Urban Planner: April 3, 2009

OCAD students "Activate the Park" in 2006. Photo by Jesse Colin Jackson.

ART: First year OCAD Experience Design students hold their annual "Activate!! Experiments in Experience Design" event this afternoon. The students have been challenged to make public spaces inside the OCAD building a participatory experience. Themes for this year’s dynamically enhanced environments include "Virtual Haircuts," "Paparazzi," "Jukeworld," and "Crikey—Everybody’s a crocodile hunter." Ontario College of Art and Design (100 McCaul Street), 2:30–4:30 p.m., FREE.

MUSIC: The Royal Conservatory of Music embraces both Beethoven and Mozart in a pair of free performances today. This afternoon Canadian classical pianist Anton Kuerti wraps up the last note of his five-part lecture series on his interpretations of Beethoven’s piano concertos. Kuerti gives the lecture while seated at the piano—we assume for ease of demonstration. This evening Mario Bernardi conducts the Royal Conservatory Orchestra and the Glenn Gould Opera School in a performance of Mozart’s bawdy fiancée-swapping opera Così Fan Tutte. Royal Conservatory of Music, Mazzoleni Hall (273 Bloor Street West), 2 p.m. (Kuerti lecture) and 7:30 p.m. (Così Fan Tutte), FREE.

ART: John Bride, Roby Cataniag, and Chris Joynt form the three points of group-painting exhibit "Love Triangle" opening tonight at the Gladstone (on until April 9). The show's painters are stylistically different but share a love of contemporary cultural references. Gladstone Hotel second floor (1214 Queen Street West), 7–10 p.m., FREE.

ART: The new 47 Gallery in Parkdale—jointly run by three local artists—has a mandate to exhibit work integral to its two thousand-square-foot raw space. The inaugural exhibit opens tonight with a new kinetic machine installation piece from metal fabricator Stephen Richards. 47 (47 Milky Way), 6–9 p.m., FREE.

VIDEO: “Welcome to the Terrordome” is the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art’s contribution to this year's Images Festival (until April 12). The video-based multimedia exhibit opens tonight and shows the work of three video and interactive artists: Wafaa Bilal, Jubal Brown, and Mark Essen. Pieces such as Bilal's Virtual Jihadi play with the themes of the military industrial complex and video games. Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (952 Queen Street West), 7–10 p.m., FREE.