2007 Graduate Exhibitions

For Immediate Release

2007 Graduate Exhibitions

Exhibition 1
March 1 – March 11, 2007
Reception: Wednesday, February 28, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Exhibition 2
March 15 – March 25, 2007
Reception: Wednesday, March 14, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

This year marks the thirty-sixth anniversary of the Art and Art History Program. In 1971, Sheridan joined with the University of Toronto's Erindale College to establish what became Canada's first collaborative fine art program between a college and a university.

On exhibit will be artwork realized in a broad range of media including photography, painting, print, digital technologies, drawing, sculpture and installation. The students explore the technical, expressive and metaphoric possibilities of each media to probe such diverse concerns as contemporary and historical art practices, popular culture, beauty, identity, sexuality, cultural background, and social and political issues with humour, seriousness, and often, great acuity.

Graduates of the Art and Art History Program earn both a Diploma in Art and Art History from Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning and a four-year Honours Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto at Mississauga. Both full-time and part-time study is possible. The Art and Art History Program gives each graduate a flexible base from which to pursue a career in the broad spectrum of the arts community. Graduates may wish continued involvement with education such as teaching at the secondary or post-secondary level, or may pursue graduate studies in studio or art history leading to an M.F.A. or an M.A. degree.

Graduates work as practicing artists exhibiting their work in artist-run, public, and private galleries both nationally and internationally. Production careers also have included activities in commercial art that include graphic design, advertising, or art direction. With its strong historical format, this program also enables one to develop a career in museology, gallery curatorship, restoration, or art criticism.

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

For additional information, please visit http://www.blackwoodgallery.ca

For more information please contact either the Blackwood Gallery at 905-828-3789 or Art and Art History Program Coordinator, Louise Noguchi, at 905-845-9430, x 8786.

Volunteer Positions available at the Blackwood Gallery

The Blackwood Gallery at the University of Toronto at Mississauga is currently seeking volunteers for the spring and summer.

The volunteer positions available involve working at the gallery during regular gallery hours to welcome visitors, answer the telephone, and assist with correspondence. There will also be opportunities to help with exhibition installation and opening receptions.

The positions require commitment for a flexible number of hours from April 8 – June 29, 2007. The following hours (with a minimum of two hours per session) are available:

Mondays, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursdays, Friday, and Sundays between 1:00 – 4:00 pm.

If you are interested in the visual arts and/or art history, in cultural studies or anthropology, the volunteer positions provide excellent opportunities to develop professional experience and contacts in a lively and stimulating context.

The Blackwood Gallery is a nationally recognized centre for contemporary art, presenting exhibitions by artists from across Canada and beyond, as well as work by students from the Art and Art History program at UTM.

Applications are accepted immediately and on an ongoing basis until March 9, 2007. Please email or fax your application (cover letter and resume) to:

Milena Placentile
Blackwood Gallery, University of Toronto at Mississauga
3359 Mississauga Rd N. Mississauga ON L5L 1C6

email: m.placentile [at] utoronto.ca / Fax: 905-569-4262

At this time, we would also like to welcome volunteers to help us at the end of August with our exhibition opening in September. If you have any past experience installing art, or with carpentry and painting, please let us know in your cover letter.

For more information please visit our website, http://www.blackwoodgallery.ca/ or call 905.828.3789

Thank you in advance; we look forward to hearing from you!

All the very best,
Milena

Today: monochrom @ Sheridan College, Oakville

Art and Art History Presents

monochrom

Tuesday, February 6, 2007
12:30 – 1:30 p.m.

Sheridan College, B125

Among their projects, monochrom has released a leftist retro-gaming project, established a one baud semaphore line through the streets of San Francisco, started an illegal space race through Los Angeles, buried people alive in Vancouver, and cracked the hierarchies of the art system with the Thomann Project. In Austria they ate blood sausages made from their own blood in order to criticize the grotesque neoliberal formation of the world economy. Sometimes they compose melancholic pop songs about dying media and they have hosted the first annual festival concerned with cocktail robotics. At the moment they're planning a conference about pornography as one of the driving forces of technological innovation. They also do international soul trade, propaganda camps, epic puppet theater, aesthetic pregnancy counseling, food catering, and - sorry to mention - modern dance.

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!

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.

18:Beckett

Opening Lecture (followed by Opening Reception):
Wednesday November 8th, 4 pm
A free bus leaves the Hart House (U of T Downtown) at 3 pm for the lecture
A free bus leaves the Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen St. W, Toronto) at 6 pm for the opening

Exhibition runs from November 9 – December 21, 2006

18:Beckett is an interdisciplinary exhibition project marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nobel Prize-winning Irish writer Samuel Beckett. The title refers to the eighteen years since Beckett’s death and the eighteen sites where this project will take place in Mississauga and Toronto. These sites and events are an artist’s lecture, eight artist projects, six weekly film/video art events, a film screening evening, a symposium and performance, and a publication; all of which arise out of Beckett’s legacy.

Events are free of admission and have free shuttle service to and from venues.


Wednesday November 8th
1) Artist Talk with Gary Hill: Kaneff Centre 137, University of Toronto at Mississauga (adjacent to the Blackwood Gallery); 4 to 5 pm.

Participating artist Gary Hill discusses his work with curator Séamus Kealy.

2) Exhibition opens to the public, Blackwood Gallery (and satellite locations); 6 to 10 pm

Eight international artists will present their work in and around the Blackwood Gallery, as well as at the Goethe Institut Toronto. The exhibition highlights formal and conceptual strategies that artists are exploring in relation to Beckett’s work and includes a catalogue with essays by Séamus Kealy and Terry Eagleton. Artists:

Martin Arnold (Austria), Dorothy Cross (Ireland), Stan Douglas (Canada), Gary Hill (USA), Bruce Nauman (USA), Gregor Schneider (Germany), Ann-Sofi Siden (Sweden), Zin Taylor/Allison Hrabluik (Canada)

Contemporary Video Art Program including Stephane Gilot (Canada), Kelly Mark (Canada), Nikos Navridis (Greece), Daniel Olson (Canada), Hans Op de Beeck (Belgium), Michal Rovner (Israel), Anri Sala (Albania), Magdalena Szczepaniak (Poland)


Wednesday November 22nd
1) Symposium: CCT Building, Room 1050, University of Toronto at Mississauga, 10 am to 5 pm

International and local scholars discuss Beckett’s experiments with new media and the use of Beckettian formal strategies within contemporary visual arts and film. Includes new media performance.

2) Film Screenings and Lecture Evening: Goethe Institut, 163 King St. W, Toronto, 7 to 9 pm

Screenings of Beckett-related films hosted by Walter Asmus and Linda Ben-Zvi.

Funding by the Canada Council, Ontario Arts Council, Humanities Centre U of T, Culture Ireland, Connaught Fund (University of Toronto), The University of Toronto at Mississauga, Foreign Affairs Canada, The Centre for US Studies, The Department of English and Drama (UTM), The Gladstone Hotel, Goethe Institut Toronto, Irish Embassy (Ottawa)

Isuma Events

still from Atarnarjuat (The Fast Runner) @ Norman Cohn/Igloolik IsumaProductions Inc.


Sunday, October 1, 2006 12:30 pm to late afternoon
CONTEMPORARY ART BUS TOUR SUNDAY
A free bus departs the Textile Museum (55 Centre Ave.,Toronto) at 12:30 pm to the Blackwood Gallery, Koffler Gallery and Doris McCarthy Gallery UTSC. To reserve a seat, please call the Doris McCarthy Gallery at 416-287-7007 by September 29. This event is FREE.


Thursday, October 12, 2006 3-5pm
RECORDS IN OUR HEADS: WOMEN'S VOICE AND VIDEO
Screening of video by Arnait Video Productions
Followed by a Panel Discussion with Marrie Mumford, Kass Banning, Peggy Gale and Marie-Helene Cousineau. Moderated by Joan Simalchik
Co-Presented with the Study of Women and Gender Program at UTM

MIST Studio Theatre, CCT Building, University of Toronto at Mississauga Admission: FREE

Arnait Video Productions (Women’s Video Workshop of Igloolik) voices concerns, beliefs and experiences of Inuit women in debates of interest to all Canadians. Arnait shares oral traditions (songs and stories), re-enacts traditional activities, history and legends, and celebrates the specificity of the culture of women in Igloolik.


Saturday, October 21, 2006 5 pm to 6:30 pm
RECORDS IN OUR HEADS: MEMORY, MEDIA AND THE TELLING OF HISTORY
Panel discussion co-presented with Toronto’s ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, with filmmakers Zacharias Kunuk, Merata Mita, and Alanis Obomsawin

To be followed by a screening of Isuma's new feature film The Journals of Knud Rasmussen at 7 pmAl Green Theatre (750 Spadina, downtown Toronto)


Sunday, October 22, 12 noon to 2 pm
CLOSING RECEPTION for Isuma -- to have an idea
co-presented with Toronto’s ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts FestivalArtist Talk and Reception with Isuma filmmakers Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn Blackwood Gallery, University of Toronto at Mississauga FREE bus transportation will be provided from downtown Toronto to the reception at the Mississauga campus. Buses will leave Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre (Bloor and Spadina) at 11:00am and will return at 1:30pm.


BLACKWOOD GALLERY WRITING AWARD
$150 Juried Prize for winning entry for a critical review (750-1000 words) of the film(s) featured in ISUMA - to have an idea Drop off a printed copy at the Blackwood Gallery, E-gallery or Curatorial Office (CCT Room 3019) Deadline: Oct 23rd 2006, 5pm

Be A Blackwood Volunteer!

Want to gain valuable art volunteer experience?

We are looking for responsible and arts minded people to help with gallery supervision, special events and other gallery tasks.

For more information contact us at:

905.828.3789
or cvictor@utm.utoronto.ca

ZOMBIA

The Blackwood Gallery Summer Project Presents:

monochrom and the Nation of Zombia

A zombie is a member of the Zombie Nation -- which wants to turn the United States of America and the Federal Constitutional Monarchy and Parliamentary Democracy of Canada into Zombia, the home of the Zombies -- and the official representative of the Zombie Nation.
A zombie has to hold a certification.

A zombie looks like and acts like every average North American because he or she is an average North American apart from the fact that he or she is a zombie -- which means an ex-human.
Each zombie can infect any other US and Canadian citizens. Sometime in the future a zombie might address you. Think of it as a chance. But please be aware: Being turned into a zombie is a legal act of naturalization.

To become a zombe please email: ceckert@utm.utoronto.ca

Do you already have your Zombie document and you want to register?
Please register here. Please have your Zombie Registration Code ready. Please have your Zombie Registration Code ready.

You want to see how Zombia grows?
You can find the epidemic map here. Thank you for your interest.

http://www.monochrom.at/zombia/

monochrom

The Blackwood Gallery and Mercer Union present

monochrom:
"We're great together, the liberal society and it's enemies"

A lecture/event at Mercer Union, 8pm, Thursday July 13th, 2006

Free Admission

monochrom from Vienna is a collective, operating worldwide, that deals with technology, art, context hacking and philosophy and was founded in 1993. monochrom is an unpeculiar mixture of proto-aesthetic fringe work, pop attitude, subcultural science and political activism. Their mission is conducted everywhere, but first and foremost in culture-archeological digs into the seats (and pockets) of ideology and entertainment.

monochrom has released a leftist retro-gaming project, established a 1 baud semaphore line through the streets of San Francisco, started an illegal space race through Los Angeles, buried people alive in Vancouver, and cracked the hierarchies of the art system with The Thomann Project. In Austria they ate blood sausages made from their own blood in order to criticize the grotesque neoliberal formation of the world economy. Sometimes they compose melancholic pop songs about dying media and hosted the first annual and inevitably leading festival concerned with cocktail robotics. At the moment they're planning a conference about pornography as one of the driving forces of technological innovation. Also they do international soul trade, propaganda camps, epic puppet theatre, aesthetic pregnancy counseling, food catering and -- sorry to mention -- modern dance.

monochrom’s medley at Mercer Union is a little tour-de-farce about their projects and political motivation. The evening also features a teaser for the Blackwood Gallery’s upcoming project “18:Beckett”. Altogether, this evening will be a joyful bucket full of good clean fanaticism, crisis, language, culture, self-content, identity, utopia, mania and despair, condensed into the well known cultural technique of a gala show. Powernapping highly welcome.

www.monochrom.at/english

http://www.blackwoodgallery.ca

http://www.mercerunion.org

For further information please contact cvictor@utm.utoronto.ca or dave@mercerunion.org

20 years old in the Middle East

On the Image Bar, CCIT Building, UTM
10 - 13 April, 2006

Filmed after the fall of Saddam Hussein, 20 YEARS OLD IN THE MIDDLE-EAST traverses the region - from Jordan to Syria, Iran, and Lebanon - to take the pulse of Arab and Iranian youth.

The film offers an opportunity for Western college students to truly understand the lives and attitudes of their Middle Eastern counterparts: how they're different, and how they're the same.
As America becomes more deeply embroiled in the region, 20 YEARS OLD IN THE MIDDLE-EAST offers an indispensable snapshot of the attitudes of a generation that desires liberty over extremism, but at the same time fears that American policies will lead them into ever more warfare, and which - above all - simply wants to pursue their dreams.

"This film should be required viewing for leaders and citizens alike in the Middle East because it not only captures - often with great sadness - the frustration and despair of the Middle East's youth but it also offers solutions to these problems, if we would only listen. It is significant that of all the young people interviewed in the film, it is a young woman who is the most passionate about implementing change. It is not so much an issue of whether she will realize this dream or not. More importantly, she has passion for that dream and she believes she can bring about change." - Arabic Women's eNews

"Recommended. Culled from interviews conducted just two months after the fall of Baghdad in May 2003, TWENTY YEARS OLD... offers a newsworthy picture of a youthful Middle East not all that familiar to Western audiences - and a shame it isn't. More moving than anything is the universal call for more freedom, greater freedom. Thus the effects of oppressive government weigh heavily on the idealistic young; all the more reason to make the film available to often complacent American undergraduates." - Educational Media Reviews Online