SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS + PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS
The Curator’s Image (YYZ Artists’ Outlet, Toronto ON, 2012) Recent public dialogues such as The Curatorial Today, Art Basel (2011); Are Curators Unprofessional?, The Banff Centre (2010); and Curators In Context, ARCCO (2005) have established national and international conversations around the practical, theoretical and conceptual approaches to contemporary curatorial practice. The Curator’s Image seeks to do the same on a local level, providing a vehicle for conversation between emerging professionals who curate contemporary art in Toronto as part of institutional, commercial, artist-run and independent platforms. Moderated by Lucas Soi featuring Christopher Régimbal (Exhibition Coordinator, Justina M. Barnicke Gallery), Leah Turner (Associate, Jessica Bradley Art + Projects), Yan Wu (Programme Director, Gendai Gallery) and cheyanne turions (Independent Curator).
Guided Walking Tour (Docent, The Images Festival, Toronto ON, 2012) Guided walk-through tour of Off Screen installations at the 401 Richmond Street building and the Images Festival’s pop-up gallery space, including Duncan Campbell’s Arbeit, Naeem Mohaiemen The Young Man Was (Part 1: United Red Army) and Antoni Muntadas’s Alphaville e outros.
Jon Rafman’s 9 Eyes of Google Street View (Visiting Lecturer, Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto ON, 2012) Presented as part of LBST 1B11, The Essay and the Argument: Mechanics. An exploration of Rafman’s project as a way of reading contemporary image culture in ways that connect to art-historical discourses and ethical claims around looking and making.
The Climate of Public Space (Visiting Lecturer, Museum of the Near Future, Helsinki Finland, 2011) Salon in collaboration with OK Do. The privatisation of public space is a far-reaching phenomenon. Cities and citizens now face the challenge of inventing new models of spaces for year-round free assembly in expanding urban cores. Will the future of our public space be enclosed, or perhaps virtual?
City of Matters of Concern (Visiting Lecturer, Museum of the Near Future, Helsinki Finland, 2011) In collaboration with OK Do, The City of Matters of Concern salon explored how to make concerns and interests manifest in local contexts, mixing the private with the public and the individual with the collective.
Sunday Scene (Visiting Lecturer, The Power Plant, Toronto ON, 2011) A response to Rearview Mirror: New Art from Central and Eastern Europe, curated by Christopher Eamon.
Guided Walking Tour (Docent, The Images Festival, Toronto ON, 2011) Guided walk-through tour of Off Screen installations at the 401 Richmond Street building for the Images Festival, including Chen Chieh-jen’s Empire’s Borders II–Western Enterprises, Inc. and Rabih Mroué’s The Inhabitants of Images.
No Reading After the Internet (Director/Moderator, 2011-ongoing) In collaboration with Amy Lynn Kazymerchyk and Alexander Muir, out-loud reading and discussion groups based in Vancouver + Toronto + elsewhere that provoke theoretical illumination on particular art works, or the broader scope within which such work exists. Authors include Nicholas Bourriaud, Ulises Carrión and B.S. Johnson.
Writing as Research in the Visual Arts (Visiting Lecturer, Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto ON, 2010 and 2011) Presented as part of LBST 1B11, The Essay and the Argument: Mechanics. An exploration of the possibility of using writing as a tool in practice-based research, and the related practical need to cultivate articulate expressions of one’s practice.
Professionalization in the Arts (Workshop Facilitator, Gallery TPW, Toronto ON, 2010) A primer for gallery interns about the transition from the educational institution to the workforce.
Thought on Film (Director/Moderator, 2008-2010) A monthly out-loud reading group confronting issues in contemporary cinematic practice and philosophy. Authors include Gilles Deleuze, Mike Hoolboom, Lev Manovich, David Harvey, Lewis Hyde, J.M. Coetzee and Fredric Jameson.
Media Art Practices in Vancouver’s Artist-Run Milieu (Visiting Lecturer, 2009-2010) An introduction to artist-run culture in Vancouver and opportunities specific to media artists, presented to emerging artists about to graduate from post-secondary educational institutions.
COLLABORATIVE
Digital Natives (2011) A series of text-based interventions into the electronic advertising billboard at the Burrard Street Bridge in Vancouver, Canada. Curated by Lorna Brown and Clint Burnham.
Empathy (2009-2010) In collaboration with Eric Emery, a correspondence series of essays on the topic of empathy.
Love Itself (2009) In collaboration with Natalia Hautala, a long series of electronic letters to electronic letterboxes concerning passage through Hélèn Cixous’s Love Itself in the Letterbox.
PROGRAMMING
2010
containR A mobile film festival screened in upcycled shipping containers presenting a selection of works about the intersection of art, sport and movement. Five short films were commissioned for this project, including works by Murray Siple, Philip Szporer + Marlene Millar and Myriam Bouchard. Presented during the 2010 Olympics. Curated by Nicole Moin and Evann Siebens.
2009
The Exception + The Rule Conscious of their outside perceptions of the city and its geo-political weight, Brad Butler + Karen Mirza investigate the everyday patterns of Karachi’s inhabitants and social architecture. Curated by Amy Lynn Kazymerchyk.
Shi-Shi Etko Producer Marilyn Thomas and director Kate Kroll discussed their film Shi-Shi Etko and the challenges of writing and directing a cultural film for mainstream audiences. Shi-Shi Etko tells the story of a young girl and the last four days before she is sent to residential school. Curated by Jacqueline Samuda.
The Artful DOC In arts and culture documentaries, the subject dictates the style. Michèle Hozer and Murray Grigor discussed the strategies and challenges of mitigating cinematic convention and fidelity to the character of the artists that inspired their documentary films (Glen Gould and John Lautner respectively). Curated by Michaelin McDermott.
Moveable City An exploration of potentiality in the built environment. Featuring works by Holly Schmidt and Katarina Elvèn. Curated by Vanessa Brown.
The Poodle Dog Ornamental Bar A replica, outdoor film set based on an 1898 archival image form an anonymous photographer of a real Vancouver establishment. The resulting film, entitled The Poodle Dog Ornamental Bar, is a experimental documentary, portraying a series of staged events [musical performances, film screenings, dog parties, concrete poetry, lectures], actions and goings on occurring inside the film set. Artist is Julia Feyrer.
The Speculative Frontier Experimental film + video inspired by Stan Brakhage’s film The Stars Are Beautiful. featuring work by Frank Borman, Chemtrailz and Zumi Rosow + Dallas Acid. Curated by Brel Froebe and Benjamin Schultz-Figueroa of Light Industry in New York City.
Chelsea Girls A dual 16mm projection intended to examine Andy Warhol’s work from a post millennial perspective and, for a general audience which widely regards Warhol as a contemporary figure, to firmly place his oeuvre within the relevant but historical past, Althea Thauberger’s project is informed by a contemporary insight on Warhol’s legacy, reflecting the psycho-social issues of today.
2008
After School Special A presentation of work from the late 1990s as an attempt to flesh out the gap between the WACK! show at the Vancouver Art Gallery and contemporary feminist art practice. Featuring works by Alex Bag and Elisabeth Subrin. Curated by Kika Thorne.
