Ente

rtai

nmen

t / V

isua

l Art

s

From

the

poin

t of v

iew

of t

he Q

ueen

Wes

t, ge

ttin

g ou

t to

the

Art

Gal

lery

of Y

ork

Uni

vers

ity

(AG

YU) i

n th

e no

rthe

rn w

ilds

of J

ane

and

Finc

h ca

nse

em a

n on

erou

s ch

ore.

Not

onl

y ar

e th

ere

no h

ip b

ars

or r

esta

uran

ts th

ere

(not

kno

wn

to d

ownt

owne

rs, a

nyw

ay),

but

you

hav

e to

sch

lep

on th

esu

bway

all

the

way

to D

owns

view

and

then

end

ure

a cr

owde

d ex

pres

s bu

s th

roug

h su

burb

an a

nd in

dust

rial

was

tela

nds.

By:

Dan

iel B

aird

Spe

cial

to th

e S

tar,

Pub

lishe

d on

Sat

Jan

05

2013

From

the

poin

t of v

iew

of t

he Q

ueen

Wes

t, ge

ttin

g ou

t to

the

Art

Gal

lery

of Y

ork

Uni

vers

ity

(AG

YU) i

n th

e no

rthe

rn w

ilds

of J

ane

and

Finc

h ca

nse

em a

n on

erou

s ch

ore.

Not

onl

y ar

e th

ere

no h

ip b

ars

or r

esta

uran

ts th

ere

(not

kno

wn

to d

ownt

owne

rs, a

nyw

ay),

but

you

hav

e to

sch

lep

on th

esu

bway

all

the

way

to D

owns

view

and

then

end

ure

a cr

owde

d ex

pres

s bu

s th

roug

h su

burb

an a

nd in

dust

rial

was

tela

nds.

But

the

idea

that

Tor

onto

’s c

ultu

ral l

ife ta

kes

plac

e en

tire

ly a

sto

ne’s

thro

w fr

om th

e D

rake

Hot

el is

abs

urd,

lim

itin

g, a

nd s

impl

y ou

t of t

ouch

.So

me

of o

ur r

egio

n’s

mos

t com

pelli

ng a

nd c

utti

ng e

dge

exhi

b iti

ons

take

pla

ce a

way

from

the

city

’s c

ore,

incl

udin

g at

the

AG

YU, t

he B

lack

woo

dG

alle

ry a

t the

Uni

vers

ity

of T

oron

to’s

Mis

siss

auga

cam

pus,

and

at t

he M

acLa

ren

Art

Cen

tre

in B

arri

e.

Thes

e ar

e, if

you

will

, Met

ro T

oron

to’s

uns

ung

galle

ries

, and

this

sto

ry is

an

ode

to th

em:

“Inv

isib

le E

mpi

res,

” w

hich

focu

ses

on th

e K

u K

lux

Kla

n an

d it

s m

igra

tion

into

Can

ada.

“It’s

just

a p

reju

dice

that

the

AG

YU is

not

in T

oron

to,”

say

s Ph

ilip

Mon

k, th

e ga

llery

’s d

irec

tor

and

chie

f cur

ator

. “W

e’re

act

ually

clo

ser

to th

ece

nter

of w

here

peo

ple

live

in (M

etro

) Tor

onto

than

oth

er in

stit

utio

ns —

we

just

hav

e a

diff

eren

t dem

ogra

phic

. And

sin

ce w

e se

rve

diff

eren

tau

dien

ces,

we

have

had

to c

reat

e a

diff

eren

t kin

d of

inst

itut

ion

that

ser

ves

both

soc

ial a

nd a

esth

etic

con

cern

s. I

n th

e pr

oces

s, w

e’ve

tran

sfor

med

the

inst

itut

ion

itse

lf so

that

art

ists

are

par

t of t

he p

roce

ss a

t eve

ry le

vel,

incl

udin

g th

e m

arke

ting

of t

he s

how

, and

in th

at w

ay th

e in

stit

utio

n it

self

has

beco

me

part

of t

he a

rt.”

One

of t

he w

ays

the

AG

YU h

as o

verc

ome

the

prob

lem

of g

etti

ng p

eopl

e do

wnt

own

to c

ome

up to

Yor

k U

nive

rsit

y is

the

AG

YU P

erfo

rman

ce B

us.

Feat

ured

art

ists

turn

the

old

scho

ol b

us in

to a

mob

ile a

rt w

ork

that

ferr

ies

peop

le fr

om th

e A

rt G

alle

ry o

f Ont

ario

and

bac

k fo

r op

enin

gs. “

We’

veal

way

s w

ante

d ar

tist

s to

be

our

advo

cate

s, a

nd fo

r ar

tist

s to

be

the

host

s of

the

exhi

biti

ons,

” sa

ys E

mel

ie C

hhan

gur,

who

wor

ks w

ith

Mon

k as

assi

stan

t dir

ecto

r an

d cu

rato

r. “

The

Perf

orm

ance

Bus

pro

vide

s th

e op

port

unit

y fo

r an

art

ist t

o sp

end

45 m

inut

es in

a s

choo

l bus

wit

h hi

s or

her

com

mun

ity,

and

wha

t hap

pens

in th

ere

is a

lway

s a

surp

rise

!”

Th

e B

lack

woo

d G

alle

ry

Loca

ted

on th

e ca

mpu

s of

the

Uni

vers

ity

of T

oron

to M

issi

ssau

ga, t

he B

lack

woo

d G

alle

ry is

if a

nyth

ing

mor

e ge

ogra

phic

ally

cha

lleng

ed th

an th

eA

GYU

, but

und

er th

e di

rect

ion

of a

rtis

t and

cur

ator

Chr

isto

f Mig

one,

the

galle

ry h

as th

rive

d, m

ount

ing

cons

iste

ntly

cha

lleng

ing

exhi

biti

ons

and

even

ts. “

Vol

ume:

Hea

r H

ere,

” an

exp

lora

tion

of t

he e

xper

ienc

e of

sou

nd th

at in

clud

es w

ell-

know

n C

anad

ian

arti

sts

like

John

Osw

ald,

Cha

rles

Stan

kiev

ech,

Mar

la H

lady

, and

Raf

ael L

ozan

o-H

emm

er, w

ill o

pen

on J

anua

ry 1

6. M

ontr

eal b

ased

Loz

ano-

Hem

mer

’s c

ontr

ibut

ion

will

be

fro m

his

rem

arka

ble

Lost

Bre

ath

proj

ect,

a de

vice

that

sto

res

a si

ngle

bre

ath

and

circ

ulat

es it

ove

r an

d ov

er s

ome

10,0

00 ti

mes

a d

ay. T

he b

reat

h th

atw

ill b

e us

ed in

“V

olum

e: H

ear

Her

e” w

ill b

e th

at o

f ren

owne

d A

mer

ican

com

pose

r an

d ac

cord

ioni

st P

aulin

e O

liver

os.

“The

man

date

of t

he g

alle

ry is

con

tem

pora

ry C

anad

ian

and

inte

rnat

iona

l art

,” s

ays

Mig

one,

“bu

t I’m

sti

ll tr

ying

to fi

nd w

ays

of e

ngag

ing

wit

h an

dre

spon

ding

to th

e co

mm

unit

y of

the

city

we’

re lo

cate

d in

. I r

eally

thin

k of

mys

elf a

s a

popu

list,

and

I w

ant t

he w

ork

be a

cces

sibl

e, I

wan

t the

galle

ry to

be

a pl

atfo

rm e

qual

ly fo

r ar

tist

s, s

tude

nts,

and

the

com

mun

ity.

We’

ve h

ad a

n on

goin

g pr

ojec

t cal

led

Doo

r to

Doo

r th

at s

tart

ed in

201

1 in

whi

ch a

rtis

ts li

tera

lly g

o ou

t int

o th

e lo

cal c

omm

unit

y. F

or th

e fir

st o

ne, C

amill

a Si

ngh

wen

t to

loca

l bus

ines

ses

and

did

a ch

eerl

eadi

ng r

outi

ne fo

rth

e w

orke

rs!”

“Som

etim

es w

e do

n’t h

ave

huge

aud

ienc

es,”

Mig

one

adm

itte

d, “

but m

y at

titu

de is

, if y

ou d

on’t

com

e to

us,

we’

ll co

me

to y

ou!”

Th

e M

acL

aren

Art

Cen

tre,

Bar

rie

Bot

h th

e A

rt G

alle

ry o

f Yor

k U

nive

rsit

y an

d th

e B

lack

woo

d G

alle

ry a

re u

nive

rsit

y ga

lleri

es, s

o it

sho

uld

com

e as

no

surp

rise

that

thei

rpr

ogra

mm

ing

tend

s to

be

edgy

, exp

erim

enta

l, an

d of

ten

cere

bral

. Set

in a

bea

utifu

l old

Car

negi

e Li

brar

y an

d w

ith

an a

war

d-w

inni

ng a

ddit

ion

desi

gned

by

Siam

ak H

arir

i of H

arir

i Pon

tani

ni A

rchi

tect

s, th

e M

acLa

ren

Art

Cen

tre

in B

arri

e ha

s a

slig

htly

diff

eren

t man

date

: the

y ex

hibi

t art

ists

who

wor

k in

and

aro

und

the

Cou

nty

of S

imco

e, w

orks

that

are

in th

eir

exte

nsiv

e pe

rman

ent c

olle

ctio

ns, a

nd a

lso

mou

nt s

how

s by

con

tem

pora

ry

Can

adia

n ar

tist

s. C

urre

ntly

on

view

is “

Hue

and

Cry

,” a

sur

vey

of fi

gura

tive

wor

ks b

y in

fluen

tial

Mon

trea

l bas

ed a

rtis

t Leo

pold

Plo

tek,

as

wel

l as

the

stun

ning

“W

orki

ngm

an’s

Dea

d: L

ives

of t

he A

rtis

ts,”

cur

ated

by

Plot

ek a

nd M

acLa

ren

cura

tor

Ben

Por

tis,

whi

ch fe

atur

es b

lack

and

whi

teph

otog

raph

s of

oft

en d

oom

ed a

rtis

ts d

urin

g th

e 19

30s,

the

heig

ht o

f Sta

lin’s

terr

or, c

ulle

d fr

om th

e ga

llery

’s r

emar

kabl

e So

vfot

o ar

chiv

e.

“The

re’s

a d

iffer

ent k

ind

of a

udie

nce

here

,” P

orti

s ob

serv

es. “

It’s

a v

ery

insu

lar

com

mun

ity

that

has

not

had

a lo

ngst

andi

ng r

elat

ions

hip

to th

ear

ts —

man

y of

the

fam

ilies

hav

e be

en h

ere

for

gene

rati

ons.

But

that

is c

hang

ing

beca

use

the

com

mun

ity

is r

apid

ly g

row

ing,

wit

h m

any

peop

leno

w c

omm

utin

g to

Tor

onto

f or

wor

k, a

nd th

e M

acLa

ren

is tr

ying

to p

rovi

de c

ultu

ral l

eade

rshi

p. A

lot o

f wha

t I d

o is

to p

rovi

de v

isib

ility

for

our

hold

ings

in la

te m

oder

n an

d co

ntem

pora

ry C

anad

ian

art,

but w

e al

so d

o sh

ows

wit

h a

regi

onal

focu

s, li

ke o

ur r

ecen

t sho

w a

bout

pai

nter

Joh

nH

artm

an’s

life

on

Geo

rgia

n B

ay. A

nd w

e do

ver

y cu

ttin

g ed

ge s

how

s to

o: a

t the

end

of F

ebru

ary

we

will

be

open

ing

a re

tros

pect

ive

of th

e w

ork

ofK

rist

an H

orto

n,”

win

ner

of th

e co

vete

d G

rang

e Pr

ize

in 2

010.

Ther

e is

, as

Phili

p M

onk

poin

ts o

ut, a

pre

judi

ce a

gain

st g

alle

ries

not

loca

ted

in d

ownt

own

Toro

nto.

The

re m

ight

hav

e be

en s

ome

trut

h in

that

prej

udic

e 20

or

30 y

ears

ago

, but

bot

h th

e ar

t wor

ld a

nd th

e gr

eate

r To

ront

o ar

ea h

ave

chan

ged

a lo

t in

the

mea

ntim

e. T

oday

som

e of

the

fines

t,m

ost i

llum

inat

ing,

and

mos

t cha

lleng

ing

exhi

biti

ons

take

pla

ce u

p ne

ar J

ane

and

Finc

h or

in M

issi

ssau

ga o

r in

Bar

rie.

It’s

impo

rtan

t to

get o

utan

d se

e th

em. A

nd r

eally

, the

y ar

en’t

all t

hat f

ar.