Home > Events > Arts

Harbourfront Centre is pleased to launch its fall visual arts exhibitions showcasing the works of contemporary artists in book arts, craft, architecture, photography and video.

•Arcade: Panya Clark Espinal, John Dickson, Alex Geddie, Gordon Hicks, Annie MacDonell and Sally McKay have taken decommissioned exhibits from the Ontario Science Centre that once sparked curiosity about science and transformed them using the lexicon of art. Also features new writing by award-winning sci-fi author Robert J. Sawyer.

•DANCE DANCE REVOLUTIONS COMPANY: Margaux Williamson features a video installation composed of footage taped from the internet of teenagers from around the world dancing in their basements.

•I Stand on Guard: Mona Kamal is a photography installation that examines whether Canadian multiculturalism helps Canadians preserve their cultures, or whether it creates a strange hybrid of identities.

•Book Variations, organized by the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild, presents the work of 49 book artists from across Canada.

•PERSONAL SPACE features installations by Donald Chong, lateral architecture and NIPpaysage, along with new writing by Andrew Westoll.

•In 2 x 6, new Craft Studio artists-in-residence present work drawing attention to the broad range of expression in contemporary craft practice.

•Bye - Bye Baby + Celestial Echoes: Michelle Sank features two bodies of photographic work that looks at developing adulthood within the milieu of today’s British society.

•I don’t ever want this to end: Geneviève Jodouin explores how quiet moments can bring people closer together.

•New book work by Calgary artist Angela Silver in Etym.

Arcade: Panya Clark Espinal, John Dickson, Alex Geddie, Gordon Hicks, Annie MacDonell and Sally McKay
A museum or science centre is often the first place many get to view and interact with displays that illuminate the wonders behind our everyday experience of the world. The Ontario Science Centre’s Science Arcade is such a place. For almost four decades, it has engaged visitors, hands-on, in exhibits that inspire and compel us to see how science plays an integral part in our lives, etching memories of delight. It’s fun. It’s science. Can one come to see it as art? What new wonders might one see in that act?

Now, Harbourfront Centre brings the two seemingly opposite disciplines of art and science together to address those questions, and to explore a new arcade. Six artists have taken decommissioned exhibits that once sparked curiosity about science and transformed them using the lexicon of art. Panya Clark Espinal, John Dickson, Alex Geddie, Gordon Hicks, Annie MacDonell and Sally McKay are all artists with a keen interest in science and digital media. To further explore the correlation of disciplines, included in the exhibition is “The Transformed Man,” a personal essay by science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer, presented in partnership with Authors at Harbourfront Centre. The artistic transformations in the exhibition transcend perceived barriers between art and science and create new focus. Arcade provides a holistic approach to science and art that appreciates its interdependence of ideas and creative arrangements.

DANCE DANCE REVOLUTIONS COMPANY: Margaux Williamson
The exhibition features a video installation composed of footage taped from the internet of teenagers from around the world dancing in their basements with a song from musician Ryan Kamstra, end of poverty.

I Stand on Guard: Mona Kamal
A photo-based installation questions whether Canadian multiculturalism helps Canadians preserve their cultures, or whether it creates a strange hybrid of identities. Kamal asks “does Canadian multicultural policy educate us about other cultures or does it make us more ignorant? In the exhibition, there is a photograph taken in Lake Louise, Alberta in the 1980s of Kamal’s visiting aunt from India who is wearing a sari. There is confusion to many viewers as to where this photo was taken because of her aunt’s dress. According to Kamal, many want to believe that it was taken in the Himalayas despite the canoes in the background.

Book Variations
Organized by the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild, Book Variations presents the work of 49 book artists from across Canada. The exhibition covers a wide range of forms, including fine binding, fine printing, and calligraphy, with the major emphasis on artists’ books. Among the book artists featured are William Reuter (Ontario) who perfected letter press printing at his Aliquando Press; the fine binding by Diane Andre (Quebec); and many other exciting and enjoyable examples of the book arts.

Founded in 1983, the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild (CBBAG) attracts members from all quarters of the book arts community—binders, printers, paper decorators and marblers, calligraphers, and papermakers. CBBAG offers workshops in most book arts subjects. Its bookbinding courses constitute the only comprehensive bookbinding education in Canada.

PERSONAL SPACE: Don Chong, lateral architecture and NIPpaysage
Canada's Donald Chong Studio, lateral architecture and NIP paysage were invited to create installations in response to the of idea personal space. The exhibition PERSONAL SPACE also features new writing by Andrew Westoll in response to his own reflections and questions posed by this idea, which is presented in partnership with Authors at Harbourfront Centre. Participating firm NIPpaysage is part of Québec Now!, a celebration of contemporary Québec arts and culture in Toronto. PERSONAL SPACE runs until January 4, 2009.

The objective of Harbourfront Centre’s architecture gallery is to present exhibitions that educate, challenge and question the thoughts and the ideas which inform contemporary architecture. It is a multi-functional space, which is able to present exhibitions, be a classroom and a meeting space for the discussion of issues relating to architecture. This exhibition space is made possible by the generous support of Core Architects Inc., du Toit Allsopp Hillier | du Toit Architects Limited, Kirkor Architects & Planners, and the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

2 x 6: Micah Adams, Alisha Boyd, Niko Dimitrijevic, Julie Laschuk, Benjamin Kikket and Rose-Angeli Ringor
New Craft Studio artists-in-residence showcase work that draws attention to the broad range of expression in contemporary craft practice. In a continuation of Harbourfront Centre’s mandate to foster links and collaborations within the artist-in-residency programme, it is emphasizing possibility. Curated by Melanie Egan and Patrick Macaulay.

Bye - Bye Baby + Celestial Echoes: Michelle Sank
Two bodies of photographic work by UK-based artist Michelle Sank looks at developing adulthood within today’s British society: Bye - Bye Baby (2001-06) and Celestial Echoes (2001-03). This volatile stage of life has long been recognized as a critical time of conflict and turmoil. As they move from childhood to adolescence, both boys and girls have to redefine themselves. The way they interact with the world around them in a purely physical sense, as well as in a social and psychological one, has been of continuing interest to Sank. Through sensitive interaction with her subjects and sustained aesthetic rigour, Sank succeeds in making quiet but distinctive comments on the status, perception and representation of young peoples in contemporary society. Her images reflect a preoccupation with the human condition and to this end can be viewed as social documentary. The exhibition features c-prints located inside York Quay Centre and two large-scale prints on the exterior of the building.

I don’t ever want this to end: Geneviève Jodouin
Often, quiet moments can bring people closer together. This work explores the small moments where very little is said or done in order for a connection to be made.

Etym: Angela Silver
New book work by Calgary artist Angela Silver in Etym (the exhibition at Service Canada at Harbourfront Centre).

The public opening reception takes place on Friday, September 26, from 6 to 10 p.m. with speeches at 7 p.m.

Exhibition hours for main gallery: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, noon to 6 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, noon to 8 p.m.; closed Monday except holiday Mondays, noon to 6 p.m. Regular hours for The Craft Studio: Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Getting there: Spadina streetcar to Queens Quay

For more information contact: Harbourfront Centre Information
Phone: 416-973-4000
Email: info@harbourfrontcentre.com

© torontoarts 2002 -2005