reception desk, deploying itself endlessly in a hallway, and folding at the bedroom, where suddenly another appears, as it is, evidently, a double room. The Twofold Room explored the loss of identity caused by moving from one language to another as well the nightmare of interconnected elements slowly drifting apart.

At YYZ, Deschamps and Lamonde prolong their exploration of language as an inhabited space, a key element of their respective practice. They once again play with the material properties of words, letters, and signs, and use them as spaces to collapse, conceal, or inhabit; all the works acting as translations of our experience of the world of objects and forms — a world that we experience physically, but which is also wholly contingent upon language, it being in fact an inhabited space of language.

With Better Times, a simultaneous opened-ness and closed-ness acts to unsettle through a default of décor, to question whether there is any content separate from the process or means of revealing.

MARIE-MICHELLE DESCHAMPS is an artist based in Montreal, Quebec. Her work focuses on the ambiguities of deconstructed language and its transposition in signs and objects. The elusive signification exhibited in her drawings, sculptures and sounds works allow for figurative, abstract, and literary interpretations. She holds an M.A. from the Glasgow School of Art. Recently, her work was presented at MUDAM, Luxembourg (2017); Ausstellungraum Klingenthal, Basel, Switzerland (2017); Darling Foundry, Montreal (2016) and Glasgow International, Scotland (2016). In 2018, Deschamps will show her work at Diagonale, Montreal and at Parisian Laundry, Montreal.

BRYAN-K. LAMONDE is a graphic designer based in Montreal and one of the co-founders of Principal. Working in the realm of contemporary art, his approach has allowed him to collaborate, to create new approaches and to dialogue with numerous artists that share his concerns that are located at the crossroads of art and design. In addition to working with Deschamps on The Twofold Room (2012), he also contributed installations in the exhibitions L*, at the Darling Foundry (2016), Montreal and at Galerie UQO, Gatineau (2016).

JALANI MORGAN | THE UNFORGETTING OF BLACK CANADIAN BASEBALL
VOL. 1   THE WARD PLAYERS
SATURDAY 13 JANUARY 2018 – SATURDAY 03 MARCH 2018

OPENING RECEPTION
FRIDAY 12 JANUARY 2018, 6:00PM-8:00PM

Image Credit: archival image, the Ward Museum, Toronto

Jalani Morgan’s reverence for baseball is reflected in his act of celebration with his inaugural “Black Canadian Hall of Fame” Collection. Morgan turns his attention to his home studio’s location – The Ward – where his discovery of two Black baseball players that played for the local Mount Carmel Church  team in 1942 will be further explored.

JALANI MORGAN is an established Toronto based photographer, visual historian and photo editor who is known for his editorial, documentary and gallery collected work both nationally and internationally. Morgan’s creative work explores visual representation within a Black Canadian context and focuses on documenting and portraying images of Black life both in Canada and internationally. As a commissioned photographer, he covers the spectrum of portraiture and current events documenting the architectural, racial, musical and cultural landscapes of Toronto. Over the past fifteen years, Morgan has built an impressive portfolio creating pieces for: Black Lives Matter Toronto, National Film Board of Canada, The Fader, Nike, Sportsnet Magazine, TVO, National Screen Institute, Converse, Manifesto, ArtReach, TEDxToronto, Daniel Spectrum, Nia Centre for the Arts and has contributed to exhibits for Photoville New York, The Wedge Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, Art Gallery of Windsor and CONTACT Photography Festival. Originally from Scarborough, Ontario, Morgan has been dedicated to giving back to his community through mentorship and community empowerment programs that have included The Remix Project, LAMP and We Are Lawrence project created in partnership with City of Toronto and Manifesto. He is a passionate Toronto Blue Jays fan and has a soft spot for Montreal.

RAVEN CHACON | REPORT
Presented in partnership with imagineNATIVE Film & Media Arts Festival
SATURDAY 16 SEPTEMBER- SATURDAY 02 DECEMBER 2017
imagineNATIVE ART CRAWL | FRIDAY 20 OCTOBER 2017, 5:00PM-9:00PM
ARTIST TALK | FRIDAY 20 OCTOBER, 8:00PM

OPENING RECEPTION | FRIDAY 15 SEPTEMBER 2017, 6:00PM-9:00PM

Originally trained as a classical composer, Raven Chacon works across a variety of mediums including installation, performance, video, and recording. The works in Report consider the outmost boundaries of an important parameter of sound: dynamics and volume.  The loudness of nature and of unorthodox instruments contrast against a landscape of silence, sometimes explained in a score of text, music notation, or other pictographic depictions.

Three places in the Southwest U.S. chosen for their quietness are presented as Field Recordings, further amplified to their maximum volume. While seemingly reduced to noise, the recordings reveal individual colors of the essence of each location.

Report is a musical composition scored for an ensemble playing various caliber firearms. The sonic potential of revolvers, handguns, rifles, and shotguns are utilized in a tuned cacophony of percussive blasts interspersed with voids of timed silence. In the piece, guns—instruments of violence, justice, defense, and power—are transformed into mechanisms for musical resistance.

RAVEN CHACON holds an MFA in Music Composition from CalArts. He is a composer of chamber music, a performer of experimental noise music, and an installation artist. He performs regularly as a solo artist as well as with numerous ensembles in the Southwest USA, and is also a member of the American Indian arts collective, Postcommodity. Chacon has presented his work in different contexts at Vancouver Art Gallery, ABC No Rio, REDCAT, La Biennale di Venezia – Biennale Musica, Musée d’art Contemporain de Montréal, San Francisco Electronic Music Festival, Chaco Canyon, Ende Tymes Festival, 18th Biennale of Sydney, and The Kennedy Center among other traditional and non-traditional venues. His work with Postcommodity recently exhibited at the 2017 Whitney Biennial and documenta 14. Chacon currently lives and works in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

DAVID COURT | CV
SATURDAY 16 SEPTEMBER- SATURDAY 02 DECEMBER 2017
ARTIST TALK | FRIDAY15 SEPTEMBER, 6:00PM

OPENING RECEPTION | FRIDAY 15 SEPTEMBER 2017, 6:00PM-9:00PM

David Court’s work lacks a stable or reliable methodology, operating instead through responsiveness—to architectural contexts, curatorial frameworks, institutional protocols, and theoretical discourse. These considerations operate alongside a form of authorship that self-consciously seeks to address the dramas of the institution and practice of art, on the level of organization, narration and display. Scattered fragments of material (texts, images, and objects) are gathered into ambivalent and theatrical patterns of association, expression, and style. This work operates with and in the tension between the ethical demand of expression and the institutionalization of taste and sensibility, dwelling on various dysphoric affects of contemporary life—states of suspension, alienation, and impasse—as they manifest in artistic practice and material culture.

DAVID COURT is an artist and writer currently living and working in Ulster County, New York. He holds a Masters in Visual Studies from the University of Toronto (2009) and a BFA from NSCAD University (2006). Recent exhibitions include: Artist’s Rendering (Distressed, Relaxed), AxeNéo7, Gatineau, Quebec, 2017; You can tell that I’m alive and well because I weep continuously, The Knockdown Center, Queens, New York, 2017; Apparatus for a Utopian Image, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts Project Space, New York, New York, 2016; Self-Titled (Materials for a 21^st Century Room—or SWAMPED, EXHAUSTED, HESITATING), 8eleven, Toronto, Ontario, 2016; David Court, Aryen Hoekstra, Shane Krepakevich, Modern Fuel Artist Run Center, Kingston, Ontario, 2016.

 

YYZLAB OPEN HOUSE

YYZ is pleased to present work by YYZLAB participants from Thursday July 20 to Saturday July 29.

Featuring work by Mona Ali, Stephanie Durán Castillo, Amanda Foulds, Monica Gutierrez, Kayla Polan, Aitak Sorahitalab, and Angela Walcott. The YYZLAB is a mentorship program for emerging artists that live outside the downtown core. Come and see what our colleagues are doing!

Opening on Friday July 21 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm.

YYZ would like to thank this year’s mentors: Aisle 4, Gareth Bates, Bunker 2, Gustavo Cerquera Benjumea, Alissa Firth-Eagland, Betty Julian, Allyson Mitchell, Asad Raza, Susan Schelle, Leila Timmins, and Joshua Vettivelu.

The YYZLAB is supported by the city of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council.

ANNE-MARIE PROULX | AIMINANU
(IN CONVERSATION WITH MATHIAS MARK)
SATURDAY 13 MAY 2017 SATURDAY 08 JULY 2017

OPENING RECEPTION: FRIDAY 12 MAY, 6:00PM-8:00PM

ARTIST TALK: SATURDAY 13 MAY, 2:00PM (FRENCH) 3:00PM (ENGLISH)
PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH LE LABO

Aiminanu is a word in Innu-Aimun which translates to “there is a conversation going on.” The exhibition rests upon this idea of conversation—between languages, cultures, and people. Through an ensemble of sentences selected from an Innu-French dictionary, it also explores the relations between language, territory, and identity. The dictionary appears as a place of affirmation, where the language itself is speaking: the Innu words, when translated, become sentences which carry meanings, knowledge, and poetic evocations. Placed in the gallery according to the meaning of the four directions, the sky, and the earth, they also evoke an intimate relation between human and territory, in tune with the cycles of the day, of the seasons, and of life. The dictionary also represents a place of dialogue between a spoken language, Innu, and a written language, French—a dialogue that echoes with the sound that is heard in the space, the voices of a conversation between the artist and Mathias Mark, who expresses the importance of hearing the words of his language and culture. Aiminanu thus suggests listening to these voices that come from the earth and that mix with the currents of rivers.

//

Aiminanu est un mot de l’innu-aimun qui se traduit par « il y a une conversation en cours ». L’exposition repose sur cette idée de conversation – entre les langues, les cultures et les personnes. Conçue autour d’un ensemble de phrases tirées d’un dictionnaire innu-français, elle explore aussi les relations entre langage, territoire et identité. Le dictionnaire apparaît comme un lieu d’affirmation, où la langue elle-même prend la parole : les mots innus, une fois traduits, deviennent des phrases qui sont porteuses de sens, de connaissance et d’évocations poétiques. Placées dans l’espace en fonction des significations des quatre directions, du ciel et de la terre, elles témoignent aussi d’une relation intime entre l’humain et le territoire, en phase avec les cycles du jour, des saisons ou de la vie. Le dictionnaire représente aussi un lieu d’échange entre une langue parlée, l’innu, et d’une langue écrite, le français. Un dialogue qui fait écho à ce qu’il est possible d’entendre dans l’exposition, c’est-à-dire les voix d’une conversation entre l’artiste et Mathias Mark, qui énonce l’importance d’entendre les paroles de sa langue et de sa culture. Aiminanu suggère ainsi d’écouter ces voix qui viennent de la terre et qui s’entremêlent aux cours des rivières.

ANNE-MARIE PROULX is originally from Lévis, where she grew up on the banks of the Saint Lawrence River, she now lives and works on the other side of the river, in Québec City. With a practice that integrates words and images, she creates poetic works that are situated between history and myth, a consciousness of the world and its interpretation. Her works present themselves as free spaces, open to the imagination, where the real is transformed to reach new narrative evocations. She has presented her work at La Centrale, Panache art actuel, the Darling Foundry, and Regart, and it will be included in upcoming exhibitions at Galerie UQO, FRAC Lorraine (France), and in the exhibition program of Montréal’s 375th anniversary. She has contributed writing for YYZ, Eastern Edge, Ciel variable, Esse, and Les Éditions du Renard, and has presented lectures at conferences in Québec and internationally. annemarieproulx.com

MATHIAS MARK is from Pakuashipi, a community situated on the lower northern coast of the Saint Lawrence River. He lives on the banks of the Pakua Shipu, a large river which is the way into the interior of the territory, where the Innu traditionally lived in the winter season, following caribou herds. Through the teachings of the elders, he is invested in learning the skills and knowledge of his traditional Innu culture, in order to share them with new generations. He is interested in the technical as much as the spiritual aspects of hunting, following preparation methods with respect for the animal, while listening to traditional songs and to the rhythm of the teueikan, the sacred drum. He has also begun recording the stories of the elders so that their memories will continue to inspire the life of the Innus.

//

Originaire de Lévis, où elle a grandi sur les rives du fleuve Saint-Laurent, ANNE-MARIE PROULX vit et travaille maintenant de l’autre côté du fleuve, à Québec. Avec une pratique qui fait se rencontrer les images et les mots, elle crée des univers poétiques qui se situent entre l’histoire et le mythe, la conscience du monde et son interprétation. Ses oeuvres se présentent comme des espaces de liberté, ouverts à l’imaginaire, où le réel est transformé pour atteindre de nouvelles évocations narratives. Récemment, ses oeuvres ont fait l’objet d’expositions à La Centrale, Panache art actuel, la Fonderie Darling, Regart, et son travail sera bientôt présenté dans des expositions à la Galerie UQO, la FRAC Lorraine (France), ainsi que dans la programmation d’expositions du 375e anniversaire de Montréal. Ses textes ont été publiés dans différentes publications et revues, et elle a présenté des conférences tant au Québec qu’à l’étranger. annemarieproulx.com

MATHIAS MARK est de Pakuashipi, une communauté située sur la Basse-Côte-Nord du fleuve Saint-Laurent. Il vit sur les rives de la Pakua Shipu, une grande rivière qui mène vers l’intérieur des terres, où les Innus vivaient traditionnellement durant la saison hivernale, suivant les hardes de caribous. Par l’enseignement des aînés, il s’investit dans l’apprentissage des compétences et des connaissances de sa culture innue traditionnelle, afin d’en faire le partage aux nouvelles générations. Il est intéressé par les aspects autant techniques que spirituels de la chasse, suivant des méthodes de préparation en respect de l’animal, et écoutant des chants ainsi que le rythme du teueikan, le tambour sacré. Il a également commencé à enregistrer les récits des aînés pour que leurs souvenirs continuent à inspirer la vie des Innus.

The artist would like to gratefully acknowledge the support of Mathias Mark, Tanya Lalo Penashue, Craig Rodmore, Guy Sioui Durand, Sodec, VU, L’Œil de Poisson, François Simard, Le Labo, YYZ.

Read Aiminanu by GUY SIOUI DURAND, a text published alongside ANNE-MARIE PROULX’S exhibition.

CCC | THE SUBLIME IN QUOTATIONS
SATURDAY 13 MAY 2017 SATURDAY 08 JULY 2017

OPENING RECEPTION: FRIDAY 12 MAY, 6:00PM-8:00PM

ARTIST TALK: FRIDAY 02 JUNE, 6:00PM

 

 

 

A friend came to see me in a dream. From far away. And I asked in the dream: Did you come by photograph or by train? All photographs are a form of transportation and an expression of absence. [1]

(I think I remember reading that) most painted Egyptian figures are in eternal profile; something about the continuity of life after death. Eternity now exists online. Profiles of deceased relatives and friends keep lingering on our screens, and computer algorithms keep asking us if wed like to invite them to art openings or fancy dress parties.

Nobody used to mean no body, but bodies matter less and less. Matter matters less and less. Expressions of absence. The Sublime in Quotations is an attempt to reconcile this new reality where figure, object, image, and data are all collapsing into one eternal presence. The exhibition was created as a work in five chapters, each explore a theme central to this ongoing collapse.

I.Myth making

II.The cyclops, and the vanishing point

III.Floating or falling through the net

IV.Absence and profile

V.Collection as preservation

The Sublime in Quotations comprises a new video work and an installation that builds on CCCs sound art and sculptural practice.

CCC is a collection of artists, writers, and audio producers. We like to be described as a nebulous assortment of curious individuals who work together to create temporary installations and uncanny experiences that exist in the world for a few moments until they dont anymore. Recent installations include Hold On Hold On Some Things Last Forever at Katzman Contemporary (Toronto, On) and at Forest City Gallery (London, On). Recent audio works include The Slow Now and Lazaros Dream produced for the Koffler Center of the Arts (Toronto, On). Their work has also been featured at the old BBC Building (London, UK); CCA (Glasgow, UK) and Princeton University (New Jersey, US).

CCC would like to acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts as well as the assistance of Struts Gallery/Faucet Media Arts Center and YYZ.

[1] John Berger, A Seventh Man

 

ARYEN HOEKSTRA |The Flicker
(in partnership with theImagesFestival)
WEDNESDAY 12 APRIL SATURDAY 29 APRIL 2017
OPENING RECEPTION: FRIDAY 14 APRIL, 5:00-8:00PM
SCREENING: SATURDAY 15 APRIL, 5:00PM AT CINECYCLE

ARYEN HOEKSTRA |The Flicker

This exhibition is co-presented in partnership with the Images Festival.  For more information visit imagesfestival.com

Two hatted figures hid their faces and plugged their ears. The concussive return of the white frame was too much to bear. But me, Im no more object now than when the lights first dimmed.The Flicker had made-me-over in its own image, but that image was merely dormant before I queued up. It was a revealing. A peeling back of skin and stage and screen, denuding the projection until it hardened under the brightness of its own flashing light. With this crystalline, glinting bit the theatres subsurface was violently drilled, coughing up an inky oil that lubricated the seat covers. I slid down a row or two. As my eyes readjusted, I noticed that the ground beneath me was full of holes though nobody else seemed to care.

Is to be likeThe Flicker to be like a porous planet? An arterial network of entries and exits carrying blobs of black from below to above. The Black Lagoon as if it was the Creature itself. Its force hidden under rocky cover, accruing capital as it flowed upward. Gaseous exhalations wafted up and down the aisles of the theatre. As above, so below. I thought, in its excess, that it might spill out into the lobby where the concession and posters are kept, carrying popped and un-popped kernels along with it. A slip-n-slide back out to the street, and daylight, and the city, but that too had been drilled. An over-handled planet with no place left to stand, but the seats remained full. Bodies pointed at backs of bodies. The floor had always been sticky, but now it was black. Total darkness, only its theory before my eyes, like right before the credits roll.

ARYEN HOEKSTRA is an artist and writer based in Toronto, ON. Recent solo exhibitions include Celestial bodies at 8-11 and Choreography for Screenat Mercer Union (both Toronto, ON). Other recent exhibition venues include Scotiabank Nuit Blanche (Toronto, ON); the Art Gallery of Alberta (Edmonton, AB); Gallery 44 (Toronto, ON); Forest City Gallery (London, ON); Modern Fuel (Kingston, ON); Blackwood Gallery (Mississauga, ON). He has contributed writing for YYZ Artists Outlet, Susan Hobbs, COOPER COLE, and Daniel Faria Gallery. His art criticism has appeared in Canadian Art, C Magazine, Border Crossings, and Magenta Magazine. From 2014 2016 Hoekstra served as the Director of G Gallery. He is currently a contributing editor at Towards.info, and runs the independent project space Franz Kaka in Toronto, ON.

Aryen Hoekstra would like to acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council.