Year End Party,
Friday, April 13, 2007
hosted by the Justina M Barnicke Gallery and Hart House

FREE (18+)
Doors 8pm
Great Hall, Hart House
University of Toronto

Casual tours of the PROJECTIONS EXHIBITION at Justina M Barnicke Gallery,
Hart House and UTAC from 5-8pm

Featuring PROJECTION PERFORMANCES by:
Stephanie Comilang, Jeremy Bailey & Zeesy Powers
with Special Musical Guests from Toronto's Indie Music Scene

FREE SHUTTLE BUS LEAVING BLACKWOOD GALLERY
GOING DOWNTOWN TORONTO

Join us at 6:00pm at the Blackwood Gallery
as curator Seamus Kealy tours the Projections exhibition
for a "warm-up" before heading over to the big party at
St. George Campus.

Shuttle Bus returns from Hart House to UTM at 11:00pm

If you have any questions please contact:
Suzanne Carte-Blanchenot at 905-869-5507
or suzanne.carte-blanchenot@mississauga.ca

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

Projections

An exhibition of the development of projection-based installations in the history of contemporary art in Canada (Produced in partnership with the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, Doris McCarthy Gallery, and the University of Toronto Arts Centre)
April 9 to June 17, 2007
Opening April 8th, 1-4pm
Opening Reception: 4 - 6pm at the University of Toronto Art Centre

TAKE THE BUS!
At 1 pm, free bus departs from Hart House for Blackwood Gallery. There will be an option to return to downtown Toronto at 2:30 pm or to continue to the Doris McCarthy Gallery, returning to Toronto at 4 pm.
At 2 pm, free bus departs from Hart House for Doris McCarthy Gallery. There will be an option to return to downtown Toronto at 3:30 pm or to continue to the Blackwood Gallery, returning to Toronto by 5 pm.

Projections is the first major exhibition in Canada to bring together the rich 4-decade history of projection-based contemporary art. Curated by Barbara Fischer, the exhibition will exemplify and provide insight into why projection-based work -- using light, slides, film, video, and television -- has become such an important and prevalent medium.

Audiences will see cinematic works created in unexpected, surprising and experimental ways: film loops, slide dissolves, double-sided projection, as well as single, triple, and five-channel video projections. There are re-creations of small movie-house environments and visually exciting material that expands perception. A popular work will be Jana Sterbak's Waiting for High Water which is a video projection made of footage from three cameras affixed to a dog that roamed the streets of Venice.

Several works by internationally recognized artists will be seen in Toronto for the first time, including work by Ian Carr-Harris, Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller, Geneviève Cadieux, Jana Sterbak, Nathalie Melikian, Judy Radul, Wyn Geleynse, and others. Projection-based work by internationally recognized artists including Michael Snow, Murray Favro, Rodney Graham, John Massey, Rebecca Belmore, Stan Douglas, Krzysztof Wodiczko, David Hoffos, and others are featured. Their seminal work has never been presented together in one exhibition before.

Projections highlights include Murray Favro's early experimental works Still Life (The Table) and Light Bulbs both from 1970; Michael Snow's Two Sides to Every Story from 1974; Stan Douglas’ Overture from 1986; as well as Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller's The Muriel Lake Incident from 1999. These works use film and sound projection to challenge perceptions, create new possibilities for cinema, and produce new sensory experiences.

Projections is one major exhibition in four venues. In order to experience the complete exhibition, people are encouraged to visit all four venues.

At the University of Toronto Art Centre, the screen and light are the themes. The double-sided screen in Michael Snow's work becomes a translucent veil bisecting the space; Rebecca Belmore's screen is a panel of illuminated lightbulbs; Christine Davis’ screen is made of a dense mass of large plastic roses; and Krzysztof Wodiczko's slide projections cast images onto existing architecture (represented by documentary photos). Works that highlight the light of projection are Gar Smith’s Notes on Light based on dozens of sunrises and sunsets; and Kelly Mark's stack of television monitors that do not show an image but instead make the viewer focus on projected coloured light. Works by David Askevold, Ian Carr-Harris, Geneviève Cadieux, Wyn Geleynse, Murray Favro, and John Massey will also be featured at the University of Toronto Art Centre.

The Justina M. Barnicke Gallery at Hart House focuses on the theatre of projection. The mock use of the movie-house format to play with visual perception is seen in works by Rodney Graham, Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller, David Hoffos, Nathalie Melikian, and Robert Wiens.

The Doris McCarthy Gallery at Scarborough and the Blackwood Gallery in Mississauga share the theme of projected travel. The works project the audience into recorded, and therefore virtual, space, while also undermining that illusion, or taking up the utopian dimension of this in irreverent ways. Works by Stan Douglas, Rodney Graham, Mark Lewis, Jana Sterbak, Nestor Krüger and Judy Radul are featured.

Projections will be open to the public April 8 to June 17, 2007, at the four University of Toronto galleries:
Blackwood Gallery (3359 Mississauga Rd. N., Mississauga. 905-828-3789)
Doris McCarthy Gallery (U of T Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail. 416-287-7007)
University of Toronto Art Centre (15 King's College Circle. 416-978-1838)
Justina M. Barnicke Gallery (Hart House, 7 Hart House Circle. 416-978-8398)

The exhibition is made possible by Manulife Financial and through contributions from Charles Street Video, the Museums Assistance Program of the Department of Canadian Heritage, as well as support from the Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council.

For more information please visit: http://www.utoronto.ca/gallery/site/jmbgallery.html

UTM ART Festival 2007 – March 19th – 23rd

The Blackwood Gallery is very happy to collaborate with the organizers of UTM ART Festival. Here's the scoop:

The Artistic Resource Team (ART) in Student Housing and Residence Life at University of Toronto, Mississauga is a newly formed team of students who are committed to enhancing the presence of and access to the creative arts in our community. ART holds primary responsibility for the development and presentation of the annual UTM ART Festival. This is the 6th year for the ART Festival and it shaping up to be its biggest year yet. The Festival has been expanded into a week-long event which includes daytime work-shops where students can explore a new form of art, and evening events to promote the art that already exists on our campus. The main event is the ART Festival Showcase which offers two major artistic categories: visual arts, and the performing arts. Professionals within their respective fields adjudicate these artistic demonstrations and financial awards are offered to the winning participants in each category. Over the past five years the ART Festival has offered more than $20 000.00 in awards to aspiring young artists.

The ART Festival 2007 – March 19th – 23rd

Monday, March 19th
11-1 PM Staging Shakespeare with Holger Syme (Student Centre Upstairs)
1-2 PM Highland Dance with Laura MacDonald (Student Centre Upstairs)
8-10 PM ART Opening Coffee House (Student Centre Presentation Room), $2

Tuesday, March 20th
1-2 PM Cape Breton Fiddling with Barry Green (Student Centre Upstairs)
8 PM UTM Drama Club Presents “Me and My Asian Mother” (MiST CCT 150)
9 PM UTM Drama Club Presents “Cousins of Corsica” (MiST CCT 150)

Wednesday, March 21st
11-1 PM Story Telling for Actors, Film-Makers and Artists with David How (Student Centre)
1-2 PM Beginner Hula with Estelle Oliva (Student Centre Upstairs)
7-9 PM Graduate Student Exhibit (Blackwood Gallery) [With reception]

Thursday, March 22nd
8:30 PM – 10:30 PM UTM Film Festival (Kaneff 137)

Friday, March 23rd
12-2PM Creativity Workshop with Jackie Osmond Patrick (Student Centre Upstairs)
THE ART FESTIVAL SHOWCASE (CC1080)
6 PM Visual Arts, 7 PM Performance, $10 Admission
Tickets on Sale March12th - 23rd in the Student Centre and Roy Ivor Hall

Check out our website:
www.utm.utoronto.ca/residence/art

Workshop for Emerging Arts Professionals

Ontario Association of Art Galleries
in collaboration with Blackwood Gallery

--Workshop for Emerging Arts Professionals--

Troublemaking and Troubleshooting:
Exhibition Organization for Emerging Curators
March 20th, 2007, 12:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Multimedia Studio Theatre (MiST), Ground Floor, CCIT Building
University of Toronto at Mississauga
3359 Mississauga Road
Mississauga ON L5L 1C6

Registration fee - University of Toronto students: $40, General: $45
Register at: www.oaag.org/programs/index.html by Friday, March 16, 2007
Email: programs@oaag.org for more information.

Through case studies and presentations by established professionals, the series creates professional development and network opportunities for recently graduated and underemployed emerging arts professionals. Troublemaking and Troubleshooting is a half-day workshop that will introduce the main components of exhibition organization, by identifying the resources, tools and methods of contemporary curatorial practice. Professional visual art curators Rhonda Corvese and Alissa Firth-Eagland will share expertise and provide insight into how to make curatorial projects happen from the ground up.

Rhonda Corvese will address:
- The Artist Curator relationship
- Negotiation and communication
- Production as a curatorial model
- Research strategies
- Networking: local, national, and international

Alissa Firth-Eagland will address:
- Pitching proposals and Calls For Submissions
- The Artist/Curator model
- Funding opportunities, partnerships and grants
- Making contact with galleries, artist-run centres and alternative venues
- Cultivating impact: promotion, publication, documentation

Getting There:
Participants are responsible for their own travel to and from Mississauga. Tickets for the intercampus shuttle bus can be purchased by non-students at Hart House, University of Toronto, 7 Hart House Circle. Shuttle schedule available at www.utm.utoronto.ca/shuttle.

The program has been generously supported by the Ontario Trillium Foundation and Canadian Heritage.

Rhonda Corvese is a Toronto-based independent curator and an Assistant Curator at the Art Gallery of York University (AGYU). Her curatorial projects often evolve in response to situations, where she strives to challenge the role of the curator, artist and audience in the presentation and engagement of contemporary art. She is fundamentally interested in exploring the dialogue between curator and artist in the creation of new work that exists beyond the gallery space and in the examination of contemporary Canadian art within an international framework. Recent projects include: The Idea of North, a sound art group exhibition in Norway, Iceland and Halifax (2005/2006); Iris Haeussler’s site-specific installation The Legacy of Joseph Wagenbach (2006); a special project Berlin booth Berlin Constructions: Emergent Practices Today at the Toronto International Art Fair (2004); and the Berlin/Toronto Gallery Exchange (2004/2005). Three upcoming Toronto projects include: British artist Shona Illingworth’s The Watch Man, a video and sound installation at InterAccess (April 6-May 12, 2007) as part of Images Festival 2007; 25sec.-Toronto a video portrait of cultural mediators by Berlin-based German artists Angelika Middendorf and Andreas Schimanski at Prefix ICA (June/July 2007); and an AGYU project “in there”, a one-night performance event on April 4/2007 in the Accolade East Building (AGYU), a series of process-based collaborative projects between Diane Borsato, Daniel Cockburn, Kristan Horton and the dance, music and theatre students at York University.

Toronto-based curator Alissa Firth-Eagland publishes, produces events, curates exhibitions and programs time-based works. Her multi-faceted approach sparks projects across a range of communities, institutions, and disciplines: single-evening performances, video screenings, multiple location shows; interventions in public spaces; and gallery exhibitions. She has coordinated projects for organizations like the TRANZ ßà TECH 2003 Toronto International Media Biennial, Cultural Human Resources Canada, the Banff Centre, the Toronto Alternative Arts Fair International 2004, YYZ Artists Outlet and MUU Gallery (Helsinki, Finland). Through her practice, she champions creative experimentation with media. In 2005 she commissioned video artists who use their own presence in their works to perform live for the first time with her project, Feats, might. In 2006 she was awarded an Ontario Arts Council Chalmers Fellowship for independent research into print as a distinct forum for contemporary art. The inaugural issue of her curatorial publication project ALMANAC exhibited in Halifax, Nova Scotia; Melbourne, Australia; Stockholm, Sweden; Amsterdam, the Netherlands; and in Cambridge, UK. In summer 2006 she was curator-in-residence at the Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art where she researched Nordic artists creating works that defy traditional artistic categories. In 2008 she will be presenting the first solo exhibition of Canadian video artist Gareth Long’s work at Oakville Galleries. Currently she’s commissioning new works for Sleepwalker Projects, her experimental window gallery on Queen St West in Toronto.

Next up on the Image Bar... "Dan Carter" by Alison Kobayashi

Video still from Alison Kobayashi's Dan Carter, 2006

In her 15-minute video installation, Dan Carter, Alison Kobayashi presents as a series of characters inspired by a discarded answering machine tape. Her sarcastic and exaggerated performance reflects on the human condition by examining identity and exploring the imaginary.

Kobayashi is captivated by found objects that contain traces of private experiences. She has collected over 70 answering machine cassettes donated to second-hand stores over the past two years. Her fascination lead to the creation of Dan Carter, named after the original owner of the answering machine tape.



Alison Kobayashi is a student in the Art and Art History program at University of Toronto at Mississauga. Among numerous honours, in 2006 she was the recipient of The Bill Huffman Award for Excellence in Studio Practice. Her work has been screened at Justin M. Barnicke, InterAccess Electronic Media Arts, and Pleasure Dome.

The William Huffman Award for Excellence in Studio Practice is an annual award that recognizes an exceptionally gifted student from the University of Toronto Art and Art History Program – a joint BA offered by the University of Toronto at Mississauga and Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning (Oakville). Huffman honors the student with an exhibition where the recipient presents works alongside respected contemporary artists.

William Huffman is a 1991 Art and Art history Program alumnus. He has worked with a number of arts organizations and institutions such as the Blackwood Gallery, Arts Toronto, The Power Plant, A Space, Canadian Art Foundation and Art Gallery of Sudbury. Huffman is currently the Associate Director for the Toronto Arts Council.

The William Huffman Award has recognized Marko Bursac (2007), Alison Kobayashi (2006), Tejpal Ajji (2005), Carolyn Tripp (2004), Jared Carlson (2003), Tannis Nielsen (2002), Erin Finley (2001), Amie Tolton (2000) and Heather Robinson (1999).

***

Dan Carter will be available on the Image Bar:
- All day on February 26 & 27
- In the evenings from February 28 to March 11
- All day on March 12 & 13
- In the evenings from March 14 until March 25

Jesus Camp – the movie! – at UTM

Now on the Image Bar, and until February 25, 2007:

Jesus Camp, a Magnolia Pictures release directed by Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing -- who previously made The Boys of Baraka together -- is a 2006 documentary about a "charismatic Christian" summer camp for children who spend their summers learning and practicing their "prophetic gifts" and being taught that they can "take back America for Christ." According to the distributor, it "doesn't come with any prepackaged point of view", and it tries to be "an honest and impartial depiction of one faction of the evangelical Christian community”.

Jesus Camp is a documentary about the "Kids On Fire" summer camp, located just outside Devils Lake, North Dakota and run by Becky Fischer and her ministry, Kids in Ministry International. The film focuses on three children who attended the camp in the summer of 2005--Levi, Rachael, and Victoria (Tory). The film cuts between footage of the camp and a children's prayer conference held just prior to the camp at Christ Triumphant Church, a large charismatic church in Lee's Summit, Missouri; a suburb of Kansas City.

All three children, despite their youth, are very devout charismatic Christians. Levi, who has ambitions of being a pastor, has already preached several sermons at his suburban Kansas City church. Early in the film, he is watching a cartoon that preaches that Earth is 6,000 years old. He is homeschooled, and learns physical science from a book that attempts to reconcile the creationist account with scientific principles. He preaches a sermon at the camp in which he declares that his generation is key to Jesus’ coming back. Rachael is seen approaching a woman and offering her a Christian tract and telling her that God has a special plan for her. She is disdainful of non-charismatic churches, feeling that they aren't "churches that God likes to go to." Tory frequently dances to Christian heavy metal music, and feels uncomfortable about "dancing for the flesh."

At the camp, Fischer stresses the need for children to purify themselves in order to be used by God. She strongly believes that children need to be in the forefront of turning America toward conservative Christian values.



For more information visit: http://www.jesuscampthemovie.com

Experience the experience of viewing the monochrom performance online!

Or, at least a one-minute teaser clip of it ;-)

You have three lovely web-friendly formats to choose from…

Windows Media Player, Real Player, or QuickTime



Of course, there's also the ePresence directory.

Enjoy!

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

Everyone, including a few self-proclaimed claustrophobes, wanted to get buried!

And why not? It’s definitely an uncommon opportunity to chill out in a cozy box for 15 minutes and then resurface for a fanfare greeting. Besides, who can resist the chance to acquire such a fantastic party story?

Premature Burial as a Field Trial for Near-Death Activities shook the Blackwood Gallery from 4:00 to nearly 10:00 pm. The event opened with a fascinating talk filled with intriguing facts about the history of burial rituals and of course, the phenomenon of [accidental] live burials. Who would have guessed that we didn’t always know it was necessary to check a still body for breathing before interment.

And then the burials began!

Students, professors, journalists, and art-loving thrill-seekers of all kinds clamored for the chance to experience the experience of being buried alive. At some point in the evening there was even a waiting list to get onto the waiting list!

Efforts were made to reduce the duration of each burial as a way for more people to participate, but there came a point when it simply would not have sufficed for either the growing crowd or the quality of each individual experience. Eventually it all had to come to a close.

Or did it?

Rumor has it that monochrom has offered the Blackwood Gallery a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to walk in their shoes and bury willing participants on their collective behalf.

Please enjoy these photos while we work out the details. More news coming soon!

The Torontoist says: "Attend Your Own Burial"

Attend Your Own Burial
February 6, 2007
Posted by Pandora Syperek in Arts and Events


Image courtesy of monochrom.

It’s the International Year of Polytheism! At least it is according to the Austrian artists collective, monochrom. And to kick off the occasion, the self-proclaimed "art-philosophy-technology group" wants to bury you alive.

On February 7 at the Blackwood Gallery, University of Toronto at Mississauga, participants will have the chance to be laid to rest – in a wooden coffin, dirt and all – for up to fifteen minutes. Titled Premature Burial as a Field Trial for Near-Death Activities, the project intends to bring volunteers face-to-face with their maker - or makers, as it were. As part of their polytheistic drive, monochrom believes the quasi-traumatic experience will allow individuals to "get in close contact with various gods and/or afterlives."

Apart from the provocative rhetoric (monochrom claims on its website, "Polytheism is democracy, Monotheism a dictatorship"), the performance at the Blackwood is drawing complaints for potential psychological consequences for its participants. Elizabeth Olszewska, community outreach co-ordinator in UTM's psychology department, expressed her concern to the Star that students could suffer a variety of negative side effects, including claustrophobia, mental breakdown, and panic attacks.

However, in the same interview Olszewska dismisses the artistic validity of Premature Burial, comparing it to garbage. In response, Blackwood curator Seamus Kealy points out the ironic commentary inherent in the project: "It's a parody and a critique of the North American drive for extreme experience." Participants will be made to sign waivers. The performance also references the rich cultural history and mythology behind being buried alive.

Monochrom’s previous International Year of Polytheism projects include the distribution of “free” barium nitrate (the stuff sparklers are made of), liberated from Christian-Judeo intent. Premature Burial as a Field Trial for Near-Death Activities takes place February 7, 4-6 pm and 7-9pm in conjunction with the Blackwood Gallery’s Unterspiel, an exhibition of contemporary Viennese artists.

http://www.torontoist.com/archives/2007/02/attend_your_own.php

Two articles in the Toronto Star

How to be buried alive
EDITORIAL
TheStar.com - http://www.thestar.com/article/178430


TARA WALTON / TORONTO STAR
The coffin closes on reporter Erin Kobayashi, who immediately channels
Uma Thurman in Kill Bill: Part II, in order to stay strong.

First, you have to sign a waiver. And then someone else does the shovelling as you just sit back and contemplate life for the next 15 minutes

Feb 06, 2007 04:30 AM
Erin Kobayashi

It's not often that you get to shake the hand of the person who buries your coffin.

Johannes Grenzfurthner, one of nine members of an Austrian art collective called monochrom, greets me at the Blackwood Gallery on the campus of the University of Toronto at Mississauga.

His first words: "I am going to bury you today."

As I enter the exhibition, I immediately see the coffin and hear Austrian funeral music.

For 15 minutes, I have volunteered to participate in monochrom's performance piece "#2: Premature Burial as a Field Trial for Near Death Activities."

Essentially, I am required to lie in a pitch black coffin beneath soil. The experience will hopefully inspire me to think more critically about my relationship with death, urban legends and TV carnage like Fear Factor.

The gravediggers are Grenzfurthner, 31, and fellow monochrom member Daniel Fabry, 27. Two other members of monochrom, Gunther Friesinger, 34, and Anika Kronberger, 25, as well as Blackwood Gallery curator Seamus Kealy, are also present for my burial. Not exactly who I imagined would attend this momentous occasion.

Kealy is adamant that I sign the waiver that reads: "I hereby agree to accept any and all risks of property damage, personal injury, post-traumatic stress, or death."

As I sign on the line, I hear Grenzfurthner's voice pop into my head, "Many, many people in medieval times were buried alive because they didn't know that you had to check for breathing. Premature burials happen."

Grenzfurthner's voice morbidly continues and he talks about how the piece was inspired by 19th-century German newspapers that sensationalized premature burials, claiming that every 10th person was buried alive.

"Of course, it was wrong," he says. "It was just media hype, because people love to read the creepy things in newspapers about people being buried alive."

Still reading?

With all of this information, one would think I would prepare for my burial with an oxygen tank. Instead I've brought a tape recorder, flashlight, iPod, digital camera and cellphone. But I decide to leave it all behind as monochrom recommends participants have a puritanical relationship with their premature burial.

The coffin is then ceremoniously closed (if you've ever had a door slammed in your face, the emotional impact of having a coffin shut over your head is 100 times harsher).

The last words I hear are from Kealy: "So the Irish beat the Welsh ..."

And with that, a load of soil is heaved onto the coffin and crashes onto the lid like thunder. All light and nearly all sound are sealed out. Once you are dead, life and rugby go on apparently.

Inside the coffin, a closed-circuit video camera monitors participants. After awhile, I feel like a victim in a demented X-Files episode. And then it hits me. Boredom.

Counting down, as minutes turn into seconds, I become more relaxed (perhaps it is the carbon monoxide) and hear scraping and see light overhead.

I am being excavated. Fame and death are overrated I decide, happy that my 15 minutes are finally up.

ID@thestar.ca

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Alarm raised over burial performance
http://www.thestar.com/Article/178428
Feb 06, 2007 04:30 AM

A University of Toronto staff member is protesting that the experience of Austrian art collective monochrom's performance piece "#2: Premature Burial as a Field Trial for Near Death Activities" may be too extreme for some volunteer participants.

The live art piece, to be performed tomorrow at the University of Toronto at Mississauga's Blackwood Gallery, buries volunteers in a coffin for up to 15 minutes.

Elizabeth Olszewska, community outreach co-ordinator in UTM's psychology department, says she was shocked when she received an email from the gallery inviting faculty, staff and students to get buried alive.

"I am totally against it," she says. "I would not go through it for the cheap thrill and then suffer consequences. Take it somewhere else. I am against doing it on the college grounds."


Olszewska is concerned that students could suffer claustrophobia, a mental breakdown, or panic and anxiety attacks during or after they have experienced being buried in the coffin.

"They better have psychologists and paramedics waiting," she warns.

The coffin in monochrom's gallery piece is above ground with fluffy, porous soil being used to bury it. The Austrian art collective claims that in these conditions, someone would be able to last in the coffin for days.

But without an oxygen supply, Olszewska fears the worst.

"There is art and garbage. Everything that brings me down is garbage, it's not the type of art I would like to be involved in," she says.

Blackwood Gallery curator Seamus Kealy was surprised by Olszewska's negative reaction. The performance piece, formerly titled "Being Buried Alive" during a 2005 Canada-U.S. tour, has never been received negatively before when it appeared in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Vancouver. In previous exhibitions, some participants had immediate reactions and refused to be buried.

Compared to bungee jumping, skydiving and extreme sports, Kealy thinks the physical risks are extremely low.

"It's a parody and a critique of the North American drive for extreme experience," he says.

"It's a worldwide tendency to want to experience everything."

Volunteers must also sign a waiver and cannot be under the influence of drugs or alcohol if they participate in the burial.

"Her main concern was that this was a spectacular event that was exploiting something that was a serious phenomenon, traumatizing the students and shouldn't be done because in terms of her opinion as a psychologist, the effect it would have on students would be too dangerous for the psyche," Kealy says of a 45-minute conversation he had with Olszewska.

"She didn't think it was funny. She was wondering what kind of monsters would be making this kind of a project."

Despite Olszewska's protests, the Blackwood Gallery is continuing with the planned performance. Kealy says that the majority of participants signed up for the event are students and that space is limited for the live burials.

He hopes that monochrom's live burials will make participants think about the political and philosophical undertones of the piece and how it makes an ironic and morbid reference to Viennese identity and culture.

ERIN KOBAYASHI

David Balzer Reports: "FUN FOR GOTHS: Get dirty with monochrom"

FUN FOR GOTHS
Get dirty with monochrom
Eye Weekly -- February 1, 2007 -- Volume 16, Issue 18

In the annals of performance art, perhaps few figures are as notorious as Hermann Nitsch and Gunter Brus, key members of the Vienna-based Actionist collective, who staged a panoply of days-long happenings in the '60s and '70s involving animal guts, defecation, crucifixion, feathers and a whole lot of writhing.

Johannes Grenzfurthner of the contemporary Viennese collective monochrom uses the Actionists as a reference point, “but only,” he says, “because it's impossible not to if you're a performance artist working after 1965.” Contributors to Blackwood Gallery's “Unterspiel” exhibit of emerging Viennese artists, monochrom perform their own pseudo-Actionist Premature Burial as a Field Trial for Near Death Activities Feb. 7, for which they will ask a handful of volunteers to be buried alive for 15 minutes each – in a real coffin, in real dirt, with a eulogy detailing the history of body-snatching and forensics.

Grenzfurthner's trepidation about the Actionists' influence may have something to do with monochrom's political bent (he describes the group as “postmodern leftists”) and, more specifically, with his contention that performance art as the Actionists understood it – to wit, as a transformative, taboo-breaking thing – is impotent, or at least in need of an overhaul.

“In the Actionists' day, it was easy to get arrested in Vienna doing what they did in public spaces,” Grenzfurthner says. “Nowadays, you'd be lucky to have someone put a picture of the event on Flickr. And, of course, most of the Actionists' performances are far less hardcore than anything on, say, Jackass.”

The problem, according to Grenzfurthner, is the widely held notion in the West that all oppressive hierarchies have been shattered: no longer under the palpable shadow of institutions like the church, we assume we're free agents, and thus stop caring. The monochrom collective's response is to become what Grenzfurthner calls “an experimental lab” whose purpose is to “find out what potential [i.e., for radicalism, for mobilization] still exists.”

A quick glance at monochrom's long list of projects and performances (the collective was founded in 1993 and, to date, has instigated well over 100 of them) evinces a variety of strategies, some hare-brained, some brilliant. Many involve the internet: their computer game Soviet Unterzoegersdorf – The Adventure Game, in part a parody of the post-WWII Russian occupation of Austria, was listed as internet game of the month for Nov. 2005 by Edge magazine; their own website (http://www.monochrom.at/) functions as a busy, enthusiastic chronicle of their own and others' art projects.

"Premature Burial as a Field Trial for Near Death Activities" broaches many things, such as the still-firm grip of religion on a presumedly secular society and our increasingly paranoid-cum-sanitized view of the body. To date, monochrom have staged Premature Burial in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Vancouver, and never, by the way, finds it hard to muster up volunteers – though, true to the Actionist spirit, usually manages to ruffle a few.

“We tend to get goths,” says Grenzfurthner. “In Vancouver, they were afraid and didn't want to do it. Maybe we confronted them with the real side of their death-based youth culture. Who knows? Capitalism's great at absorbing and remodelling pretty much anything you can imagine. There's a lot to be discovered by digging a hole.”

DAVID BALZER

Monochrom's “Premature Burial as a Field Trial for Near Death Activities” begins 4-6pm and 7-9pm, Feb 7. Shuttle bus departs from 7 hart house circle at 3pm and returns at 6pm. Blackwood Gallery, Kaneff Centre, University of Toronto at Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Rd N. 905-828-3789.



http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_02.01.07/arts/artsweek_1.php

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!

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.

Beckett: A Symposium -- Photos

Approximately one month ago, the Blackwood Gallery and the University of Toronto at Mississauga hosted a symposium on the subject of Samuel Beckett, his work, and his legacy. The symposium featured presentations by international speakers, a new-media performance, and it was followed by a film and video presentation at the Goethe-Institut (King Street W., Toronto).

There has been a tremendous amount of activity at the gallery over the past few weeks, particularly in preparation for our next exhibition, Unterspiel. For that reason, it’s taken a little longer than expected to get these pictures loaded. Hopefully, in the time that has passed, readers of this blog [you!] who attended the symposium will have had a chance to reflect on the various issues and ideas presented. We welcome your comments and captions as accompaniment to these pictures, and the symposium itself!