<nettime-ann> Gendai Gallery Presents - The Arts of Togetherness, July 1

The Arts of Togetherness

Featuring: Sandee Moore (Winnipeg) & Yoshinori Niwa (Tokyo)

Curated by: Milena Placentile (Winnipeg)

July 11 – August 23, 2009

Opening reception: Saturday, July 11, 12:00 – 6:00 p.m. at Gendai Gallery (during Natsu Matsuri/Summer Festival)

Free workshops: June 28th - July 18, various time and locations.

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

The Arts of Togetherness is a multifaceted exhibition that gently challenges commonly held assumptions about contemporary art as a cultural practice. Working in collaboration with her chosen artists, guest curator Placentile, offers a project that seeks to bridge differences in familiarity with contemporary art by encouraging audiences of all ages to contemplate different points of view concerning what qualifies as the _expression_ of a community, and what is pertinent to definitions of cultural life.

The featured artists, Moore (new media) and Niwa (performance), will transpose popular traditional and modern Japanese cultural activities such as sentō (traditional bathhouses) and kite-flying, into new contexts in order to explore notions of interpersonal exchange and community, memory and imagination, and the passage of ideas over time. Their use of new and alternative methods and materials will aim to reframe customary cultural activities, thereby underscoring transcendent characteristics and reinvigorating assumptions about the meanings of such practices.

Through the course of this exhibition, audiences will be invited to consider how traditions facilitate interpersonal communication and construct harmonious accord.

GET INVOLVED!

We are hosting various kite-building workshops in collaboration with many communities in and around Toronto. All workshops are free of charge and open to everyone.

(Visit http://www.gendaigallery.org for more details.)

In addition, Niwa will team up with FADO Performance Art Centre and 111 Torontonians to create a unique performance-based action and document. All are welcome! Please see below for further details.

• Toronto Kite Fliers + Yoshinori Niwa: Tuesday, July 7, 7 – 10 p.m. at Gendai Gallery

• Lunchtime with Kites: Thursday, July 9, 12 – 4 p.m. at the University of Toronto Art Centre (15 King’s College Circle -- bring your lunch and join us out on the open field.)

• Fashion in the Sky: Thursday, July 9, 7 p.m. till dark at Trinity Bellwoods Park (Queen Street side and the lower part in the park)

• Artist talks: Sunday, July 12, 3:30 – 6 p.m. at Gendai Gallery

• Nonsense group photo of 111 Toronto citizens: Friday, July 17, 1 – 4 p.m. (Meet in the lobby of 401 Richmond)

Contact: Siya Chen

Telephone: 416.419.7492

siyachen@gendaigallery.org

* * *

This exhibition is generously supported by: The Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, The Canada Council for the Arts, the Japan-Canada Fund (a gift to the Canada Council from the Arts from the Government of Japan), Ontario Arts Council, Manitoba Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Goodwill, FADO Performance Art Centre, and Tani Miki.

Gendai Gallery is also pleased to collaborate with Asian Arts Freedom School, the City of Toronto, Goodwill, Ikebata Nursery School, Kamp Kodomo, Manifesto, Pedestrian Sundays Kensington, Toronto Kite Fliers, and the University of Toronto Art Centre.

* * *

FADO Performance Art Centre, in partnership with Gendai Gallery, is pleased to present a special FREE one-day workshop/group action with artist, Yoshinori Niwa...

Nonsense group photo of 111 Toronto citizens

Date: July 17, 2009

Time: 1 – 4 p.m.

Meeting place: 401 Richmond Street West (lobby)

Nonsense group photo of 111 Toronto citizens is a playful project in which the artist will gather 111 Torontonians for the sole purpose of taking a group photograph with a large format camera at a selected Toronto landmark or tourist location. Reminiscent of summer travels with family, this project is both a guerrilla intervention challenging the norms of "acceptable" behaviour on a public street corner and a hilarious group performance, documented in real time, elaborated by size and scale.

Join us to take a photo with artist Yoshinori Niwa!

To sign up, please contact info@performanceart.ca. Further information is available at http://www.performanceart.ca.

* * *

Gendai Gallery’s mission is to promote excellence in primarily contemporary art and design with a curatorial emphasis on the work by Canadian and International artists of Japanese ancestry and of the larger Asian Community.

Gendai Gallery at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre

6 Garamond Court

Toronto ON M3C 1Z5

(North East of Eglinton Ave & Don Mills Rd)

http://www.gendaigallery.org

info@gendaigallery.org

Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Sunday, 12 – 5 p.m.