Experience the Experience of Being Buried Alive!!

Yes, that was definitely worthy of two exclamation points because we're very, very serious!

The Austrian collective monochrom invites you to be buried alive in a private graveyard at the Blackwood Gallery on Wednesday February 7, 2007 from 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm, and again from 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm.

Will you chose to be buried alive or stand idly by?

Premature Burial as a Field Trial for Near Death Activities will offer participants an opportunity to be buried alive in a coffin for up to fifteen minutes. Volunteers will be able to experience a semi-traumatic situation and possibly get in close contact with various gods and/or afterlives. People buried alive not only populate the horror stories of past centuries, but also countless reports in specialized medical literature. The theme of unintentional resurrection by grave robbers also runs through forensic protocols. Even in the 19th century it was said that every tenth person was buried alive.

The "International Year of Polytheism" (powered by monochrom) is an attempt at conquering the self-destructive monotheistic world-view (and its derivatives such as "The West" and "The Arab World") through the reconstruction of a polytheistic multiplicity in which countless gods and goddesses are free to neutralize each other. Polytheism is democracy, Monotheism a dictatorship, even in its pseudo-secular form.

Click on the image for a larger version:



Free shuttle buses

#1) Hart House University of Toronto, 7 Hart House Circle, Toronto
departing at 3:00 pm (returning at 6:00 pm)

#2) Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen Street West, Toronto
departing at 6:00 pm (returning at 9:00 pm)

We hope to see you there!

Photos from the opening reception for Unterspiel

Whew! Finally, a chance to share photos taken during the opening reception for Unterspiel =-)

On January 17, 2007 beginning at 6:00 pm, the City of Mississauga, and numerous guests from Toronto, were introduced to Unterspiel, an exhibition of work by contemporary Viennese Artists.

Catrin Bolt, who had just finished installing her audio work in an entrance of the CCT building was in attendance, as was Marlene Haring, who performed Secret Service for the duration of the reception.

Curious about what Secret Service entailed?

Well, it was essentially a one-on-one private conversation held between Haring and a participant that was framed by the mutual signing of a non-disclosure agreement. The purpose of the agreement was to give each speaker the complete freedom to share his/her mind. As described by Haring, the motivation of the performance was to give time and space to sincere interaction, which is especially relevant during events such as exhibition openings, when it is sometimes difficult to engage in meaningful conversation given the amount of activity taking place.

Various members of the audience and staff members of the BWG engaged in Secret Service with Haring, but of course, we are all obligated to keep further details confidential.

Enjoy these pictures, and plan to attend our next event: a performance by the collective, monochrom, on Wednesday, February 7, 2007.

Details will be posted to this blog very soon!

Images of Vienna

A few days ago, Blackwood Gallery staff were pleasantly surprised to discover an email message filled with images of Vienna taken by John Fitzgerald. A freelance travel journalist and photographer who received a copy of the invitation for Unterspiel, John became inspired to share with us photos taken during his most recent trip. With his permission, we’re posting a few on our blog in order to set the scene and whet your appetites for Unterspiel.

Additional images are available at his website: www.johnfitzgerald.ca

Secret Service - A Performance by Marlene Haring

During the opening of Unterspiel (January 17, 2007 from 6 – 9 p.m.), Marlene Haring will perform “Secret Service”. What this entails exactly is, well, a secret! If you’d like to know more, or if you’d like to participate, the best thing to do is come to the opening!

Remember: A free shuttle bus to the Blackwood Gallery departs from the Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen St. W.) at 6:00 pm. It couldn’t be easier to get here and join us!


Here’s a little more info about Marlene’s work, as provided by the website of the Vargas Organisation, London:

Marlene Haring
b. 1978, lives and works currently in New York.
From 1999 to 2003 she was mainly working with Catrin Bolt in the collaboration Halt+Boring.

The citation for the 2005 Birgit Jürgenssen Prize states: 'The deciding factor [in awarding the prize to Marlene Haring] was that the young artist does not rely on any formalist approaches in her work or limit herself to one medium, but rather employs performance, happening, photography, video, etc., reflecting trends, contents and strategies of today’s art world and in translating these into her own works after endowing them with a new and subversive dimension. [...She] has developed an independent position evincing a great degree of attention for the rules of art and the everyday world and an aesthetic competence focusing on the crucial questions concerning the criteria for social closeness and distance, body and mind, sex and gender.'


Check this blog regularly: More info about other artists coming soon!

Emerging Viennese artists rewrite their cultural history in Canada, again

Unterspiel opens January 17, 2007...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Unterspiel

An exhibition (and related performances) by contemporary Viennese artists:

Patrick Baumüller & Severin Hofmann, Catrin Bolt, Marlene Haring, monochrom, and Hans Schabus

Opening Reception: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 from 6 – 9 p.m. -- Artists in attendance

A free shuttle bus departs the Gladstone Hotel --- 1214 Queen St. W., Toronto at 6 pm (returning 9 pm)

Exhibition runs January 18 to February 25, 2007
monochrom Performance: Wednesday February 7, 2007



Hans Schabus, Western, 2000
video documentation, 2002. Courtesy of the artist


This is the second, much anticipated installment of Unterspiel after its inaugural exhibition at Vancouver’s Contemporary Art Gallery in 2005.

Featuring the work of five contemporary Viennese artists/artist groups, Unterspiel explores the problematics of contemporary art production in Vienna. The works in this exhibition demonstrate a specific, sometimes belated relation to a tradition of avant-gardism that has its origins in fin de siecle Vienna. At the same time, they sometimes paradoxically take issue with the provocative actions of the Viennese Actionists (1960s). In the wake of the Actionists’ inherently political and violent work, contemporary Viennese art often engages in socio-political issues concerning notions of Austrian identity, or in confrontation to political and/or art institutions. A catalogue with a text by Séamus Kealy accompanies the exhibition.

Hans Schabus, who represented Austria at the 2005 Venice Biennale, presents the video installation Western, a complex work that questions post-war Viennese identity. In this work, Schabus boats through the famous catacomb sewers beneath Vienna, where Orson Welles had evaded authorities in the 1949 film, The Third Man.

Severin Hofmann & Patrick Baumüller transplant a clichéd image of Austrian culture with their ongoing Würstlstand project, shown in the gallery on video. These artists set up mobile traditional Viennese hotdog stands as a site of intersecting cultural identities.

Catrin Bolt & Marlene Haring present individual installations that follow on their collaborative work. These young artists have made provocative video and performance work, such as the 2003 video, Call Boys, involving male prostitutes, and recent performances in politically-charged contexts such as government buildings.

monochrom invites volunteers drawn from the audience to be buried alive. With a small, private graveyard set up in the gallery, willing individuals may come to experience their own mortality. Events scheduled for Wednesday, February 7. A monochrom installation is also part of the exhibition.

IMAGE BAR programming alongside the exhibition includes: The Third Man, contemporary Austrian film, and films selected by the participating artists.

Gallery hours are Monday through Friday 11 to 5 pm and Sunday 1 to 5 pm.

For more information, please contact Curatorial Assistant, Milena Placentile, at the Blackwood Gallery (905.828.3789 / m.placentile [at] utoronto.ca) or visit the website: http://www.blackwoodgallery.ca.

The Blackwood Gallery gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the Austrian Cultural Forum in Ottawa, Simple Alternative Funeral Centres, and the Gladstone Hotel.