Some people--or, okay, myself when I worked an office job--thought that perhaps freelancing could be somewhat vacation-y. I've learned since that--okay, given my bad-self-boss habits--it's actually meant not having much in terms of vacation or time off at all. (For more information on the goods and bads of the freelance life, you might check out some notes from Stanford U's recent Future of Freelancing conference and Zoe Cormier's "Freelance: Professionally Bipolar" post.) Anyway, for the next couple of weeks, I'm going to try to turn the tide on my sorry freelance-vacay relationship. I'll be gone fishing--or some such work-free nonsense--until July 12. I'm even going to hold off on moderating comments, so just FYI if you try to post some they won't go up until then. Whatever happens, hope ya'll stay safe and have some good days off of your own.
Image from Happy Times Party Rentals
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Posting Notice: Gone Fishing, Or Some Such Nonsense, to July 12
Monday, June 28, 2010
A Sad Weekend for Toronto
No art angles from me today, folks. All I can say it was a very sad weekend for Toronto. A lot of people have already articulated why in ways that reflect my own views, so I'll just link to them here:
Dale Duncan on Spacing Wire notes the key question, Why were so many peaceful protesters and passerby harrassed by ostensible security forces while vandals and criminals were allowed to go on a rampage without any police intervention? This is a cognitive dissonance that continues to resonate for me.
John Cruickshank, at the Toronto Star, writes a cogent editorial on the ways the summit and huge security spending managed to fail a city and its people
Matthew Blackett, also at Spacing Wire, asks how infrastructure and zone design might have played into events that unfolded.
BlogTO rounds up video of the protests; not all of the videos reflect my views--as Duncan noted previously, there were thousands of people who marched peacefully without incident with police, and these videos focus on violent incidents from both sides. Nonetheless, the videos certainly are eye opening.
Rabble also notes that Amnesty International--no fringe group, that!--is concerned about the way events unfolded over the weekend, and wants security operations reviewed.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Athletic Art: Q&A on Mixed Signals at the Art Gallery of Calgary
Athletics and art haven't always been the best of friends--after all, there's a reason Bad at Sports seems such an apropos name for an art blog and podcast. But Mixed Signals is trying to bridge the gap. It's a touring exhibition organized by Independent Curators International that's currently got its sole Canadian stop at the Art Gallery of Calgary. Today, the National Post published my Q&A on the show with AGC curator Molly Steeves. An excerpt:
Q There are also a lot of Collier Schorr's rodeo photos in this show, which evoke the upcoming Calgary Stampede. Does the broader theme of athletes and machismo have a special connection to Calgary?
A I think Calgary has a very masculine spirit, a very Western spirit--we take pride in doing business deals with a handshake, for example. I think this exhibition will be very interesting to host during Stampede, when a lot of tourists are downtown and every-one's urban cowboy comes out. In the past, we've done shows on the commercialization of the rodeo and ideas about cowboys, but I think it's also pertinent to Calgary to examine general stereotypes of masculinity. Also, I think Calgary might struggle sometimes with contemporary art. We don't have a collecting facility at our gallery, but we can bring in great shows like this one that provoke conversation.
For the record, I ask these kinds of questions because I spent most of my life in Calgary, and I think it's an awesome town. I miss it. Other stuff there that's upcoming that I would love to see there are the Sled Island Festival and the related IKG exhibition With Nothing You Starve; With a Little, You Survive. It features work by a couple of young artists who have, inverting the difficult institutional legacies of Calgary, turned their rented house into the Contemporary Art Museum. Fun stuff!
(Image of Paul Pfeiffer's John 3:16 from ICI)
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Worth a Look: Beyond Imaginings at Harbourfront Centre
While many are avoiding the downtown at all costs this G20 weekend, and many galleries and museums are closing (the AGO, the Gardiner Museum and U of T St George campus galleries included) one of the art centres closest to the summit grounds—Harbourfront Centre, which includes the Power Plant—is mostly open for business. One of the exhibitions there, Beyond Imaginings, can even be enjoyed 24/7, being posted on all-weather billboards as it is. The show, which will evolve with new photographs in October, focuses on 8 artists' views of the Greenbelt, a newish semi-protected zone around Toronto. As I write in a review out in this week's NOW,
While all the artists are quite capable, there are a couple of standouts: Meera Margaret Singh’s penetrating portraits of migrants and women in the agriculture sector put overlooked workers front and centre, suggesting toughness as well as vulnerability. They have a haunting, powerful depth.
On a different note, Mark Kasumovic’s wide, sprawling views of people at play in the landscape – flying kites in Kleinberg, fishing at Christie Lake or walking the Blue Mountain Caves – reframe our relationship to nature and tourism in a way that seems both intimate and sweeping.
You can read the full review here and see the full range of currently installed photos here.
(Image of Mark Kasumovic's photo of the Caledon Badlands from NOW)
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Out of trauma, art -- or at least, a well-designed one-inch pin
Toronto was all about the earthquake today--to be honest, I thought it was people moving furniture in the office above, and only discovered my folly when someone walked in and told us 10 minutes later that the cause was geological, not decorative. (Thank goodness no one was hurt is all I can say.) In any case, Spacing has quickly turned around a batch of pins to commemorate the big, largely unexpected event. Pins are available in blue, green, orange and pinkish-purple for $1.50 to $2 each at Swipe, Outer Layer, the Spacing office, and online.
Image of Quake pin from Spacing
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Just Because: Cheddar Harper on the G20
It came to my attention today that Cheddar Harper, "the ginger tabby cat of the most powerful man in Canada," is on Twitter, reporting live from the G20 site. In the midst of serious summit hype (and sad freedom of expression indicators) it's a relief to see a little levity. Also nice: G20 Blingees on Sally & LM's blog. And not art, though it could be: the Post's Peter Kuitenbrouwer walks the G8 fence perimeter in Huntsville. Oh, and as for initial reports of the fake lake's appearance? Not so hot from non-Cheddar sources.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Left-Field Links: How Declining Arts Access is Hurting Canadians' Health and Wellbeing
Last week, there was a lot of to-do about a new study revealing how an increasing time crunch is hurting Canadians' wellbeing.
This being a study on leisure time and its health and wellbeing impacts, the report looked a lot at the fact that Canadians are increasingly working non-standard hours and precarious jobs, with women in particular crunched for time because they are caring for seniors as well as kids. All of these are definitely cause for concern.
One of the unexpected points in the study, though, has to do with issues of arts access—an issue close to my heart, as recent posts on museum admission fees and access measures show.
Could access to arts and culture institutions actually be vital to our wellbeing as Canadians? Yes, says the study:
Participating in leisure and culture pursuits, either individually or overall, contributes to individual, community, and societal wellbeing. Some relationships are stronger than others. Taking part in physical activity and exercise, for example, is more strongly related to physical wellbeing and the prevention of disease, engaging in social activities is more strongly linked to social wellbeing, and participating in the arts can help to enhance both social and psychological wellbeing.
Could declining arts access, then, actually be hurting Canadians' wellbeing? Also yes:
Worrying is that over the past several years, public agencies and non-profit, voluntary organizations responsible for the provision of leisure and culture programs, services, facilities, and other opportunities have seen an ongoing shift away from core funding. Indeed, since 1990, community per capita expenditures on recreation and culture have not kept pace with inflation or population increases. This decline in basic operational support represents a serious threat to the ongoing missions of these agencies and organizations, which are mainly responsible for the infrastructure supporting leisure and culture in Canadian communities. It represents a loss of potential to improve the wellbeing of Canadians.
The upshot? We need to "be especially mindful of ensuring equity and inclusion" in culture and leisure and "now, more than ever, we need governments and public policies that support our culture and leisure infrastructure."
Specifically we need to "encourage barrier-free arts and culture activities" and promote "inclusive environments for physical, leisure and social activities by ensuring everyone has the opportunity to participate." This includes "initiatives such as discounted or free programming available for those with limited incomes, as well as tax credits to allow all families to better afford these programs."
Though I've based my most recent arguments on arts access on the fact that many museums are mandated to provide public access, it's also great to get support for the cause from a health perspective. I do hope that museums, public galleries and cultural policymakers across the country take note.
Image from SUNY Oswego
