Juliusson and Nurse at upArt: installation in progress

Installation is almost complete for our room at upArt, the alternative art fair opening tomorrow at the Gladstone Hotel. Lauren Nurse has made Habitat 67-inspired chrome birdhouse/condos, and Svava Thordis Juliusson offers a selection of her wall-and-ceiling-installed spikey, icy and pooling sculptures, upcycled from humble materials such as rope and cable ties. More to come, including icebergs, I am told.


All fitting for the theme of upArt 2011 : Nature/Culture

Opening Reception October 27 – 7-10pm
Exhibition Hours October 28-30 – 12-5pm
ArtStars* DVD Launch Party: October 29 – 7-10pm
Curators Talk and Tour Sunday October 30, 2pm
Admission $5

This year, upArt seeks to address interactions between nature and culture; offering an examination of the environmental chaos around us through a distinctly contemporary lens. The Gladstone’s annual contemporary art fair, upArt coincides with Art Toronto and has been a site of experimentation and emergent work for over 5 years. upArt offers visitors a fully immersive experience of site-specific projects by local, national, and international artists. upArt 2011 is curated by Laura Berzadi & Britt Welter-Nolan.

More info here.

BIG DOINGS!

Nothing like a busy art month to keep you hopping, and keep the blood warm as the temperature plummets! Fall is my favourite season.

On Tuesday of last week, we participated in Art With Heart, with works on auction by the best of the best Canadian contemporary artists, including our own Lauren Nurse and Alexis Lavoie. Word is the auction alone netted over $500,000 for Casey House.

Last Thursday, we opened the Heather Nicol and Marina Black exhibitions at the gallery. Two gorgeous shows, and we'll have a virtual tour up for you soon.

Tonight is Gala Preview night at the Toronto International Art Fair. We are in Booth 1104,  in the NEXT section, along the West wall. (hint...look for Jay Wilson's 12 foot stalagmite made of toothpicks...really!.. and Kieran Brent's penetrating portrait Will. We'll be easy to spot.) Also, look for Heather Nicol's amazing installation, Spun Out and Lovely in OPEN SPACE.  And check out Svava Thordis Juliusson's Esjublatt,  big, blue and anthropomorphic, and chosen by the Art Dealers Association of Canada for their Masterpiece Wall at the fair.


And, at the Gladstone Hotel, opening tomorrow, upArt, Toronto's alternative art fair.  We'll have a room-sized installation by Lauren Nurse and Svava Thordis Juliusson (room 207) and an installation by Rachael Wong in the public gallery area.

Lots of pictures to come, I promise. Just need a few extra hours in my day.

Yvonne Singer to present her work at Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art

WORK LABOUR CREATIVITY

Seminar at Konsthallen–Bohusläns museum in Uddevalla
 Sunday 23 October, noon–4 pm
Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art, 2011, is titled Pandemonium – Art in a time of Creativity Fever. It touches on issues such as creativity, fictions, utopias and the rapidly changing conditions of today’s politics and economy. An open seminar on Sunday, October 23 at Konsthallen–Bohusläns Museum, aims at deepening discussion on today’s labour market and the wide use of the  term ’creativity’.


Linking Pandemonium: Remembering, Forgetting, Learning


Asma Mahmood, artist and curator from Toronto, Canada
 and Yvonne Singer, artist and Professor of Visual Art at York University, Canada, will present their works. Through her practice, Asma Mahmood has engaged as an activist in several areas of thought and action in Canada and in terms of immigrant and diaspora voices –especially in relation to the  Indian subcontinent. Yvonne Singer engages with the intersection of public and private histories, and her installation works employ multimedia techniques, often with cryptic texts to articulate cultural issues of disjuncture and perception. Their presentations are followed by a discussion with Professor Gertrud Sandqvist, co-curator of Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art 2011.


More information here.

A lovely time of the year to visit Sweden.  Congratulations, Yvonne!