Art
In 2011, Net Change Week is very proud to showcase two exhibitions at the MaRS Discovery District. Access to these art shows is open to the public at all times June 6-10, 2011.
Through the Vanishing Point
To reflect on the enduring influence of Marshall McLuhan and the relevance of his theories, Canadian artists Lewis Kaye and David Rokeby were commissioned to create site-specific works at the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology (MPCT) for the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival in May 2010. As the framework of the installation they drew from Marshall McLuhan’s book Through the Vanishing Point: Space in Poetry and Painting (coauthored by Harley Parker), 1968, which explores the way electronic media fragments the homogenous experience of space. From 1963 until his death in 1980, McLuhan conducted his groundbreaking research on the nature of communication, media and technology at the MPCT, which is in the building commonly known as the Coach House.
Presenting two separate but complementary works in the exhibition Through the Vanishing Point, Kaye and Rokeby aurally and visually reconstruct McLuhan’s presence. Working with McLuhan’s ideas about acoustic and visual space, the artists recreate the atmosphere of his legendary Monday night seminars. Lewis Kaye’s six channel sound composition uses archival recordings of the seminars—audience murmurs, discussions as well as interviews—to evoke McLuhan and the history and aurality of the atmosphere at the Coach House. David Rokeby’s multi screen projection features images sourced from archival photographs and video recordings of McLuhan’s seminars, personal life, television appearances and public lectures.
Kaye and Rokeby have adapted Through the Vanishing Point as a site-specific installation for the space at MaRS. Launching on June 6 for Net Change Week in conjunction with McLuhan100, the exhibition will be on view every day until June 14, 2011.
Through the Vanishing Point is also currently being presented at the Marshall McLuhan Salon of the Embassy of Canada in Berlin until July 8, as part of the McLuhan in Europe 2011 project. In the fall of 2011, it will be exhibited at the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris, from September 27 until mid-November 2011.
For full details visit our event page.
Catch and Release
Jeff Tallon has been synthesizing mobile technology and painting since 2009. His work includes QR Codes that, when scanned with a common mobile device, provide referential information about the painting’s subject matter, either through text, audio or visual.
He publicly displayed Canada’s first QR Code painting at 2010’s Toronto International Art Fair.
Tallon’s work often challenges the actions we take that shape society through the use of signs and symbols. He references events, historical and current, and provides us with an opportunity to evaluate our perceived reality.
This engaged viewing challenges viewers to interact with their environment and to consider the tools and artefacts that have become commonplace.
For full details visit our event page.
