You’re Invited: Harbourfront Centre’s Summer Exhibitions & Opening Reception June 17

Summer Exhibitions 2011

FREE! June 18 – September 25 FREE!

FREE Opening Reception on Friday, June 17
from 6-10 pm in York Quay Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

“Eight must-see exhibitions are a hotbed for ingenuity in
architecture, craft, design and visual arts, including
AZURE magazine’s 2011 AZ AWARDS and
the architecture exhibition NEW CITY LANDSCAPE.”

NEW CITY LANDSCAPE

FREE Opening Reception: Friday, June 17, 2011 | 6-10 pm

York Quay Centre

“How do we define a city landscape?
What is the purpose of landscape in an urban environment?
What is the role of the natural in our experience of landscape?

Landscape has a new place in urban design. Once confined to parks and cemeteries, it is now spreading throughout the city. Today’s architects are using an integrated approach to landscape within the city fabric, designing open public spaces in tandem with built form and city infrastructure. The source of inspiration is no longer strictly from nature, but rather the city itself and the people within it. Landscape is taking an unprecedented role in defining the look and function of urban space. This exhibition will propose possibilities of what a NEW CITY LANDSCAPE could be.”

2011 AZ Awards: An International Architecture and Design Exhibition

Produced by AZURE MAGAZINE and presented by HARBOURFRONT CENTRE

In the main gallery

“The votes have been counted, the jury has deliberated, and now AZURE magazine – Canada’s leading publication covering contemporary architecture and design on an international scale – is pleased to reveal the winners of its first annual 2011 AZ AWARDS. From the 600 submissions received from studios, firms and students hailing from 25 countries around the world, AZURE’s esteemed jury members chose 14 products and projects they consider to be outstanding in execution, at the cutting edge of innovation, and creatively brilliant. Winning designs and building projects will surprise and delight, as well as reflect current global trends in the fascinating world of design. The 2011 AZ AWARDS exhibition showcases the winners in the categories of furniture, lighting, architecture, interiors, landscape, conceptual and student work. Also on display are works from the 38 finalists and the People’s Choice winners.

The international jury invited to select the 2011 winners includes:
Claude Cormier of Claude Cormier Landscape Architects (Montreal), Craig Dykers of Snøhetta (New York and Norway), industrial designer Patty Johnson (Toronto), Eero Koivisto of Claesson Koivisto Rune (Stockholm), and Glenn Pushelberg of Yabu Pushelberg (Toronto and New York).

AZURE would like to acknowledge Audi, Caesarstone, Keilhauer and Hôtel Le Germain for their sponsorship of the 2011 AZ AWARDS. azuremagazine.com“

Bring to Mind

Chari Cohen, Jeremy Hatch, Laura McKibbon, Dawn Petticrew
Curated by Melanie Egan

In the south corridor vitrines

“The convergence of making and thinking is a constant for contemporary craft artists and designers. Method and meaning are not disparate. Artists use specific associations with material to respond to the world around and within them. They create an external and internal dialogue through making. The work of these particular artists has an air of reminiscence without being trapped by sentimentalism, nostalgic without being trite or false.”

DodoLab: Ideas of Canada

Lisa Hirmer and Andrew Hunter

In the west arcade vitrines

“This first component of the IDEAS OF CANADA project is an installation featuring dioramas of “representative objects” of Canada, with which visitors to Harbourfront Centre are able to interact. DODOLAB: IDEAS OF CANADA is a 2010 Harbourfront Centre Fresh Ground commission winning project.”

The goal of the Ideas of Canada project is to creatively explore current perceptions of the country and provoke critical and thoughtful reflections on the ideas that continue to shape and define national identity. Through iconography and objects, DodoLab looks to trigger responses and discussions, to question and think more rigorously about the stories told and imagery projected about Canada. As part of Harbourfront Centre’s July 1st Canada Day programme, DodoLab will be on site with a new version of their Icons of Canada bingo card survey, asking visitors to choose from a collection of icons to express how they see Canada today. The project on display inside York Quay Centre takes a similar approach. DodoLab are also running related projects this summer with the Textile Museum of Canada and ArtSpin. The results from these interactions will be published and used to inform a new exhibition at Harbourfront Centre in April 2012.

First Hand

Jesse Bromm, Stephanie Fortin, Amanda Henderson, Janet Macpherson
Curated by Melanie Egan and Patrick Macaulay

In the east corridor vitrines

“Artists newly accepted into Harbourfront Centre’s artist-in-residence programme exhibit their works, demonstrating they are among the best and brightest of Canada’s contemporary craft scene.”

Stage

Chao-Liang Shen

In the photo gallery

“Since the 1970s, Taiwanese society has developed a unique cabaret culture. In the early years, towns would invite performing groups to sing and dance for a variety of occasions ranging from wedding banquets and funerals to religious ceremonies. In order to move conveniently around the country, they chose to perform in modest theatre set ups – usually in a camp or on a truck modified specifically for the performance.

As Taiwan gradually developed into a more industrial and modernized economy, the performances evolved through the introduction of new technologies and equipment for special effects. Despite these changes, the traditional elements of Taiwanese cabaret can still be found today – joyful, spontaneous, innovative and highly interactive shows for generations of Taiwanese audiences from all walks of life and in every corner of the island.

STAGE focuses on the moving stage itself: usually a truck theatre may weigh from 8 to 15 tons, and is regarded as an integral part of the performance that can attract a considerable number of people.

The “truck theatres” presented here are either the most popular or unique ones used in cabaret performances today. It is hoped that, through this “window” of these colorful “truck theatres,” the diversity and richness of Taiwanese culture can be introduced to more people from around the world.”

Sweater for a Pine Tree

Bozica Radjenovic

In the project window

“Ottawa-based artist presents new work which investigates the relationship between material, constructed form and language.

Wool acts as a fibrous connection back to my childhood and the homeland I emigrated from. It references my Serbian mother’s endless knitting of woollen items to protect the family from the cold. My work echoes this nurturing compulsion, though it extends to objects in the Canadian landscape. In 2001 my family moved into a new house with a backyard facing a forest. The forest was cut down to make room for a new development site. I knitted a sweater for the trees of the forest I could not protect. The shape of the void within my soft sculptures suggests the haptic memory of bodies and objects now absent.”

– Bozica Radjenovic

Vestiaire / Cloakroom

Lorène Bourgeois

Part of Franco-Fête (June 24-26, 2011).

In the project room

“Vestiaire / Cloakroom presents a series of large-scale drawings and a video, based upon the subject of clothing and its relation to the human body and head.

Recently, I have been exploring the territory of head and face protection, including gas masks and military helmets. I am interested not only in the social and utilitarian functions of such artifacts, but also in their qualities as physical objects – the way they frame or envelop the body, and the way they disclose or conceal the human form.

Isolated from their original context, these objects seem to oscillate between functionality and theatricality, between absurdity and threat. It is this tension, the moment when the function of clothing slips into something less recognizable, that I wish to investigate.”

– Lorène Bourgeois

“Vestiaire / Cloakroom présente une série de dessins et une vidéo, qui questionnent le sujet du vêtement et de sa relation au corps humain.

Récemment, j’ai commencé à explorer le vaste territoire d’objets créés afin de protéger le visage et la tête, y compris les masques à gaz et masques militaires. Au-delà des significations sociales et utilitaires de tels artefacts, ce sont leurs qualités physiques qui m’intéressent: la façon dont ils encadrent ou enveloppent le corps, et la façon dont ils révèlent ou occultent la forme humaine.

Isolés de leur contexte original, ces objets paraissent osciller entre l’utilitaire et le théâtral, entre l’absurde et le menaçant. C’est cette tension, le moment ou la fonction du vêtement bascule vers quelque chose de moins reconnaissable, que je souhaite approfondir.”

– Lorène Bourgeois

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