Results tagged “contact”

ART: Esmond Lee considers himself to be “part space-shelter-imaginer, part humankind-lover, and part camera-owner.” His photography focuses on human subjects and the way different cultural and environmental conditions impact them. A Moment’s Look, his latest exhibition (part of CONTACT), examines the act of dwelling in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, New Orleans, and New York City. The Great Hall Gallery (1087 Queen Street West), 11 a.m.–6 p.m., FREE.

"Honey, any woman who counts on her face is a fool." So says the mother figure of Kiki in Zadie Smith's fierce, tender 2007 novel, On Beauty. Kiki's right; better to count on the body.

The photographs of Adam Krawesky hang from trees, lamp posts, railings, and street signs like prizes in a treasure hunt. Part of the photographic explosion that is CONTACT, Krawesky has installed his work in tiny plastic slide-viewers across the city that he has spent years documenting. There are maps provided to guide you to their locations, leading to a thrill of reward in finding the innocuous and ridiculously humble artworks suspended in places that are so common you barely see them anymore.

       

CONTACT is back with an upheaval—the theme of upheaval, that is. This year’s exhibition, Still Revolution, focuses on the technological innovations of photography as well as its role in creating and documenting historical revolutions. The primary exhibit, Still Revolution: Suspended in Time, showcases the work of eight artists, each reflecting a technological and social revolution in their photographs.

Should you be headily developing plans for CONTACT, Toronto's beloved photo-fest, here's a (news) flash: with a cruel month of waiting still ahead, the festival program went live today. You can read all about it online and plan accordingly, but that seems rather proletarian. Why bother, when a city-cultural blogger can do the highlighting for you? Open your Moleskine to May 1 and mark the pages according to our picks, all laid out after the jump.

ART: Tonight, the Liberty Grand hosts the opening night preview for Artist Project Toronto. In addition to bringing together works by close to one-hundred-and-fifty artists, this year's exhibition also features a series of enlightening seminars, a contest for up-and-coming artists, and a chocolate competition (in which artists create works based on the theme of, you guessed it, chocolate!). A portion of the opening-night proceeds will go to charity, and an after party is slated for the Drake Hotel. The show runs to March 8, with various hours and ticket prices; see their website for full details. The Liberty Grand (25 British Columbia Road), 7–10 p.m., $25.

Remember Contact? It was made in 1997 and was adapted from a weird Carl Sagan novel about extraterrestrial life and faith—ergo, starred Jodie Foster, plus a pre-indie fame Jena Malone. She's an outer space–obsessed girl who grows up to be a SETI scientist, receiving alien transmissions while searching for proof they exist, and eventually falling in love with one. It's among the greatest science fiction films ever made, which does not mean that it's good. It's terrible.

For the past month as part of CONTACT, Torontoist photographer John Beebe has taken to the streets to capture the faces of Toronto in a temporary mobile studio on the street, shooting, producing, and printing his portraits on location. You can see him today, Saturday, for his last installation at Queen Street West and Strachan, from 1:00–8:00 p.m. To see all 150+ portraits (representing more than 30 countries of birth), visit FacesOf.ca; a selection of shots are after the fold.

Forming the hub of activity for the month-long CONTACT festival, the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA) is showing Between Memory and History: From the Epic to the Everyday, an exhibition that mirrors this year's festival theme. Above, one of the participants in that exhibition, Magnum photographer Alessandra Sanguinetti, talks about her work.

Photo by MarkyBon.

Shoot Toronto, the weekly scavenger hunt on throughout CONTACT (that we previously wrote about here) is generously giving away 30 team spots in this weekend's hunt to Torontoist readers. Teams can consist of 2-4 people, and tickets would normally cost $25 a head, which means that we're pretty much giving away $3000, sort of. All you've gotta do is e-mail lisa@shootexperience.com to sign up.

As part of Toronto's glorious annual photography festival, CONTACT, the Drake Hotel is hosting a photo scavenger hunt every weekend in May, and registration is open now.