Nishani can I have your msn I am working with sound and photography and I have no idea how to collaborate the two. Im a very NON tech person so please come online some time this week so I can question you. Thanx. Hope everyone's work is going well.

Hi all,
Two of the artists in the quickly approaching Emerging Artists Series are still looking for volunteers. I am curious to know if you, or anyone you know, may be interested in participating in either/both of their performances. Please feel free to forward the below information.
—————-Thursday March 1, 7-9Bojana Videkanic needs 10-15 people to lie down on the gallery floor for an hour. If interested contact: boyanav@sympatico.ca
Friday March 2, 7-9Tejpal Ali needs a total of 20 volunteers who are willing to answer questions after a professional hypnotist tries to hypnotize them. If interested contact: 416 319 5030 or tej.ajji@gmail.com

Fado Emerging Artist show:

Hey everyone, there will be an emerging performance artist show this week at Free Gallery Down Town from March 1-4

for more detail,
you can visit Fado website:
http://www.performanceart.ca/emerging/home.html

come out for youthful artistic experience :D

well i've been experimenting...i've scraped three attempts so far of new work...I have this so far. It's not done...and I'm not sure how I feel about it...

the only problem of having show off campus is that i can not move my work.. I have checked with SCSU that if we could use meeting room in Student Centre, and we can if we book it early enough that it wouldnt be booked by someone else.

Is there still a possibility of having a show somewhere other then the school (Wil?).... Gallery 1265 will not be able to accomodate this year because the Juried Show will be on at that time. I totally agree Risa that there has not been enough consideration on space in the past for exhibiting. I really think that even if some of the class wants to show their work somewhere else maybe we could figure something out... The group shows at the school are really strange and disappointing. We spend time, and are stressed setting up our work to then take it down a few hours later.I really think that this is an inmportant issue for us to think about and make a change.

Hi everyone,

I have been working on my installation for a while this week and I have preference for how the room to be
1) dimmer than usual class time
2) quiet (last semester, I remember Kelly's video and Sophia's video was playing at the same time, and it was distracting each other. I thought they were both good works, but it was unfortunate to see it displayed like that)

I know I am taking a lot of space, but there should be a way out of this.

1) use spot light for everyone's artwork
2) find more display spaces aswell out side of the class room aswell.

Like last semester in Tanya's class, we had collaborative exhibit with David Helinsky's class. David's class did not use any other space out side of the class room so it was so crowded and the experience you get from each artwork was very poor. In comparison, Tanya's class was displayed all over the place and had enough space for each work. That way looked much better, in my opinion. I think we should definately consider how to display our work.
How is
1) Gallery 1265
2) Book other classrooms.
2) Hallway between Library and Audio Visual
3) Meeting rooms in Student Centre
4) etc.

Also, I am thinking to document pedestrians and cars passing through and project it on to my stings as though they are going into it.

Please feel free to leave a comment.

Proposal - Alina and Kelly

Years ago Western middle - upper class women were not aloud or wlecomed into many public spaces, so their lives outside of the home were very limited compared to men who were free to go everywhere. The home though, was a place where women were the most comfortable and where they performed the domestic duties that were expected of them.

Letter-writing was a way to communicate with family and friends. It was considered a craft, refined, and quiet, and while men could be authors of books andencyclopedias, women left behind their stories in letters, journals, and diaries. It was their way of escape from their everyday domestic duties and lives. In their letters, some women would cast themselves in adventure stories as the heroin, so they could be someone entirely different to what was expected of a lady at that time. These letters were a doorway into psyches and dramatized the tensions that resulted from the pressures to accept the societal conventions and conform to standards of morality. It is through letter-writing that women could express their desires to revolt against the restrictive social and moral standards placed upon them. The writing itself usually took place in a specific private space in the home sometimes at a writing desk. Though the reading of letters was at times meant only for one person in private, it could also be a family affair where the letters and stories were read aloud to entertain the whole family.
>
As two women living in the 21st Century in a large urbanized city, how do we live inside our homes compared to Western, middle-class women years ago? How are things different? How has technology affected our modes of communicating from within the house to the outside world? What can we learn about ourselves and our roles of femininity in today's society by comparing the present to the past?
>
>
Our project will focus on our (Kelly and Alina) performances of femininity in our everyday life through letter writing. In these letters we will explore the constraints and pressures from society whichinhibit us today. We will speak about our domestic responsibilities in our homes, things we learn while in the home ie. reading, television, radio, telephone, internet, as well as what we do in our homes daily however mundane it may be.

We will write one letter and receive one letter per day. These letters will be handwritten, scanned, and e-mailed to the other person. Another method of communication that will be explored is handwriting on MSN (using a mouse or tablet). We are communicating by writing to eachother using a form that is dying (handwritten letters) and sending our letters using a form that is thriving (e-mail, MSN). In addition we will document, using a video camera, ourselves writing the letters, and performing femininity within the household i.e. cleaning, cooking, applying makeup, entertaining, roles of girlfriend and wife, etc.

Our presentation of the project (still in progress) will consist of three panels that hang over a clothesline: 1) a video projection onto a curtain playing segments of the footage that we have documented, 2) a fabric quilt that has our letters transferred onto it, 3) a curtain where behind it Alina sits in a chair and reads the letters that Kelly has wriitten and then we change, you will only see a shadow of the reader and hear her voice. The display of the panels symbolize pages.

Other possible ideas to display the letters, instead of creating the quilt are: a book comprised of letters, possibly some photo documentation, or chair, napkins, towels, laundry, place settings, pillows, dresses, that will have the letters transferred onto them.

We are still editing our idea and evolving but this is where we are right now with this project.

Please give us some feedback if you can - don't be shy!


http://moderntimes.vcdh.virginia.edu/madison/exhibit/index.html
http://clendening.kumc.edu/dc/fn/
http://www.victorians.org.uk/
http://www.victorians.asp-host.co.uk/welcome.htm

Patrick -- its understandable that after working on a similar bunch of works over a year and a half, you're a bit burnt out with the idea. i would suggest changing your working method slightly rather than abandoning everything you've done so far.

your work seems to be well-planned and then executed according to the idea you've developed. maybe it would help to open up that way of working. how important is drawing in your work? its a quicker medium so maybe you can explore something more spontaneous as you are responding to news events and daily tragedies.

take a closer look at the sources you're using. i would suggest looking closer at the news sources - the imagery and format -- in addition to your research in medieval art. the artists you mentioned basquiat and haring made paintings that were visual responses to pop imagery they were seeing around them. consider how the visual style you're using can make a statement that is equally contemporary.

take a look at the paintings of John Wesley and Carol Dunham.

Will

hi all -- this interesting young toronto artist is looking for people to perform in his peice in a toronto gallery next week. if you're adventurous, it would be a good way to get involved. will

_______________________________________________________________

Participants Wanted for Hypnotism Performance

I (Tejpal Ajji) am prepping for a performance and need co
participants. I have hired
a hypnotist to ask participants and myself questions while hypnotised particular
to race and societal divisions. Example questions: describe how Indian
people smell, how white people drive, black people walk, and also:
have you lived any past lives and what type of person were you -
describe your life.

The questions are charged I know, but want to see if there are infact
internal structures for bias and societal divisions.

Participants will have a chance to be hypnotised and also watch.

Place:
Toronto Free Gallery
660 Queen St. East (by Broadview)
Toronto
arrive at 6:30 to 9pm
Friday, March 2

If you are able to participate, please let me know. It would be most
appreciated.

Looking forward to hearing from you,
Tejpal Ajji
email: tej.ajji@gmail.com
mobile: 416 319 5030

I've hit a sense of boredom with my small paintings. I'm not sure if it's because i've been doing similar work for the last year and a half, or simply because something's missing that needs to be found. I'll be spending this reading week furthering my understanding of medieval art, further explore the work of artists such as Haring and Basquiat, and the misfortunes that haunt our society. I'm close to abandoning what I've done so far, but only for something hopefully more grand.

- Patrick Joseph Mifsud

here is pictures of artwork that only works with brain- maybe Anique may be interested? the artist name is Sasaki Rika, but I cannot find English bio.

http://images.google.ca/images?hl=en&q=%E4%BD%90%E3%80%85%E6%9C%A8%E9%87%8C%E5%8A%A0&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

and I thought Ada maybe interested in Robert Silvers:
http://images.google.ca/images?svnum=10&hl=en&q=robert+silvers

hi all -- here is tracia's script for the audio component of her installation. please provide her with feedback.
sandra, can you please work with tracia to see why she can't join the blog? thanks.
will

++++++++++++++++++++


No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any for me or by any means, electronic or mechainical, including CD burning and writing it out, for any purpose without the explicit written consent of the corporation that owns the product manual.

,
Preface
Welcome. I am pleased you have chosen this product over any other multiple-sided configuration to satisfy your undying urge to innovate.

About this manual
This manual consists of 17 sections.

Encourage all members of the real and virtual society who might be encountering or be using this manual to carefully investigate the content. Then, keep this all-in-one manual handy for easy access.

Product description
This product is a fundamental service that enriches your understanding of how six separate four-cornered balsa panels can relate to one another to make one dynamic three dimensional eight-cornered structure.



Benefits of this product
• Assists in a better understanding of the complex relationship between a square and an eight-sided three-dimensional structure at a pace beyond comprehension.
• Safe to use - no fear of electrocution when dry.
• Environmentally friendly
• Economical - eliminates the astronomical costs involved in buying a readymade product of such stature.
• Light-weight and portable
• Provides a slight physical exertion to those of you that are used to a sedentary and often stagnating ready-made, made-to-order lifestyle.
• Synchronizes the family
• Helps you redefine your life.
•
Service and Support hotline
For your convenience, we provide you with a Service and Support hotline which is available 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, 4 weeks a month, 12 months a year to assists you with any product questions or concerns.
We come equipped with a voice for this manual but also with highly trained professionals whose personal commitment to excellence in customer service ensures that you receive the best service in the market place.
The telephone number for the Service and Support hotline is:
416 386 1019.

Product Features
This product consists of six pieces. Each piece is a flat four-sided balsa panel numbered 1 through 6. All sides of each four-sided balsa panel are equal in length. Therefore there are six, flat, equally large, four-sided balsa panels in total.

Equipment Installation
Please rewind to “product features” to make sure that you received all the equipment. Very meticulously remove the contents from the shipment container. If a part is missing or appears damaged, call the Service & Support hotline immediately at 416 386 1019.

Installation Kit
Place all six flat, equally large, four-sided balsa panels onto a flat surface in the dimension of your choice.

Highspeed Service
If this exercise is trying your patience, please fast forward the manual when constructing this product.



Controller procedures
It is imperative that the product is in clear view before attempting to assemble it. Hands should be efficiently disinfected and anhydrous before assembly or use. Do not moisturize and/ or lubricate hands after washing. Ensure that you wear anti-scratch socks over your hands to protect the aesthetics of your product.

Safety guide :
Keep this product away from :
Termites
water
Children
Fire
Shady visitors
In case of termites, have a professional assess the damage the termites have caused to your product. If you are an environmentalist, you can choose a less-toxic method of pest control such as electrogunning, heat, microwave, deep freeze and an insect growth-regulating bait called Sentricon..
If you are not an environmentalists, you may use one fumigation treatment of, Vikane, an extremely toxic nerve poison, and can be absorbed by the six four-cornered balsa panels and held for up to 40 days after fumigation.


To prevent Termites:
• Inspect your property annually, using a plan of each structure to ensure consistent and thorough monitoring.
• Identify infestations and type of termites (subterranean, dry wood and so on). Look for the characteristic mud tunnels of burrowing termites and for termite "dirt" piles within the balsa panels, the telltale signs of termites.
• Eliminate the act of drinking water near your product to avoid splashing or spillling.
• Lay films of 6mm polyethylene in crawl spaces around this product as a moisture barrier between itself and the air surrounding it.
• Create and maintain good cross-ventilation by placing the panels perpendicular to the window to keep those crawl spaces as dry as possible.
• If you live in a house, reposition sprinklers to keep them from spraying directly onto the balsa panels.
• If you live in an apartment, please turn off all taps and lights when not in use. The vicarious use of these resources may lead to a detrimental increase in moisture inside the apartment.

Incase of flooding, wrap this product in polythene or a similar waterproof device. Then strap it to a life jacket.
To prevent flooding in your home, buy a house that is at an elevation well above sea level and away from natural bodies of water such as rivers, ponds, puddles, rivulets, streams, trickles, lakes and oceans and man-made water bodies such as pools, dams, jacuzzies and bubble baths.
Incase of children, drop them off at the babysitters house while you dwell in the company of your product. If a baby sitter is not available, call the Service and Support hotline for assistance.
To prevent children, you may choose from a list of convenient contraceptives including male condoms, oral sex, birth control pills, intra-uterine devices, diaphrams, female condoms, hormonal injections, periodic or complete abstinence, withdrawal, sterilization and Plan B, all readily available whenever you are.

In case of fire, collect this product from where it is stationed and transport it to the nearest exit.

TO prevent a fire:
1. Fit smoke alarms direct above this product and make sure they have a BS kitemark. Test monthly and change batteries annually.
2. Do not smoke near the product. If you quit smoking, you can reduce the risk of a fire caused by smoking to zero.
3. Do not consume flammable liquids that may spill or splash onto the product causing it to become more prone to a fire. If you quit consuming flammable liquids, you can reduce the risk of a fire cased by flammable liquids to zero.
4. Never leave open fire, the stove, a soldering iron, any DIY equipment, children, and shady visitors unattended in the presence of this product.
5. Keep sources of heat away from this product and switch them off every time you leave the house without this product. Alternatively, you may leave them on and take the product with you on your way out.
6. Unplug all electrical items not in use for the benefit of your product.
7. Never run electrical cables/leads under carpets.
8. Change all carpeted areas to hard wood flooring to reduce the chances of running an electrical cable under a carpet to zero.
9. Please follow local by-laws concerning electric consumption and load bearing on your circuit.

Incase of shady visitors do not leave this product unattended. Place this product inside a jacket pocket if you notice the visitors glance at this product more than once.
To prevent shady visitors, immediately retract to being antisocial and avoid acts of eye contact or any such human interaction that promotes sociability. It is strongly recommended that you restrict yourself to the company of your product.

Adhesive guide:
For Environmentalists: we have Animal Hide Glue and Boreal Sap.
For Animal Lovers: Synthetic Superbond polyurethane hot melt adhesive kit.

For fundamental religious groups we have:
Noah’s Heterotight manbond
Six-point Adhesive.
Back as glue
Quadruple virginBond
Sandalwood Glue.
Quality High adhesive

For further assistance or recommendations please call the Service and Support hotline
Splinter Guide
In case of bodily injury caused by a splinter(s) from this product, retrieve the splinter with micro-forceps. Conduct a thorough alcohol rub on the traumatized area to delete the risk of infection. After your splint-removal procedure has been completed successfully, repeat Track 2.

Temperature guide
This product can be exposed in temperature ranging from 5-40 degrees Celsius. Anything colder or hotter will result in glue complications depending on the glue used.

Allergy guide:
In case of an allergic reaction to any of the six separate four-cornered balsa panels, please orient yourself to the closest Epipen station and follow instructions outlined on the aforementioned tool. If step one fails, please re-orient yourself to your surroundings and direct yourself to the nearest pharmacy in the vicinity of greatest convenience and obtain an anti-histamine. Once anti-histamine has been consumed, go home and press play.

Side effects :
"Elation" is a feeling of excessive excitement, a harmony between the body, the soul, and the surroundings. This attractive state of mind is achieved soon after encountering this product and persists for at least three months.
If you notice yourself getting carried away to the point where you have lost touch with your immediate environment then you have just experienced what we call a “product overdose”. It is a natural occurrence experienced by most of our product users due to its performance excellence. If this happens again, do not be alarmed.
Hydrosis is a natural phenomenon necessary for the regulation of an individual's body-temperature. You may experience this condition in conjunction with elation, a product overdose or even separately. If this occurs, please direct yourself to another room to ensure that you do not add any moisture to the product’s surroundings, which could lead to a termite infestation.

Warranty Information :
YOUR PLAN INCLUDES:
Repairs to your balsa panels
The provision of repairs to or replacement of your panels in the event of a breakdown caused by electrical or mechanical breakdown or by damage caused by accidents.
YOUR PLAN DOES NOT INCLUDE
Repairs or replacement will not be provided if they arise from:
a. The panels being recalled by the manufacturer
b. The cost of modifying the panels;
c. Damage during transportation of this product
d. Claims arising from your failure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions;
e. Claims arising from using your panels in a non-domestic or commercial environment unless we agree to the use in writing beforehand;
f. Theft, attempted theft, malicious damage or damage caused by fire or explosion;
g. Claims arising from floods, lightning, storms, frost or other bad weather conditions;
h. Claims arising from any problem with the supply of electricity or water;
i. Costs if no fault is found with your panels;
j. Costs arising from not being able to use your panels or from damage caused when the panels breaks down;
k. Cosmetic damage such as damage to the surface of the panels such as scratches;
l. The cost of replacing any item or accessory that is intended to be replaceable. These include: rain covers;
m. Costs due to rust, corrosion or water damage;

Product Display Guide:
After the product has been fully assembled, place it against a colour that matches your outfit

Assembly guide :
1. Place panel 1 horizontally on a flat surface in the dimension of your choice.
2. Without ever lifting panel 1, glue the extreme right edge of panel 1 and adhere panel 2 at a right angle to panel 1.
3. Without ever lifting this structure, glue the extreme left of panel 1 and adhere panel 3 at a right angle to panel 1 so that it is parallel to panel 2.
4. Without ever lifting this structure glue two opposite edges of panel 4. Place the glued edges at a right angle to panel 2 and 3 and parallel to panel 1.
5. Without ever lifting the structure, glue panel 5 on all four edges and adhere it so that it makes contact with all four panels.
6. Repeat step 5, using panel 6 instead of panel 5.

Enjoy your eight-cornered 3-dimensional structure!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
History of a box
the direct descendant of the chest, one of the most ancient articles of domestic furniture.
Its uses are innumerable

Sub plots about:
Social groups, religion, legality, disposal, bad habits such as smoking and drinking, examination of scrupulousness in todays society, technology as a way of life, energy consumption, tech and how it intersepts personal relationships.

Note to self: Consider just reading each section one after the other in sequence. DO not give them the choice of skipping all of it and directly going to the assembly guide. Think about reconstructing the object that they are seeing using language

Proposal -- Tracia Almeida

The second week into class, I started to think about technology as a social process rather than a literal manifestation of the effects of added features in our lives. I have decided to dwell on the idea of the narrative sound manual and take the narrative to a place that is so abstract that it changes the way you perceive the objects in view. The effects of this sound manual on the audience will communicate how added features displace our lives to a radical extent.

You will be seated in the “pink room” which will be painted white to give you a clinical, isolated feeling. In front of you, you will find six separate square balsa panels on a table. From above, you will hear a narrative sound manual that will construct not just a basic relationship between object and the narrative but also creates another dimension that these six balsa panels could exist within.

The narrative uses language to address issues of disposal, energy consumption, legality, pollution, personalization, paranoia, religion, social groups, human relationships, portability, speed, and responsibility. This list will grow as I continue to write.

i am michel gondry fan.. one more cool video, collague inside video setting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZiMpKWw62A

i dont know if this will help anyone, but its so cool

cool pixalated TV : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsL4lUCoyrI
similar thing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-yb0Oi20_I&mode=related&search=
a bit different cool thing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjvuyzBkLcc
one of my favorite music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRDi67G0Siw

sandra -- check out the communimage project by my friends CALC, a collective of austrian, italian, and spanish artists based in sevilla, spain. maybe their work in general might be interesting to you. will

www.calcaxy.com

hi all -- instead of figuring out the intranet, the mid-term marks are now posted on my studio door, AA301. w

ada -- i was thinking about your work and maybe you should look at the work of Daniel Buren. in a sense, you are doing the opposite of what he is doing. look at his work and think about how his work deals with seeing public space. maybe this can help you to develop different ideas about display and scale and maybe even move beyond 2D. daniel buren has a website: www.danielburen.com, but you can also find plenty of books about his work at any of the UT libraries.
will

Hi Ada,

This is the artist that I was talking about in class
Colette Whiten

Haitians Watch -this is the piece that she used long strings of beads... might be interesting for you
http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.ccca.ca/c/images/screen/w/whiten/
whi051.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.ccca.ca/artists/artist_info.html%3FlanguagePref%3Den
%26link_id%3D274%26artist%3DColette%2520Whiten&h=300&w=450&sz=23&hl=en&
start=3&tbnid=Ptz7maFjKc1O6M:&tbnh=85&tbnw=127&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcolette%2
Bcanadian%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26channel%3Ds
%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DG

hi all -- here are the artists we talked about in class. (am i missing anyone?) keep working and have a good reading week. w

Katheryn
Beat Streuli: www.beatstreuli.com

Ada
David Hockney: www.davidhockney.com

Sandra, take a look at this artists' work.
Angela Bulloch: www.secession.at/art/2005_bulloch_e.html

This art historian and critic is speaking at UTSC the Monday after Reading Week. Will

________________________________________________
LECTURE SERIES ON VISUAL CULTURE, SPONSORED BY THE HUMANITIES CENTRE, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

John K. Grande

Monday February 26, 2-4pm, Arts and Admin. building, AA204

Art historian and critic John K. Grande's reviews and feature articles have been published extensively in Artforum, Vice Versa, Sculpture, Art Papers, British Journal of Photography, Espace Sculpture, Public Art Review, Vie des Arts, Art On Paper, Circa & Canadian Forum.

He is also the author of Balance: Art Nature Dialogues: Interviews with Environmental Artists (State University of New York Press, 2004), Art and Nature (Black Rose Books, 2004), Intertwining: Landscape, Technology, Issues, Artists (Black Rose Books, 1998) and Jouer avec le feu: Armand Vaillancourt: Sculpteur engagé (Lanctot, 2001). Grande is the 1994 winner of Espace-sculpture’s Prix

Quotes from Grande:

"Cultural identity is as necessary to humanity as the sun is to nature, for it guides us to identify who we are, where we have come from and where we are going. The impulse to create reflects an implicit desire to improve the world around us. Art can no longer be purely object based. The limits imposed on us by nature are guiding us to establish a new global ethic that involves the mutual respect between living things. Art draws upon that flow of energies that is part of the process of life, the procreative core of our need to transform, enrich express,"
------from "The Spiritual in Art linking Nature to it All" by John K. Grande/1997

From the Introduction: TRUE TO NATURE by John K. Grande

...."These dialogues will provide the reader with a variety of artists'own views on the process of their artmaking and viewpoints on the place of nature in art. With a better understanding of how the art-nature phenomenon is occurring simultaneoulsy in many places, among a great variety of artists, in many countries, and how this synchronicity is no accident, readers will be provided with a broader worldview. It evidences the urgent need for contemporary art to embrace the nature phenomenon as an ongoing part of the dialogue on humanity's place in nature."

Praise from Fellow Artists:

“John Grande encourages us to rethink what it means to be an artist in a time of global ecocrisis.”
Suzi Gablik, author of The Reenchantment of Art

“A call to reawaken creativity in this time of alienation by demonstrating in lively ways that
culture is part of nature.” Antony Gormley

Grande’s latest book, Dialogues in Diversity: Art from Marginal to Mainstream, is inspired by a series of dialogues with artists. It paints a wide spectrum ranging from discussions with well-known international artists, including Antony Gormley in the UK and Alan Sonfist in the USA, to indigenous artists and those from marginalized cultures. In each case the artist has something important to say to us. Dialogues in Diversity will make readers aware of the way in which the centres of the art world feed on the margins. It shows how artists from countries as diverse as Senegal, Chile, Mexico, and Norway are offering unique perspectives to the mainstream art market of today’s Paris, London or New York.

John K. Grande currently lives and works in Montréal, Canada.

If any of you are looking for courses to fill your summer schedule, Professor Garry Leonard in English sent me these interesting course offerings for you to consider. Will


------------------------------
SUMMER CLASSES: DATE/TIME/DESCRIPTIONS

C83, Wednesdays 10-1
ENGC83Title: The Imperial Imaginary in Cinema

An exploration of how the representation of travel, adventure, conflict, and formation of identity in the "adventure film" of Western culture promotes, preserves and sustains mythologies of "whiteness" and (European) "masculinity" as the focal point of knowledge, desire and power in an idealized fantasy of Western culture. From the image of King Kong gripping the Empire State Building, to the loyal but doomed Gunga Din, to Harrison Ford spying on "savage" rituals in the Temple of Doom, the construct of the "white" explorer or soldier has depended on a counter-image: the exotic, inscrutable, treacherous, unpredictable native or "other". We will look in whole and in part at examples of "World cinema" (Iranian, Brazilian, African)to show what we mihgt call "altermative scopic regimes" as we become sentitive to how the domian of visuality gets politicized: who gets to look, at whom, who is visible, at what price? How are "sight lines" policed? breached? erased? Lukd Skywalker hides from "the Empire" in "savage" surroundings, only to emerge by steaqlth, attack and retreat. Hero or Terrorist? What visual strategies and narrative techniques devise the hero and/or the terrorist? Films include: Gunga Din, Star Wars, Fight Club, Safe, Blood Diamond (USA); The Harder They Come (Jamaican); City of God (Brazilian), Darwin's Nightmare (documentary); Black Girl (African); Battle of Algiers (Italian/Algerian) Ten; Kandahar (Iranian); Paradise Now (Palestinian); Hot House! (Israel); Turtles Can Fly (Kurdish); The World (Asian) Guru (Indian)

------------------------------
ENGB76H: Cinema and Modernity I: Romance, Horror, Science Fiction (B76h)
Thursdays, 5 to 8pm
(The companinon course to ENGB75, Cinema and Modernity: Melodrama, Film Noir and the Western)

A study of how cinema emerges against the backdrop of modernity, as both an art form and a mainstay of popular culture through its formulation of different genres. In this course, we will explore how genre creates a narrative space where historically contingent pressures can be renegotiated and the viewer realigned with ideologically satisfying discourses about such presumably natural notions as “ true love” (in the Romance) or “ physical and mental inegrity in a godless world” (in horror) or "how technology has altered our humanity" (in Science Fiction).

In the "Hollywood Romance" the vexed notion of "True love" is a mythology about an oasis free from the frustrations and betrayals of everyday life in the Matrix of modernity. The genre traces the difficult path from negotiation to intimacy, the trimuph over anonymity, the defeat of substitutability. We look at the evolution of the concept of marriage from one of preservation to production. Films to view include: It Happened One Night, The Graduate, Pretty Woman, Lost in Translation Horror shows the body as a site for competing discourses in modernity: psychological, sexual, social, economical, etc. Monsters become symptoms of irrevocable choices and unresolvable dilemmas. Films include: Dracula, Psycho, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Shining, and Saw. Science Fiction tries to identify indecipherable problems and corruptions in the ongoing "project" of modernity by projecting this project all the way out to its "logical" solution. Ironically, a genre that trades in concern for the future, Science Fiction is the most dystopic of all the genres. It asks athe question: "what makes us uniquely human, and how has technology altered this essential humanity?" It also suggests our concern should not be with the "latest technology", but why we pursue technology, to the exclusion of all else, to solve our problems. Films include: Metropolis, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Bladerunner, The Matrix, V is for Vendetta, Children of Men.
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(companion course: B75):
A study of how cinema emerges against the backdrop of modernity, as both an art form and a mainstay of popular culture through its formulation of different genres. In this course, we will explore how genre creates a narrative space where historically contingent pressures can be renegotiated and the viewer realigned with ideologically satisfying discourses about such presumably natural notions as “ courage” (in t he Western) or “ morality” (in Film Noir) or “ success” and “ family” (in melodrama). In melodramas from the early t wentieth c entury (D.W. Griffith’s Broken Blossoms), the 1940s (Bette Davis in Now Voyager) and the 1980s (Fatal A ttraction ), the family is in constant danger of dissolution due to various (modern) forms of seduction and betrayal in the fields of economics, power, and desire. Looking at Fritz Lang’s German expressionist masterpiece M, Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity, the Coen Brothers ’ Blood Simple, and Christopher Nolan’s Memento, we will observe how Film Noir explores anxieties endemic to the performance of “ masculinity” and concerns itself with money, career, moral dilemmas, and the femme fatale. Viewing John Ford’s Stagecoach, moving to the 1950s with High Noon and concluding with Midnight Cowboy and Taxi Driver, we will explore the Western as a genre of national mythology, suggesting why America was formed, why it had to be formed that way, and what must be remembered and acted upon when it seems in danger.

Please come and support the student gallery!!

-Sandra

Hi everyone,

For the Gallery 1265 Opening on Tuesday, I would like to serve audience tea with special hat. Does anyone has cream beater? Those machines to beat up the cream?
sorry.. its not so related to this class.

hey people

here is the MySpace account that I have just started. Not yet sure where this will take me....

myspace.com
WhoIsAlina@hotmail.com

I will be posting Alina's and my proposal as soon as I get the time! Blog soon!

Kelly

maybe some of you would be interested in this.
will

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Subject: Sounds of Change Event
From: "Hilda Seedanee"
Date: Thu, February 8, 2007 3:36 pm
To: wkwan@utsc.utoronto.ca

Dear Will
On March 21st 2007 the University of Toronto Scarborough will host
"Change: Its In Our Hands," a Sounds of Change Event celebrating the
International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. We are
looking for individual and group performers for wide range 20-minute
musical productions in various locations throughout the campus.
We invite you to promote this event to your students and office. Please
find the volunteer request message attached to this email. If you have
any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,
Hilda

--
Hilda Seedanee
Outreach & Special Events Coordinator
Office of the Vice-President and Principal
University of Toronto Scarborough
1265 Military Trail
Toronto, ON M1C 1A4
t: 416-287-5645
f: 416-287-7106

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Proposal for “Structures of Everyday Life”
Artwork Title: “Urban Forest”.

I will be working with installation/performance art/ (if I have enough time, I will make video or audio as part of my installation). I will make an installation of weeping tree like hanging leaves; branches are made out of strings and the leaves are papers tied on to the string, papers I found news papers, articles, flyers I find in everyday life. (They will be tied in a way that people tie fortunes on to tree branches in Japanese Shrines) The leaves will be structured in a way, which it can be lit (maybe with the light in the studio or somewhere else) in the centre. (I have to draw this and make some prototypes first)

Audio or Video will be also a found sound or image that I will find during my daily life.

Performance will be to have the audience to walk around the installation with a small whistle for them to blow like an animal in the room. I am considering to change this- thought about looping the live audience conversation and play in the audio, but this does not yet make sense to me to do this.


My idea behind this piece is to create a metaphor of the urban space, the place over floated with information, almost as though the information is the water for the city, city is the information ocean, and that water is veiling and creating the things that lives there. This is how I see the city now.

To extend this piece, I am interested in the story of information, how people in the past have seen this shift of loading information, and the found loneliness in that urban life – I have read some journals of writers from Edo period on their view towards urban life. I would like to investigate a bit more than this, but I am still not sure yet. Now it is too broad, so I will research more carefully from this broad point from different perspective until I feel the “right” topic. However, I have a very strong visual image on what I want to create, so I will start working while searching for why I am making them.

and I am still searching for a way to get live audio from outside to come into the speaker in the class.. David, help!

Hi everyone,

I am organizing Artbar this year aswell, planned to be held at the end of the semester in DownTown gallery space. If you would like to help out, display, or perform, let me know :) .......or I will come and get you.. :D yay

Risa

Mark, the artist that David mentioned in class is Tehching Hsieh. There is a quicktime video specifically of that time-lapse piece on this website.

http://www.one-year-performance.com/

Another way to look at how the identity of artists are formed is to look at the biographies and profiles that are produced about artists, where the artists speak about themselves and their work. An interesting place to start might be a video series broadcast by the American public TV channel PBS called Art:21. The DVDs of one of the seasons of Art:21 are on reserve in Bladen Library.

Will

Patrick, thanks for posting your work in progress. I apologize that we ran out of time in class.

The distinction you perceive between art as "a means of illuminating critical thought oppose to a simple recording of the everyday of our society" is understandable but maybe not completely true. In fact, both of these things are at work in your paintings. Your works are recording events taking place now in public life, but rather than using video or digital images or press photos (the default image formats of contemporary life), you've chosen a very specific method of depicting these events. Your choice to paint and to use pictorial references from medieval art are conceptual decisions that are very much idea-based. Maybe your criticism lies with art that doesn't manage to balance its conceptual and critical dimension with an appropriate formal and visual craftsmanship.

I think the paintings are at a good but critical stage. You need to think now about the audience and whether or not they will be able to follow your various references to art history and contemporary new events. Figure out how symbolism worked as a language in the medieval period and the possible parallels/differences to contemporary readings of symbols. This comparative thinking will also be crucial as you start to make decisions about display - from framing to how the paintings will hang in a room or in relation to furniture.

Will

Since there wasn't enough time for the class to look at work, i'll post what I have done so far on here. Hopefully you guys, at least some of you, take the time to give me some comments, suggestions, etc. I'm beginning to believe that my work isn't quite interesting or attention grabbing as I hoped it would be. Has it gotten to the point where art is a means of illuminating critical thought oppose to a simple recording of the everyday of our society? To bomabrd the viewer with ideas and critical thinking? and I have to ask, am I once again the only painter?

Anyways, here's my proposal...


In regards to the structures of the everyday life, I feel that within our society, there are a constant number of stories and events that unfold and strike us every day. We learn about these events, often tragedies, via the media, whether it be the television and/or the newspaper. When we hear or read about these events, we as a society react in a variety of ways, and sometimes we share a similar concern or lasting impression of what transpires through these everyday occurrences. Basically these events presented to us connects as an entity.

For example, awhile ago, before we were told that the remains of the little girl Cecilia Zhang were found, much of the public hoped and prayed for months, that the little girl would be found and come home safe, and together they mourned her and sought to provide solace to her family in some form. A more recent event would be the mother who jumped from a bridge along with her young son. Together members of our society came to together to place flowers, cards, and other objects along the spot where the mother jumped. Events like these are examples of stories presented to us and in turn affects us, and this happens on a day to day basis. When we here tragedies like these, we often raise those unjustly treated onto a high pedestal, and treat and honor them as though they are figures of worship (jane creba to some regard), and in a sense this structuralizes our everyday relationship towards those events that surround us.

As an artist, I wish to represent these events through narrative paintings, that of which communicates these events to the public in a way of which is different from television or the newspaper. Because the events presented to us are narrative in nature, I am choosing to present these events similar to the way events were depicted within the time period manuscripts and miniatures were being used to tell these narratives and communicate them to the public. Having an interest in medieval art and using it as a influence in much of my previous work, I wish to continue using this influence and hopefully progress my work and as an artist.

I feel that the my choice and use of color will prove effective in grabbing the attention of the viewer, and my creative way of depicting these everyday events in a perhaps childlike manner, will gain the interest of the audience.