Packed Fall Arts Season Featuring 2 Exhibitions

Learning to See: Shizuye Takashima in Retrospect
Gendai Gallery
In the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre
6 Garamond Court, Toronto, Ontario

Currently open to November 16th 2008

Gallery hours: 12:00pm - 5:00pm, Tuesday to Sunday (closed Mondays)
Free Admission

Shizuye Takashima opening at Gendai Gallery - Photo by Takeshi Yano, 2008
Learning to See opening reception - Photo by Takeshi Yano, 2008

Empty Orchestra
At the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, Hart House, University of Toronto
7 Hart House Circle. Toronto, ON
Canada, M5S 3H3

October 16 - November 13, 2008
Opening Reception: Thursday October 16, 5:00 - 9:00 pm
Co-presented with Gendai Gallery & Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival

Wang Gongxin, Kara Oke, (video still), 2000, courtesy of the artist
Image: Wang Gongxin, Kara Oke, (video still), 2000, courtesy of the artist

Curated by Maiko Tanaka & Heather Keung
With works by Candice Breitz, Wong Gongxin, Christian Jankowski, Karen Tam, Iichiro Tanaka.

Empty Orchestra explores karaoke (the word from which the exhibition title is translated) and its relationship to contemporary art and cultural diasporas. Karaoke originated in the ‘70s in Japan, and quickly entered many other cultural contexts. The exhibition presents works by Canadian and international artists who embrace, challenge, and query notions of karaoke as a medium of individual expression and collective identity. Examining the phenomenon of karaoke as a commodified interface between technology and culture, the artists in the exhibition address its effects on social activity, diasporic communities, and popular culture in a global context. Empty Orchestra asks, among other questions, whether karaoke asserts a prescribed form of cultural expression, or, in its performative imperfections, allows possibilities for resistance.


Events:
Opening Reception: Thursday October 16, 5:00 - 9:00 pm, Justina M. Barnicke Gallery

Closing Reception: Thursday November 13, 7:00 - 11:00 pm, Justina M. Barnicke Gallery

Karaoke After-Party featuring Weekend Leisure: Thursday November 13, 9:00 pm
Location: Arbor Room, Hart House, University of Toronto
Co-presented with the Hart House Music Committee

Artist Talk with Karen Tam: Monday October 20, 7:00 pm
Location: Hart House, Debates Room, University of Toronto

Empty Orchestra LIVE: a special program in conjunction with the exhibition Friday November 14, 8:30 pm at the The Rivoli, 334 Queen St West A screening of commissioned karaoke videos by Stephanie Comilang, Ann Marie Fleming, Alison Kobayashi, Karilynn Ming Ho, and Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay, made in collaboration with local Karaoke superstars. See www.reelasian.com for details

Gallery Hours:
Monday to Wednesday 11-5
Thursday to Friday 11-7
Saturday to Sunday 1-5
The Gallery is closed on all statutory holidays

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