MONDOmagazine

Research Intersections Within Practice: Artists and Librarians
Organized by Effie Patelos and Tammy Moorse
March 16 @ the AGO

By Tina Chu

Presented by the Ontario Chapter of the Art Libraries Society of North America, this panel brought together the minds of Adam Lauder, the W.P. Scott Chair for Research in E-Librarianship at York University’s Scott Library; Amy Marshall Furness, the Special Collections Archivist at the E.P. Taylor Research Library and Archives of the AGO; Ian Carr-Harris, Artist and Professor at OCAD University; Eric Schwab, Manager of Digitization and Preservation at the Toronto Public Library, David Poolman, Artist and Professor at Sheridan, and Lisa Steele, Artist, Vtape Founder and the Visual Studies Graduate Program Director at the University of Toronto. Read the rest of this entry »

L’ Orchestre d’Hommes-Orchestres performs Tom Waits
Presented by The Theatre Centre
March 2-5, 2011. 7:30pm. 1087 Queen Street West.

By Miles Baker

If you’re a Tom Waits fan living in Toronto, it’s time to face a harsh reality—with each passing day it’s less and less likely that we’re going to get the chance to see him live. With that in mind, I suggest you go see L’Orchestre d’Hommes-Orchestres Performs Tom Waits. It’s not the man himself, but it’s his spirit and his songs manifested before you with great joy and imagination.

L’Orchestre d’Hommes-Orchestres are a Quebec-based, self-described multidisciplinary workshop. The group, composed of Bruno Bouchard, Jasmin Cloutier, Simon Drouin and Simon Elmaleh (and joined onstage by the New Cackle Sisters, Gabrielle Bouthiller and Danya Ortman), began as a music ensemble but has gone onto incorporate elements of theatre in their performances.

I’m just going to throw this out there because it will bug Waits purists—four French Canadians sing and talk in the style of Tom Waits. Their accents peak through as they tell Waits-esque stories and jokes. I was skeptical at first, but works for me as a celebration of Waits rather than just a lame imitation. Read the rest of this entry »

Cara Ricketts and Marc Bendavid in scene from Romeo & Juliet. Photo by John Lauener.

Art of Time Ensemble’s Shakespeare: If Music Be
Featuring Peggy Baker, Andrew Burashko, Ted Dykstra, Kevin Fox, Erika Raum, Marc Bendavid, Tim Campbell, Lucy Peacock, Cara Ricketts and others
December 9-11 @ Enwave Theatre

By Daina Valiulis

Actor Tim Campbell ushers us into the world of Shakespeare, describing the playwright as a man of many identities. He was everyone and no one, both revealing and concealing himself within his works. As fellow actors Lucy Peacock, Marc Bendavid and Cara Ricketts join, they recite quotations from famous literary figures (and Mel Gibson?) regarding the depth and breadth of Shakespeare’s works and of his commitment to exposing human truth—it’s comparable to reading book jacket quotations before cracking the cover. Rather than talk, show us! Read the rest of this entry »

Continuing in the fine tradition of years past, the MONDOarts department dispatched three writers to cover this year’s Scotiabank Nuit Blanche and their escapades during said event. Enjoy!

By Jen Handley

“Is it just me or has Nuit Blanche gotten to be more work over the years?” asked my friend Sophia as we huddled for warmth in one of the zillions of eagerly-formed lines that sprung up around the city last Saturday night. She was completely right: seeing as how the last five years have seen the festival turn into all but a public holiday, and as we wanted to check out some of the higher-profile events this year, we spent a lot of the evening standing in line. But that part actually wasn’t dreary — standing around, barging into conversations with tipsy strangers end exchanging stories as we waited for exhibits wasn’t too different from the experience of standing outside on New Year’s Eve waiting for midnight. For all the flack art projects get for being elitist, I had the feeling of being part of a mob that night, and that was what made it exhilarating. And coincidence or not, most of the projects we saw required us to engage with strangers. Read the rest of this entry »

Continuing in the fine tradition of years past, the MONDOarts department dispatched three writers to cover this year’s Nuit Blanche and their escapades during said event. Enjoy!

By Andy O’Shea

This year’s Nuit Blanche marked the first time that I didn’t start right downtown. Moving from the outside in made all the difference — Parkdale really had interactive and unusual experiences all the way through, and it seemed to be an organized community effort. Our first stop was near Queen and Roncesvalles, The Nightwatch: Shadow Play by Ed Pein, a giant tent with people and objects inside displaying different scenarios. A good start.

At Speed Art Criticism by the Toronto Alliance of Art Critics, local art experts Dan Adler and David Balzer waited inside a guitar store to critique artwork by passersby. We debated whether to go inside; we didn’t have any of our art with us. When we did go inside, Adler and Balzer graciously looked at a work of mine online and we had a nice ten minute discussion about art. They were quite receptive, and it was a very relaxed talk. Balzer was right on the money suggesting I look for Jim Flora’s work. Read the rest of this entry »

Burning Buddha

Continuing in the fine tradition of years past, the MONDOarts department dispatched three writers to cover this year’s Nuit Blanche and their escapades during said event. Enjoy!

By Jessie Davis
Photos by Kevin Lynn

We swore it wouldn’t happen again this year, yet here we were, 11:30 on Saturday night, completely unprepared for the evening. My partner and I also swore we’d go it alone this year so that we wouldn’t be at the mercy of a slow-moving, impatient group, yet somehow found ourselves amidst a gaggle twice the size of the one we traveled with last year. How did this happen? It seems that Nuit Blanche has become more of a chance to socialize and reconnect than a celebration of art – due in no small part, I suspect, to the fact that exhibits are so spaced out that we spend more time wandering around the city chatting than actually seeing art*.

We started at Nathan Phillips Square to see Daniel Lanois’ Later That Night At The Drive-In and arrived just in time to hear three of the new Neil Young tracks he showcased. Standing there surrounded by people in the middle of Toronto’s nucleus, I stood alone, eyes closed, swaying and swooning under Young’s spell. The projections were helpful as we neared the stage and found it nearly impossible to see Lanois but for the mirrored crane-held ceiling showing us a reverse bird’s-eye view of the setup. As Young’s last song finished, Lanois began an ethereal, haunting solo guitar piece before welcoming Trixie Whitley to play and sing some bluesy alt-country tunes with him. A lovely sound, but we were becoming restless. One friend, on his first-ever Nuit Blanche adventure (and having more experience at electronic music festivals) joked, “Where’s the techno tent?” and a few moments later, we began to make out the dull thud of bass from a location just north of us that begged investigation. Read the rest of this entry »

Towards the Carbon Neutral City
September 22 @ the Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place

By Tina Chu

After mounting a successful exhibition at the MaRS Centre this summer with Behnisch Architekten, Thomas Auer of Transsolar ClimateEngineering returned to Toronto for a presentation entitled Towards a Carbon Neutral City.

A continuation of Ecology.Design.Synergy (see a previous related post here) and a part of Toronto’s Green Building Festival, Auer’s presentation showcased how Transsolar’s engineering innovations and architectural collaborations translate to the streets.

Building sustainably for Transsolar, involves more than being carbon neutral. While achieving a low footprint is a priority, equally important goals for Transsolar are whether or not the space it constructs is comfortable, vibrant and a place people desire to inhabit year-round. Read the rest of this entry »

By Kerry Freek

Rufus Wainwright: All Days are Nights / Songs for Lulu
June 15 and 17 @ Elgin Theatre

Act One:

The sombre face in the picture above should give you a pretty fair indication of how the first act of Wainwright’s one-man show went down. Before the curtain opened, an unidentified man came out, greeted us on Rufus’ behalf, and brought tidings of Wainwright’s requests of us for the next half-hour or so, which included refraining from applause until his imminent “song cycle” had come to a complete end. We’d even have to wait until Wainwright left the stage entirely, as we were told even his exit would be “part of the performance.” Read the rest of this entry »

Austin Visschedyk, teenage paparazzo.

Teenage Paparazzo
Directed by Adrien Grenier
Co-presented with Hot Docs
Bloor Cinema (506 Bloor Street West)
May 8

By Kerry Freek

Forget Lady Gaga. Thirteen-year-old Austin Visschedyk is the fame monster. Not only is he a paparazzo-in-the-making, but the subject of Teenage Paparazzo comes threateningly close to becoming a celebrity himself, and almost certainly as a direct result of receiving this attention from director Adrien Grenier. Read the rest of this entry »

Brian, by Drasko Bogdanovic (via CONTACT).

Persuasion Of Men
Drasko Bogdanovic
GRASP Erotica Bar (543 Yonge St., Level 4)
Runs May 7–31

By Jessie Davis

In our culture where sex sells most everything and “sexy” is generally portrayed as a smooth, slim, attractive woman, the male body has often been disregarded and even censored. In fact, it is probably the last remaining taboo in mainstream film and television. Drasko Bogdanovic stares down this taboo with his camera lens, creating his series Persuasion of Men (see YouTube preview here, potentially NSFW) to encourage the audience’s curiosity about the male form, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.

It’s difficult to move into this gender and preference-neutral territory, however, given that the show itself is housed in a re-purposed former bathhouse on the outskirts of Church and Wellesley Village, with gay porn being shown on the television behind the bar. Add to this the fact Read the rest of this entry »

An unintentional voyeur takes in Tanja Tiziana's Fancy Panties.

99 Cents
Show & Tell Gallery (1161 Dundas Street West)
Runs May 7-16

By Kerry Freek

It’s the battle of the blogs! Kidding (mostly). Back in March, blogTO announced a Sony-sponsored contest for aspiring photographers to take part in an official Scotiabank CONTACT photo exhibit. The theme was 99 Cents, that ubiquitous sale suffix. The call encouraged the exploration of the concept’s psychological influence. Cool, yes? Unfortunately, the exhibit’s description sounds better than it looks. The result of reader votes and culls from blogTO’s curatorial team is a rather meh collection of photos on display now at Show & Tell. Read the rest of this entry »

Belinda Visage

By Kerry Freek
Photos by Melina Stathopoulos and Andrew Louis

At first, it looked like Day Four of [FAT] (titled Joy) might threaten audiences with a severe lack of glam. As the show opened with a much-too-long, uninteresting, tripped out solo dance/video/LED/meditation performance act, I’m willing to bet I wasn’t the only one considering the shocking similarity between the words “runway” and “run away.”

Luckily, Kirsty McKenzie’s Year of the Tiger heated things up. Her band of fierce gypsy-clown madams took the stage and rocked it wild-style. Strutting up and down in bright colours, big skirts, tulle and lots of leg, the models wore re-appropriated, cartoonish stuffed feline toys like tidy Victorian hats and Cro-Magnon capes. Crowds forgot about the aforementioned dancer as McKenzie’s pièce de résistance: a silver warrior-queen-as-kitty with faux fur and, well, flexibility. Brilliant.

Next up: Avendano. The collection was somewhat unbalanced in theme, but by the fourth or fifth model, Read the rest of this entry »