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Urban Planner: January 23, 2009
ART: Harbourfront Centre unveils nine new winter art exhibits at a public reception tonight. “Fashion No-no” has artists designing clothes (Andrea Ling’s award-winning Architectural Master’s thesis is pictured above) and clothing designers making art. Curator Paola Poletto and solo exhibitionist Felieke van der Leest (of “It’s a Beastly World After All”) both lecture tomorrow (January 24, 1 p.m., FREE) as part of the Innovators + Ideas Craft series. Also on tonight at the Studio Theatre is the keynote address for the Power Plant’s weekend “We, Ourselves and Us” symposium—delivered by anarchist, failed punk rocker, and Professor of Philosophy Simon Critchley (7 p.m., $10). Harbourfront Centre (235 Queens Quay West), 6–10 p.m., FREE.
AUDITIONS: Speaking of fashion, Canada’s Next Top Model‘s cattle call—oh, sorry, casting call—arrives in the GTA today. CTV’s press release actually calls Toronto a “hotbed of hotness.” Four thousand women across Canada have applied in writing for the opportunity to be humiliated—we mean, worshipped—on the program and hundreds are showing up in person for the five-city open-call auditions. See CTV’s website regarding rules and regulations for candidate hopefuls. Fairview Mall Promotions Court, lower level (1800 Sheppard Avenue East), 2–9 p.m., FREE.
ARCHITECTURE: A cluster of architecture exhibits called “Building on History” opens in a newly designated architecture gallery at Harbourfront, also having its launch reception tonight. “Found Toronto,” the exhibit by E.R.A. Architects, recreates the Toronto of 1858 based on the Boulton Atlas of the same year. The other exhibits examine the re-use of existing buildings, architectural conservation practises, and a selection of photographs from Peter Sibbald’s series “Elegy for a Stolen Land.” Harbourfront Centre (235 Queens Quay West), 6–10 p.m., FREE.
MUSIC: We are always surprised that Andrew Vincent doesn’t have a much larger audience: his clever whimsical lyrics and complex melodies grow on their listener. He is releasing his latest album Rotten Pear, a creative reflection on the abysmal year that was, which has resulted in darker than normal material. Hopefully his being a PhD student at York right now isn’t a sign of what’s to come for him in 2009. Tranzac (292 Brunswick Avenue), 10 p.m., pay-what-you-can-and-buy-a-CD.
THEATRE: This weekend two Torontoist staff members (Johnnie Walker and Mitchell Cushman) who make up part of resident playwriting team The Upstarts are workshopping their new play Drawing Blood at surplus-happy Theatre Passe-Muraille. The play features therapists, movie stars, and other vampires, mixed up in the netherworld of an erotic vampire thriller. Theatre Passe-Muraille (16 Ryerson Avenue), 8:30 p.m., pay-what-you-can.