Collective City Free Documentary Screening at MOCA - May 10th

Looking for something to do this Friday, May 10th? Drop by MOCA from 7-9pm for free screenings of 3 documentaries that chronicle the rich and vibrant history of Toronto-based visual arts collectives.

SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION
Spontaneous Combustion was a collective of contemporary visual artists, many who had graduated from the Ontario College of Art in the early-to-mid 1980’s. These artists worked in a variety of media ranging from large format printmaking to holography and almost all presented their work in installation format.

In interviews supported by archival film and photography, Spontaneous Combustion founders b.h. yael, Gwen MacGregor and Caroline Langill discuss the collective’s origins, the role of the artist as curator and how few opportunities existed for installation artists – particularly for artists who were working with kinetic work or electronics.

COLD CITY GALLERY
“The brainchild of Toronto artist Dyan Marie, Cold City was formed as a new way to exhibit and sell work. While many hybrid galleries similar to the Cold City model have flourished since, Cold City was arguably the first of its kind in Toronto.” The Cold City Years: Power Plant

Through interviews with Cold City founder Dyan Marie and artists Peter Bowyer and Eldon Garnett, as well as archival photos and videos, this film chronicles this collectives’ ties to literary and critical journals of the day - the name Cold City was adapted from the “Cold City Fiction” issue of Impulse magazine. The artists also discuss the operational philosophy of the gallery and the devastating effect that the AIDS crisis had on the gallery and Toronto’s visual arts community.

PAINTING DISORDERS
Painting Disorders launched their celebrated inaugural show in November 1994 in a rough space on King West. Eye Magazine called the show “a focused, strategic view of the place of painting in the information age” and Canadian Art magazine wrote that it was “one of those tight-as-a-drum shows where each artist carefully reins in his or her work to create an impression of unity and purpose.”

In interviews with Painting Disorders founding members Eric Glavin, Angela Leach and Mark Bell we delve into this collective’s desire to explore the diversity of expression to be found in contemporary non-representational painting. The artists also discuss their influences as well as the challenge in finding opportunities to show their work in an artist-run or commercial gallery scene that had little capacity to exhibit emerging artists.

2019 Images Festival is Almost Here!

The Images Festival is one of the most enduring and respected platforms in the world for the exhibition and dissemination of independent film and media art. The festival takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, and has been attended by more than 25,000 people each year. The 2019 edition will take place from April 11 – 18th and will include approximately 16 in-cinema programs, 14 gallery exhibitions, 10 public program events, and five live performances. Images has spent the last 31 years presenting media works that range from the formally and aesthetically challenging, to the personal and lyrical and is committed to cultivating a passionate arts community who see moving image culture as a means or understanding our contemporary context.

Opening Night: Software Garden by Rory Pilgrim
Thursday April 11, 7:00PM
The Royal Cinema, 608 College St.

Nurtured over two years of collaboration, workshops, and live concerts, artist and musician Rory Pilgrim premieres his debut music video album Software Garden in Canada. In contrast to a recent fascination with technology’s dystopian impact on public and private life, Software Garden asks how we meet from both behind and beyond our screens. Over the course of 11 tracks and performances, we encounter proposals for tenderness with digital and robotic entities in tow. Without cynicism, irony, or repudiation, the enmeshing of lyrical, cinematic, and choreographed sequences pour between stage, studio, and screen.

Opening night will be followed by Opening Night Party featuring Korea Town Acid at The Baby G.

HEAT (a work-in-progress) by Aisha Sasha John
Saturday April 13, 10:00PM
The Costume House, 165 Geary Ave.

Aisha Sasha John’s medium is energy. Her solo dance show the aisha of is premiered at the Whitney museum in 2017; in 2018 it was presented by the mai and Toronto’s 2018 summerworks festival. I have to live. (McClelland & Stewart) was a finalist for the 2018 Griffin Poetry Prize.

Keynote Lecture: Visions of Black Secret Technology by Charles Mudede
Saturday April 13, 3:00PM
Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Ave.

This talk will begin by closely examining the movie Black Panther to determine not only how black technology is visualized, but, more importantly, what this visualization tells us about our understanding, manner of coding, and modes of experiencing technology as a whole.

401 Richmond Gallery Tour with Geneviève Wallen
Saturday April 13, 12:00PM
The Commons, 401 Richmond St. W.

Join curator and writer Geneviève Wallen on tour of the exhibitions at 401 Richmond.

Meet at the lobby of 401 Richmond for a walking tour of Outliers on Tour at Tangled Art + Disability, Sharona Franklin’s installation in the Gallery 44 Vitrines, New Psychedelia of Industrial Healing, Sarah Pupo’s solo exhibition burning through the body, Emilija Škarnulytė’s video work Sirenomelia at VTape.

The tour will conclude at Pamila Matharu’s solo exhibition One of These Things is Not Like The Other, at A Space. Followed by an artist talk by Matharu at 1:00pm.

Artist Talk: KC Wei
Sunday April 14, 3:00PM
Small World Museum, 101-180 Shaw St.

Canadian Spotlight artist KC Wei will deliver a talk about her music, publishing and community driven projects, as well as her latest film, art rock? The Popular Esoteric (2018) — a recent document of overlaps in Vancouver's underground music and art scenes. Her talk with be followed by a conversation with journalist and critic Merray Gerges.

Wei's first feature film, Murky Colours (2016) will screen on April 13.

Poisoned Earth a new Documentary by Andrew Budziak

In early 2018, documentary filmmaker and Akin King member Andrew Budziak received a tip that something bad was happening to wolves in Alberta so he went to investigate. What he found was horrifying. He discovered that the Alberta government has been using a highly lethal poison to kill wolves. The reasoning for doing this? It is said that they want to help caribou numbers which are in decline. All of the conservation experts Budziak’s team spoke to told them something similar. Budziak notes that wolves are not the biggest danger to caribou - habitat destruction from oil and logging is the real threat.  He says that “in order to keep oil and gas happy, the Alberta government has decided to quietly kill wolves instead.” 

This discovery sparked an idea to delve deeper into the issue through a new documentary, Poisoned Earth, a film that takes a serious look at Alberta’s wolf cull practices.

Grey wolves like this are the target of the poison program.

“We really needed people to see what was going on here, what was happening with this program.”

— Budziak on CBC Radio's Edmonton AM.

Through his Kickstarter campaign, Budziak more than doubled the amount needed to finish the film. It’s because of everyone’s generous support that Budziak and team now have the ability to do a number of things to strengthen this story. Learn more about the film and the kickstarter campaign here.

In early December 2018, Budziak was interviewed by CBC’s Wallis Snowdon and Madeleine Cummings about his new film. They discussed this issue in more detail, exploring the use of strychnine in Alberta, a nasty poison used in the wolf culling, and its drastic effects on the surrounding wildlife and ecosystem overall.

Read the full article here.

Andrew is a documentary film maker based in Toronto. He has produced stories on polar bears, wolves, moose, peregrine falcons and the people who fight to keep those animals safe.  Andrew is a former CBC television and radio producer and reporter. His storytelling has taken him around the world from Pakistan to Japan and from Hinton, Alberta to Etobicoke, Ontario.  Andrew lives in Toronto with his wife and their one and a half year old son who proudly makes over ten different animal noises. 

New work by filmmaker and photographer Andrew Budziak of Akin Lansdowne on the Algonquin Wolf

Andrew Budziak is a filmmaker and photographer and owner of the video production company 8 String Media. Andrew has worked in media production and story telling for over a decade and has shot and produced video around the world including Pakistan, India, Philippines, Bosnia, and Japan. His most recent work focuses on species threatened by human-wildlife conflict.

In his recent article for Earth Island Journal, Andrew follows Hannah Barron, a wolf researcher and director of Wildlife Conservation Campaigns for Earthroots, and her research assistant Adrienne Chalaturnyk in Ontario’s Killarney Provincial Park as they as they hunt for DNA samples of Algonquin wolves in and around the park to help better understand the population distribution of the threatened species of canid. 

Read the full article and view the photo slideshow to learn more about Algonquin wolf research in Ontario by clicking the link below:

Want to learn more about Ontario's efforts to save the Algonquin wolf? Andrew and his team have also produced a video for CBC Radio's Quirks and Quarks series on the subject. Click the link below to check it out: 

Follow Andrew on Instagram to keep up with his latest projects: @andrew_budziak

BLURRED LINES: INSIDE THE ART WORLD theatrical release today at Hot Docs!

BLURRED LINES: INSIDE THE ART WORLD is a documentary that explores the art world - from production to circulation, and delineates every integral player in the game of art-making, including curators, gallerists, collectors, donors, auction houses, and artists. Catch it while it's in Toronto - airing at the Hot Docs Cinema starting today through to next Wednesday! 

Akin Lansdowne artist Althea Balmes featured by CBC Arts

Akin Lansdowne artist Althea Balmes was recently profiled by CBC Arts in a short video about her comic making initiative for Asian youth, Cup Doodle Project! 

“A comic book can be about anything — and yet, there are so many stories that never get told. It’s a fact that bothered Toronto artist and educator Althea Balmes. Where was the diversity? “When I first started doing comics, I wasn’t seeing a lot of Asian voices,” Balmes, who’s the illustrator and co-creator of Kwentong Bayan, tells CBC Arts. That’s why she decided to create a space where artists could come together and make comics about their own experiences. The result is the Comic-Making Workshop + Residency, a place that encourages young Asian artists to express themselves and develop their own artistic voices.”

— April Aliermo for CBC Arts

Interested in the Cup Doodle Project? Want to collaborate or get involved? Email cupdoodleproject@gmail.com

Akin Collective Interviewed on CBC - Video

After the tragic events of the Oakland warehouse fire, CBC News interviewed Akin's founder Oliver Pauk about art collectives, studio safety, and Akin Collective.

Al Aire / Short Hand-Drawn Animated Film by Coco Guzman

Short hand-drawn animation by former Akin Collective member, Coco Guzman.
Created during a residency at Toronto Animated Image Society offered by Collective Toronto with the support of Canada Council for the Arts.

Jordan MacLachlan's Teracotta Opera / Radiance in Uncontrollable Worlds

Check out this stunning still motion film by Jordan MacLachlan of Akin Dupont.

Jordan MacLachlan's ceramic works are brought to life through film to present a raw emotional narrative of temptation, love and pain through the perspective of spirit animals.

These works and the video are part of the Art Gallery of Burlington's permanent collection of Canadian ceramics.