Loop Studio Space at Wychwood Barns

On Saturday night Christian and I walked over to the Artscape Wychwood Barns on Christie st. to catch a sound performance by animator Pierre Hebert and musician Stefan Smulovitz. The performance was part of the SOUNDplay Festival, put on by New Adventures in Sound Art (NAISA) and it also included a screening of recent short animation works from Toronto artists under the title Locavore.

The space was lovely and the sound, as you can imagine, was impeccable. We saw some really creative and curious animation shorts and were sensually overwhelmed by the live animation and sound improvisation that were part of the performance. It was a small room with around 20 people in attendance. We were surrounded by speakers and enveloped by digitally processed nature sounds and live viola squeals, clicks, and notes. On a projected screen, Hebert displayed his live animation drawings and on occasion he would run over to an old projector and make scratches in the film reel to create dancing lines of light over top of his digital creations. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves but felt some tension between the frontal display of the animation and the surrounding environmental atmosphere of the sound.

This was my first visit to the Artscape Wychwood Barns, and I've been wanting to see it since it opened in November of last year. We'll have to go back for a daylight inspection of the building and grounds, but what we did see we really enjoyed. We almost walked into a wedding that was taking place inside, but eventually found our way to Loop Studio Centre for Lively Arts space. Here's a video with architect Joe Lobko speaking about the Wychwood Barns project.

We'll be checking out some of the other offerings of New Adventures in Sound Art soon. Here are some shots of the Barns.

AGO Spiral Stairwell

On a recent visit to the AGO, I went straight for the new exhibitions on display. I was especially fond of Alexander Calder's wire sculptures, and also really enjoyed the theatrical lighting and elegant men and women in Edward Steichen's photographs. I was mostly interested though to see the exhibition Beautiful Fictions. After missing out on the Canada pavilion at the Venice Biennale, I've been itching to see Mark Lewis' video works. There were three on display in the contemporary galleries as part of this exhibition and they were mesmerizing. Another highlight for me was the pairing of several stark and formal empty cultural spaces by Canaida Hofer with Thomas Struth's shots of galleries packed full of school groups and tours (basically my experience of the Uffizi gallery). It was a really nice juxtaposition.

I left the contemporary galleries and walked down the best stairwell in Toronto on my way to the exit. These shots are from inside Frank Ghery's Spiral Stairwell. Larger versions are available on flickr.

Apologies

All my apologies if this blog comes across as a boring personal diary. I'm attempting to focus my ideas into something concrete with this, but it's not really happening just yet. In the long search for a job, I'm continually rethinking how I feel about work in the cultural field, and what it is exactly that I really care about and hope to achieve. My interests are so changeable and all over the map that I'm not sure which direction I'll take, but one thing remains constant, and that's my belief that my own happiness depends on developing a strong sense of place and appreciation for where I am right now.

I hope that this blog will function for me, at least, as an archive of interesting places, people, and ideas that cross my path here in Toronto. For anyone who is paying attention to this - it'll get better soon I promise!

Some fall colours on our street. Oct 21, 2009

Soap and a Movie

On the weekend we met up with a few different friends to catch up after our summer away. Saturday we made soap in Port Credit with Trish, Nari, and Andy and then went out for a Dosa dinner. On Sunday we went to a movie with Kaylin and Matt after lunch on Yonge st.

On the Go Train to Port Credit.

Lakeshore bvld. through the window.

The last bit of Christian's sandwich.

Trish mixing the Lye. She had all her own safety gear from her job. She found the soap recipe at treehugger.com, find it here.

Trish and Nari (her new husband) with the hand blender.

Andy-a-mixin.

One of Nari's designs.

Functional cardboard chair that Nari built.

Another hand-made design. Before we left for dinner we had a little jam session in their music room.

Here's the soap!

We had dinner here on Bloor just East of Landsdowne, amazing Dosas.

Next day we met up with Kaylin and Matt (who really don't want to be in this picture).

We had lunch at The Monk's Table, which as you can see from this shot of Google St. View, used to be Abbot on the Hill. Yummy food, and a great beer selection.

Here's a shot of the bar. Upstairs there's a great skylight.

Afterwards we went to the Carleton theatre to see 500 Days of Summer. When we came out the street looked like a fantasy scene.

Bela's Favourite Place

Here are a few pictures of our cat Bela sitting in her favourite spot at our new Toronto apartment. She likes to wedge herself between the glass and the screen and watch all the leaves falling, and bugs flying past. I'm still spending a lot of time at home, unpacking and working on finding some work.