Past
Exhibitions
Signals
in the Dark: Art in the Shadow of War
January
17 - March 2, 2008
Opening Reception: Wednesday January 16, 2008
Curated
by Séamus Kealy
* Justina
M. Barnicke Gallery 5-7 pm
* Blackwood Gallery
6 - 9 pm
Sean
Snyder, Casio, Seiko, Sheraton, Toyota, Mars (still), 2004 – 2005.
Single channel DVD. Courtesy of the artist and Lisson Gallery, London.
Signals
in the Dark: Art in the Shadow of War
is an interdisciplinary project exploring contemporary art’s relationship
to war and its representations. As a collaboration between two University
of Toronto galleries, this project includes an exhibition of international
artists at the Blackwood Gallery and the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery.
Artists:
Blackwood
Gallery
Bureau d’etudes (France), Dominique Blain (Canada), Paul Chan
(USA), Köken Ergun (Turkey), Jamelie Hassan (Canada), Kristan Horton
(Canada), Abdel-Karim Khalil (Iraq), Anri Sala (Albania). Sean Snyder
(USA/Germany), Ron Terada (Canada)
Justina
M. Barnicke Gallery
Maja Bajevic (Bosnia), Harun Farocki (Czech/Germany), Omer Fast (Israel/USA),
Kendell Geers (South Africa), Johan Grimonprez (Belgium), Annie MacDonell
(Canada), Sonja Savic (Serbia)
“Listen
— it’s not a war where you’re driving and shooting
the whole day. It’s sort of relaxed. Some days you do nothing.
You do twelve hours and then go to sleep in your room. Not every day
you’re there something happens. Not every second is there something
happening. Sometimes you’re just there. Sometimes they put you
somewhere for nothing. Once they positioned me behind a tree. We’re
being shot at and there’s nothing you can do. You’re positioned
behind a tree. For nothing. Because certain people felt good about it.
About your being there. You understand? They put you in all sorts of
places: Dangerous places. Not dangerous places. As long as you’re
doing something.”
An
excerpt from Omer Fast’s A Tank Translated, 2002. 4 channel video
with sound. Courtesy of Postmasters, New York; gb Agency, Paris; and
Arratia, Beer, Berlin.
Gallery
Tours:
Join
curator Séamus Kealy in conversation on Signals in the Dark.
Contemporary Art Bus Tours take place on February 3rd and 10th.
Curator
Tours of Blackwood Gallery
Fri, January 25, 11:00
Sun, February 3, 12:30
Sun, February 10, 12:30
Curator
Tours of Justina M. Barnicke Gallery
Sun, February 3, 15:45
Sun, February 10, 15:45
Film
& Video Programme:
Films
and videos by international artists and directors play for the duration
of the exhibition. Programming ranges from documentaries on art and
culture under the siege of war to reflections on war and violence by
artists. Films and videos play in three locations: the Blackwood Gallery’s
Video Wall (BGVW), the Blackwood Gallery (BG), and the Justina M. Barnicke
Gallery (JMBG). Each gallery also has video stations for private viewing
of additional selected films and videos. All screenings are free and
run continuously during exhibition hours. Video Wall screenings run
from morning until night.
Hanan
Ashrawi,
Arabs and Terrorism, Syria/USA, 2007
BGVW Mon, February 4 – Tues, February 5
Doug Aubrey, See you in the next war, Scotland,
2001
BGVW Wed, January 16 – Fri, January 18
BG Thurs, January 24 – Wed, January 30
JMBG Thurs, February 7 – Wed, February 13
Persijn Broersen & Margit Lukács, Prime
Time Paradise, Netherlands, 2004
BGVW Sun, February 10 – Mon, February 11
Paul Chan, Now Let Us Praise American Leftists,
USA, 2004
BGVW Mon, January 21 – Tues, January 22
BG Thurs, January 31 – Wed, February 6
JMBG Thurs, February 14 – Wed, February 20
Critical Art Ensemble, Immolation and The Making
of Immolation, USA, 2007
JMBG Thurs, January 24 – Wed, January 30
BG Thurs, February 14 – Wed, February 20
BGVW Thurs, February 28 – Sun, March 2
Hayder Daffar, The Dream of Sparrows, Iraq,
2005
BGVW Mon, February 18 – Wed, February 20
Christoph Dräger, Helenes (Apparition of Freedom),
Switzerland, 2004
BGVW Wed, January 23 – Thurs, January 24
Robert Greenwald, Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers,
USA, 2006
BGVW Sat, February 16 – Sun, February 17
Ivan Grubanov, A Guy I Know, Serbia, 2002
BGVW Thurs, February 21 – Fri, February 22
Allan Harding MacKay, Somalia Yellow, Canada, 1994
BGVW Fri, January 25 – Sat, January 26
Lewis Milestone, All Quiet on the Western Front,
Russia/USA, 1930
BGVW Tues, February 12 – Wed, February 13
Els Opsomer, The Agony of Silence, Belgium,
2004
BGVW Sat, January 19 – Sun, January 20
Joseph Pevney, “A Taste of Armageddon,”
Star Trek: The Original Series, Season 1, Episode 23, USA, 1967
BGVW Thurs, February 14 – Fri, February 15
John Pilger, Flying the Flag, Arming the World,
Australia/UK, 1994
BGVW Thurs, February 7
John Pilger, Paying the Price: Killing the Children
of Iraq, Australia/UK, 2000
BGVW Fri, February 8
John Pilger, Breaking the Silence: Truth and Lies
in the War on Terror, Australia/UK, 2003
BGVW Sat, February 9
Walid Ra’ad, Hostage: The Bachar Tapes,
Lebanon, 2001
JMBG Wed, January 16 – Wed, January 23
BG Thurs, February 21 – Thurs, February 28
BGVW Sat, February 23 – Wed, February 27
Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay & Pascal Lièvre,
Patriotic, Canada/France, 2005
BGVW Sat, January 26 – Mon, January 28
Jayce Salloum, Untitled Part 2: Beauty and the
East, Canada, 2001
BGVW Tues, January 29 – Wed, January 30
Sluik/Kurpershoek, The Devil Hunter, Netherlands,
2000
BG Wed, January 16 – Wed, January 23
BGVW Thurs, January 31 – Fri, February 1
JMBG Thurs, February 21 – Thurs, February 28
Guido van der Werve, Suicide no 8945 till 8948,
Netherlands, 2003
JMBG Thurs, January 31 – Wed, February 6
BG Thurs, February 7 – Wed, February 13
Symposium:
Join
us Friday, January 25th for a series of lectures and dialogue on representations
of war, related visual culture, and artists and art projects that confront
the topics of war and geopolitical critique. Produced in collaboration
with the Centre for Visual and Media Culture. Held at the MiST Theatre,
Room 0150, CCT Building, UTM Campus.
Introductions & Welcome 14:15
Louis Kaplan, Director, Institute of Commu-nication and Culture, U of
T
John
Ricco (symposium moderator), Professor, Centre for Visual and Media
Culture, U of T
Keynote
Address 14:30
Professor W.J.T. Mitchell will present a lecture entitled “Cloning
Terror: The War of Images, 9-11 to Abu Ghraib” discussing ideologies
that link fears of cloning with fears of terrorism, in an attempt to
elucidate what he sees as the twin phobias that characterize our current
historical epoch. Mitchell is Gaylord Donnelley Distinguished Service
professor of English and Art History at the University of Chicago. He
is also the editor of Critical Inquiry.
Panel
One 16:00
Allan Harding MacKay, “Double Bind,” Artist, Canada
Brigitte
van der Sande, “Amsterdam at War,” Independent Curator,
Netherlands
Irene
Loughlin, “The Sun is Crooked in the Sky...,” Graduate Student,
U of T
Panel
Two 18:00
Stephen F. Eisenman, “Water-torture,” Professor of Art History,
Northwestern University, Chicago
Boris
Groys, “Europe and Its Others,” Professor of Aesthetics,
ZKM/Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe
Dialogue
19:25
Open dialogue with audience and all participating speakers.
A free
shuttle bus from the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery (Hart House) departs
at 13:00 and returns at 20:00.
Catalogue:
A catalogue including documentation of the exhibition’s
artwork and critical essays by Boris Groys, Séamus Kealy, Gene
Ray, and Brigitte van der Sande will be produced in conjunction with
Signals in the Dark.
Additional Events:
In the Valley of Elah
Join us at the AMC Courtney Park for a screening of Paul Haggis 2007
film as part of the Mississauga Film Series.
Wed,
January 30, 19:00, AMC Courtney Park 16, 110 Courtney Park Dr., Mississauga.
Admission $10 – 12.
Activist Video-Making Workshop:
A practical and informative session will introduce
the history, techniques, and trends of activist artwork through video
production. Produced in collaboration with Media Generator, ICC.
Fri,
February 8, 14:00 — 16:00, MiST Room 0150, CCT Building, UTM Campus
To
register please contact 905-828-3789
Support provided by The Canada Council for the Arts, The Ontario Arts
Council, The Jackman Humanities Institute at the University of Toronto,
The Centre for Studies of the United States, The Institute of Communication
and Culture, Office of the Vice-Principal/Research (UTM), The Centre
for Visual and Media Culture, Ontario Trillium Foundation, Consulate-General
of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and UTM Residence Life.
REVIEWS
Andrea
Carson : "Bridging the Gap Between War's Myth & Reality"
Globe & Mail, R5. Feb 27, 2008
REVIEWS
Leah
Sandals & Seamus Kealy: "Drawing Enemy Lines" National
Post, January 2008
REVIEWS
Peter
Goddard: "Galleries Becoming War Zone" The Toronto Star. January
3, 2008
REVIEWS
Fran
Schechter : "War Shows Battle Convention" Now Magazine, January
2008
REVIEWS
Andrea
Grassi : "The Art on War" The Medium. January 2008
