Toronto Free Library (TFL) is an exhibition that imagines Toronto as a community bonded through books.
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 19, 8 pm
Curated by: Sarah Todd and Maiko Tanaka
Participants include: Darren O'Donnell, Swintak, Life of a Craphead (Jon McCurley and Amy Lam), Petrina Ng, Danielle Williams, Vid Ingelevics and Daniel Payne
Toronto Free Library (TFL) is an exhibition that imagines Toronto as a community bonded through books. The show will examine the library’s role as a place for free exchange of information, through applying the library model (a public institutional structure) to an art gallery environment. The project also explores exchange and collaboration: the Toronto community contributes to the TFL collection and, in turn, artists will intervene with the collection, giving something back through their modification. It is a way to explore the relationships between books and their owners, libraries and librarians, art spaces and social spaces, book readers and book lenders. A publication featuring a dialogue between Vid Ingelevics and Daniel Payne, and designed by Chris Lee, will accompany the exhibition.
The TFL will offer two types of programming during its exhibition: the weekly librarian-in-residence program by the artists, and the Toronto Free Library Reading Series. The librarians-in-residence are invited to bring their perspectives on book displays and categorization, playing with the role of the librarian as categorizer, archivist, mediator and educator. From ping pong, suspended stories, to community book canvassing, the artists/librarians of TFL bring their performance-based, community-specific, and relational art practices to the space of books and offer their newly-combined artist/librarian roles to the neighbourhood. The reading series will feature stories told by people from the Toronto Free Library neighbourhood. Each reading series event will coincide with the first Saturday of every residency at 2:30 pm.
Toronto Free Library is made possible by the support of the Toronto Arts Council
About Toronto Free Gallery
Toronto Free Gallery that provides a forum for relevant social, cultural, urban and environmental issues expressed through all media. Toronto Free Gallery is intended to be a creative laboratory. We aim to provide artists with a space to experiment, explore new ideas, question norms and challenge both themselves and their audiences. Toronto Free Gallery is supported by the Ontario Arts Council and the Trillium Foundation
We
Starts: Jun 19, 2008
Ends: Jul 26, 2008
At: Toronto Free Gallery, 660 Queen St. E, Playing: Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
Times: 11 am - 5 pm Cost: Free during the day, $3 - $5 sliding scale for performances
Getting there:
For more information contact:
Maiko Tanaka Phone:
416-913-0461 Email:
torontofreelibrary@gmail.com.
