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#CUTMR2020 Come Up To My Room at the Gladstone Hotel January 16 to 20 2020
With material taken from the artists' statements#CUTMR2020Come Up To My Roomat the Gladstone HotelJanuary 16 to 20, 2020• Part Of DesignTOThe city of Toronto celebrates "design as a multidisciplinary form of creative thinking and making, with over 100 exhibits and events forming Toronto's design week," from January 17 to 26.GiaimoAt the Gladstone Hotel, already an icon in the city's design landscape, Come Up To My Room, part of DesignTO, takes over all four floors with a series of installations occupying the rooms (second floor) and the hallways (third and fourth). This has been one of my favourite artsy events in the city year after year, as the curators - Astrid Ho, Megan Feheley, and Lee Petrie this year - put together a fun, eye popping show that provokes thought and entertains at the same time.There were 24 artists, designers, and design groups who participated this year.Special EventsLove Design PartyJanuary 18 - 7 to 10 p.m.Free - in the ballroomDance and drink with the Queen West design crowd at this annual extravaganza - free while capacity allows.Love Design ShopJanuary 18 - 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.Free - in the ballroomCheck out the unique wares at this shopping event, featuring Kristen Lim Tung, Holly Stapleton, haeven studio, 100 Years of Love, Queenie.X.cermics, Kotoba Jewellery, Poppysmicks, Mr. RL ++It's difficult to say there were highlights, because it was all so interesting, and the whole experience is immersive as you explore the hotel, but here are some of the installations that left an impression.Dennis Lin, untitledDENNIS LINUntitledDennis Lin is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design. Patterns of consumption, and the earth's threshold to maintain them, are reflected in the way Lin pushes the physical thresholds of the woods and metals that compose his sculptures.Noni Kaur, Plasmic PlayNONI KAUR | PLASMIC PLAYNoni Kaur’s practice explores how culture and materials are adapted or transformed in different environments according to the posthuman experience. This site-specific installation traces the agency of cellular, plasmic, and parasitic forces in both human and non-human worlds.Alexandra Majerus, In This PlaceALEXANDRA MAJERUS | IN THIS PLACEWith the participation of Ewan Atkinson, Bart Sims and Melanie Springer.This installation centres on Turner’s Hall Woods, Barbados, which has the island’s only remaining pre-colonial vegetation.Structural Design Build Workshop, The Chair ProjectSTRUCTURAL DESIGN BUILD WORKSHOP | THE CHAIR PROJECTJon Bennett, Stephanie Boutari, Graham Brindle, Christy Cheng, Kate Holbrook-Smith, Elizabeth Lenny, Steven Lin, Joshua MacDonald, Mia Milanovic, Emma Moseley, Mariah Palantzas, Caitlin Perry, Amanda Reyes-Martin, Alex Robinson, Alyssa Tang, Coco Xiong, Sarah Zheng and Elizabeth C. English (coordinator)The Structural Design Build Workshop is a fifth year course, the culmination of the sequence of four structures courses at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture.Janina Anderosn, Cut-OutsJANINA ANDERSON | CUT-OUTSCut-Outs uses collage to investigate how images construct meaning while serving as a site for the artist and others to explore cross-cultural identity, multiculturalism and the displacement that compounds as borderlines are drawn and redrawn, migration patterns shift and swell over generations of assimilation and dislocation.Maxwell LanderMaxwell LanderMAXWELL LANDER | CYB3RCyb3r is an experimental, multimedia, immersive experience of the queer erotic. Informed strongly by the artist’s upbringing in the 90s, Cyb3r utilizes the technological landscape of 2019 (XR, IoT devices, 3d printing) to craft an experience of queer sexual play.From 2019:
Folk/Americana:Magical Beasts - Yes, My Love, I am Reaching(Independent / December 20, 2019)• Stream the album via Bandcamp • Stream and playlist via Spotify Led by musician and composer Ned Paulus, Magical Beasts offers a dreamy, melodic, even haunting version of folk and Americana. The sound overall is lush, with instrumentation that includes banjo, ukelele, and pedal steel guitar along with violin and the usual acoustic guitar and bass.The pace is languid, and the six songs talk about love and devotion - but devotion replete with sexual imagery. Love, sex, and yearning come together. The band released it around the Winter Solstice intentionally. "It is very much a Winter record," says the media release.The various threads of vocals, acoustic guitar, fiddle, and percussion weave into a trance-like groove in Darling. The lyrics are simple, and tell a story in the true folk tradition.Darling, come and walk beside meYour hand in mine, watch the world you seeDarling, bring your horses to meTeach me to ride in the sun by the seaIn grace with this garden where we bloomed into being.Little Buds brings the spring, a faster pace, and a musical awakening. As with the other tracks, the sense of familiarity in the folk idiom is a little deceptive, masking the inventive song structures and textures. Harmonies take unexpected turns, and what begins simply ends as a multi-layered and trippy sonic landscape. It's folk and Americana with an idiosyncratic twist.Musicians:Nathan Paulus: Vocals and Guitar; John Herbst: Vocals, Banjo and Ukulele; Josh Miller: Vocals and Bass; Matt Carroll: Drums; Ethan Pikas: Pedal Steel, Dobro and Banjo; Jess McIntosh: Vocals and Violin (Darling, 7 Nights, Little Buds); Sharon Hoyer: Vocals (Farthest Shore); Katie Stimpson: Vocals (Farthest Shore, Come Find Me, In Praise); Joseph Dittman: Fender Rhodes (In Praise)Tracklisting:1. Come Find Me2. 7 Nights3. Darling4. In Praise5. Little Buds6. Farthest ShoreWebsites:Facebook https://www.facebook.com/magicalbeasts/Twitter https://twitter.com/Magical_BeastsInstagram https://www.instagram.com/magical_beasts_band/Darling:
RnB/Reggae/Hip Hop: Har'Monique - Oh Lawd (Independent / 2 November 2019)
RnB/Reggae/Hip Hop:Har'Monique - Oh Lawd(Independent / 2 November 2019)• Stream it on SpotifyUpbeat and infectious, you won't be able to stop moving to Oh Lawd, a new single from Har'Monique. The song has a bouncy groove with a modern reggae feel and classic RnB harmonies and fluid vocals.Har'Monique (aka Monique Fraser) grew up in Brooklyn, New York. The budding writer - she'd started her first novel at 12 - relocated with her family to upstate NY at 13. It was a boyfriend - a music engineer - who would turn her onto the world of music.Her sound began with the classic RnB that she drew up with, influenced by greats like Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. But, along the way, she's developed her own sound, infusing reggae, RnB, and hip hop idioms.Har'Monique is working on ther first full-length album, and this is the lead off single.Looking forward to more from this talented artist.Produced By: KontrabandzStay in touch:Facebook music page: https://m.facebook.com/mrs.maddi13/YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ9slRIAdssIg4dAPFL4AvwInstagram: @har_monique23
Lithuanian Rock: Robertas Semeniukas - Backstage Stories (Independent / November 20, 2019)
Robertas Semeniukas - Backstage Stories(Independent / November 20, 2019)• Stream it on Spotify• The Album "Backstage Stories" 2xLP & CDRobertas Semeniukas is a great find if you like your rock with a hard edge and a strong groove. Naturally, guitar reigns supreme, with a sound that ranges from snarly to fluid and melodic, and virtuosic chops to keep everything interesting. You don't have to understand Lithuanian to enjoy the well-crafted songs and polished musicianship.Of the 20 tracks, 8 are instrumental. This is rock in what you'd call a classic vein, heavily influenced by 1980s and 1990s bands, but with a modern gloss to it, and a sense of musical experimentation that isn't often associated with that era in Western pop music. Robertas wrote or co-wrote all the tracks except for one cover, the blues composition You Gotta Move by Mississippi Fred McDowell.Within the rock/metal genre, the prolific composer, singer and musician mines a variety of moods. Songs like Nesustok and Kai tu sugrįši į namus add harmony vocals and acoustic guitar for a softer sound. The instrumental tracks, like Flying High (S.V.J.S.), still have an anthemic feel, and a head banging pulse.Killer Boogie From China is just that - at least, it's a boogie, the Chinese angle I'm not so sure about. Journey Home is a standout track, an instrumental with a jazzy sense of rhythmic and harmonic changes. Būna tau is a sweet piano ballad. As a vocalist, he has a nice range of tones and expression.Robertas also serves as producer and arranger on the album. A veteran of the music industry, he's performed at music festival from North America to Russia and China, and many points in between. In Lithuania, he has a busy career writing music for television projects, and as a session musician, in addition to his own recording and performing.Robertas Semeniukas & Giedrius Balčiūnas (Mr. Jumbo) ☆Camera work, video editing by Giedrius BalčiūnasMusicians:Robertas Semeniukas: Guitars and Vocals; Jonas Lengvinas: Drums; Tadas Zukauskas: BassTracklisting:"1. Kai nieko nebelieka""2. Nesustok""3. Flying High (S.V.J.S.)""4. Gitarų šėlsmas""5. Kai tu sugrįši į namus""6. Per bangas""7. Killer Boogie From China""8. Journey Home""9. Būna tau""10. Stormy Day""11. You Gotta Move""12. Eat My Dust""13. Negerki, broleli""14. Icebreaker Comes To Town""15. Asian Sky""16. See Jam""17. Song 4 Editoo""18. Dream Song""19. Šilo kopa""20. Nebilia lankoj"Stay in touch:★Web: https://www.semeniukas.com/★FB: https://www.facebook.com/SemeniukMusic/★Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robertsemeniuk*Twitter: https://twitter.com/robertsemeniuk2*YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/SemeniukofficialThe album was released Nov 20th, 2019 on digital, CD and limited edition 180 g 2xLP gatefold vinyl, featuring a 12 pages booklet.Kai nieko nebelieka (Guitar solo)
2020 Beethovenfest Bonn March 13 to March 22 2020
From a media release:2020 Beethovenfest BonnMarch 13 to March 22, 2020• Find out more• Check out the concertsA festival in the city of Beethoven's birth. In addition to its traditional autumn season, the Beethovenfest Bonn is offering a second season of celebrity orchestras for the anniversary year 2020, from 13 March to 22 March 2020. Some concerts are already sold out.The heart of the Bonn Beethovenfest is the music of Ludwig van Beethoven. Here performances by internationally acclaimed artists and ensembles give local, regional, nationwide and worldwide impetus to the preservation of his oeuvre. To the present day the festival has created dramatic interdisciplinary ties to Beethoven's past, present and future.Today Beethoven is still considered one of the greatest innovators in music history. He was born in Bonn in 1770, and in 2020 Bonn will celebrate the 250th anniversary of his birth.Bonn, GermanyThe traces he left behind in the city are still visible: his birth house and the Bonn Beethovenfest, held every year in September, bear witness to the 22 years during which he left his mark on Bonn, and vice versa. His musical genius and humanistic convictions were rooted in the enlightened attitudes that prevailed at the court of Elector Maximilian Franz; his love of nature was awakened in Rhine Valley and Bonn's picturesque countryside. Both these features resound in his music, even in the late works of his Viennese years.• 2020 Beethovenfest will begin at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, March 13 and ends on Sunday, March 22Can't make it to Bonn in March? All of Germany is celebrating 250 years of Beethoven.Revolutionary. Visionary. Cosmopolitan. Not to mention one of the most frequently played classical composers: Ludwig van Beethoven was an extremely talented artist. To this day, his music still unites people all over the world.#DiscoverBeethoven is all about German destinations, scenery and visions that influenced the grand master. Take a stroll in Beethoven's footsteps. Throughout the year, you can be inspired by milestones in history, personal stories, outstanding events, innovative sound sensations and unexpected perspectives.• Discover Beethoven's life and work at exhibitions, concerts, festivals, dance performances, plays, talks and more - check out the link.
Dual Citizen: A Ghanaian Canadian Memoir by Kwame Stephens (Paperback – Oct 28 2019)
Dual Citizen: A Ghanaian Canadian Memoirby Kwame Stephens (Paperback – Oct 28 2019)• Get It On Amazonwhen dawn breakstomorrow, when the dawnbreaksI will be miles awayon my way to a new landquite different from this oneIn 1989, Kwame Stephens packed up his life in Ghana and immigrated to Toronto, Canada. At the time, he felt he was making a brand new start, and would be sowing new and permanent roots in his new home - even if certain aspects of his new landscape were dismaying.It was in March 1989 when I made my first Trans Atlantic fight from Amsterdam to Toronto. I remember looking below from the plane and seeing fields of white snow. I’d seen snow before. It snows in Lesotho in Southern Africa where I'd visited twice in my teens. What freaked me out was the “snow as far as my eyes could go”.The book is an intimate portrait of his life and travels, with pictures, and poetry that adds a different perspective and slant.He's candid about issues like his dismay at the differences between his new, freer life in Canada, and the old rules of Ghana, and the mixed feelings it engendered.Gradually, over time, the lure of his homeland drew him back, and over multiple visits, even as he settled into Toronto's multi-ethnic vibe, made friends, and his new life, he came to understand his true nature was that of a citizen of both worlds. It's an absorbing and engaging memoir that looks at the realities of immigrant life.
From Cumbancha: The Best Music From Across The World Of 2019 (A Playlist)
From Cumbancha:The best of 2019Too much music to keep up? We've got the playlist for you!There's an overwhelming amount of music out there and keeping up with it can be daunting. Cumbancha head and Putumayo researcher Jacob Edgar has reviewed exorbitant amounts of music this year and made a playlist of his favorite songs from around the world released in the past year or so. You can check out the playlist for free on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music and Deezer. We'd love to hear what you think!Best World Music 2019 Playlist• Choose Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music and Deezer
SEMPRE: Ian Maksin new solo album release January 5 2020 & Tour
From a media release:SEMPRE: a New DimensionIan Maksin new solo album release: January 5, 2020Tour dates in NYC, Western Canada & San Francisco (See below)• Stream it on Spotify• Stream it on Apple Music• Tickets to all tour datesHaving toured more than one hundred cities worldwide in the last year only, Russian-born Chicago-based cellist, composer and multilingual vocalist Ian Maksin, known for pushing boundaries of the cello well beyond its known scope and blending many genres together, is coming to NYC on January 5 to present his new album of all original instrumental music for cello. The album will include 9 tracks scored for multiple cellos, some with addition of percussion.From Ian Maksin:SEMPRE (Italian for always or forever) - a new dimension of infinity. I heard the cello for the first time when I was five years old. I closed my eyes and instantly got transported into an entirely new dimension where there was neither time nor space. I became overwhelmed with emotion of happiness to the point I wanted to cry. It felt like the sound was coming from deep inside human soul rather than a wooden box. I could no longer imagine my life without the cello. It was then when began my musical journey which is going on already more than thirty years. At some point I began to realize that my own music became the same kind of magic and healing force for a great number of people regardless of their race, religion or age. It became clear to me that music is one of very few things given to us that can bring us together, comfort, and inspire us to become kinder.SEMPRE is an attempt to tune to a universal wavelength that will give us access to unlimited source of love, harmony and peace. May the sound of the cello, in its purest form, travel inside the deepest corners of the soul and fill them with its life-giving vibrations. May the simple caressing melodies become medicinal and consoling to those who need it, and may the become wings to those who are full of joy.Drawing inspiration from all of my favorite sources - from music of the Renaissance and Baroque to works of contemporary composers such as Philip Glass, Ludovico Einaudi, Yann Tiersen and Leonid Desyatnikov, I wrote this music and breathed into it everything that is my life: mountains, ocean, sky, woods and big cities. Some of the compositions are tied to earthly landmarks - Paris, Vancouver, St. Petersburg, Yerevan, Lake Baikal; others - completely outside spacial dimensions. May this music make us all a little better.A New York album release concert will take place on January 5 at 7:00pm at Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker St. Apart from presenting music from the new album, Ian Maksin will perform other latest acquisitions from him world travels: his own take on music of Mongolian and Tuvan shamans, his own original ballads as well as folk and pop songs in different languages: French, Spanish, Macedonian, Russian, Ukrainian, Armenian and more.Other tour dates:FRI 17 JANUARY - Hycroft Manor, Vancouver, BC, CanadaSAT 18 JANUARY - Slovenian Club, Calgary, AB, CanadaSUN 19 JANUARY - Muttart Hall, Edmonton, AB, CanadaSAT 8 FEBRUARY - 906 World, San Francisco, CA, USStay in touch:www.ianmaksin.com www.facebook.com/cellomaxxwww.instagram.com/ianmaksinwww.twitter.com/ianmaksinwww.youtube.com/ianmaksin
Experimental world music | A.D.: the server (Independent / January 3rd, 2020)
Experimental world musicA.D.: the server(Independent / January 3rd, 2020)• Check It OutGlobal experimental electronica...okay, I made that up just now. But, what to call this very interesting sound? Three songs are available already in advance of the album release January 3.This is what the producers have to say about the album:We are P.C., producers for the server, an experimental world music record set to be released January 3, 2020. We have virtually formed the impossible band!For 3 years we traveled from city to city with a mobile studio and recorded musicians in each area, stitching the sessions together into a massive global psychedelic oil spill.This album features 300+ unique recordings, from hi-end studio sessions to lo-fi street scraps. No matter the sound source, we ground it down into a symphony of trash. The server is pulled from the utopian visions of a mystic poet & artist from india named A.D.; his mission was to create a new system of communal composition, with the core idea that the era of the individual author is dead. He performs hypnotic broken-spoken word incantations as a tour guide on each of the 8 songs.A.D. is a mystic madman :: a next world poet & artist from the cosmos who recites broken-spoken-word incantations on each song.the server ::: is the debut album by A.D., a disembodied tour guide through soundscapes of rhythm & drone. His mission for this project was to create an improvisational sonic system for the 21st century.produced and mixed by :: P.C.mastered by :: rashad becker @ dubplates & masteringthank u so much to all the 300 amazing and awful musicians who ontributed their sound to this album x3 x3 x3Stay in touch:theserverad.netinstagram.com/theserver.adthe server by A.D.
Rock Single: New From The Happy Freuds
From The Happy FreudsA new video: Initial outtake / pre-album version. An unusually mellow and long fantastic piece of writing from Spanish award winning poet/writer Fernando Garcin. After seeing him in a small bar in Valencia, we ended up recording this a late Sunday night.(Fernando Garcín, letra y música. 2014-2018)
Classic Northern Soul: Marva Holiday feat Joseph Chambers - To Love Somebody
Classic Northern Soul:Marva Holiday feat Joseph Chambers - To Love Somebody(Independent / 31 July 2015)• Stream it on Spotify• Get it on CDBabySinger/songwriter Marva Holiday has a message."One of my goals is to inspire older women," says Holiday. "I will demonstrate that it IS possible to dust off one's deferred dreams and 'go for it.' Age is nothing but a number. Making music, whether mine or that of others, energizes me. I will write and perform as long as there's an audience." Marva Holiday and Joseph ChambersShe's dusting off a cover of the Bee Gees hit To Love Somebody that she recorded a few years ago with the help of Joe Chambers, former lead singer and songwriter of The Chambers Brothers, (probably best known for the '60s rocker 'Time'.) Joe fronts his own group in Los Angeles, The Joe Chambers Experience.Marva's version brings the song back to its RnB roots, with a laidback groove, and the vocal lines dancing around each other, rather than the lock-step harmony of the original version. Churchy organ and bell-like piano tones create interesting layers to the melody.Best known for the irresistible Northern soul staple "It's Written All Over My Face," singer Marva Holiday was born in San Jose, California and and raised in South Los Angeles and Compton, CA. Her half-sister Yonnine was the daughter of jazz immortal Charles Mingus, who served as a kind of surrogate father to Holiday as well.Marva's been a singer since her teens. Back in 1971, she was a staff writer with Motown Records' publishing arm, Jobete, for two years. She retired from performing briefly in 1977 to co-found the Scrunch Music publishing company, and later her own label, Zipporah, and returned to the stage as a gospel performer.While she took time off for family, and unknown to her, Marva was becoming a sensation in Europe in the 1970s as part of the so-called Northern Soul movement. Northern Soul reveres 1960s sould singers, and many who were not famous the first time around have seen their stars rise since then because of it.During her hiatus from the music biz, Britain's Northern Soul movement never forgot her collaboration with Sherlie Matthews, the 1967 single Woman In My Eyes. Growing interest led to her 2005 UK debut at the Cleethorpes Mirwood RevueHoliday's remake of "To Love Somebody" heralds a new phase in her music career which she calls "Part Two." "It's difficult for female performers who are middle-aged and older to return to the music business once it's decided that they're 'too old,'" she notes. "I was pushed out of the industry by ageism, but I'm not letting that stop me from coming right back, right now!"Marva is planning to release an original composition, "Reflections" by early 2020, with an EP of original material to follow.
Indie Music: Rob Alexander - Being Myself (Independent / 25 November 2019)
Indie Music:Rob Alexander - Being Myself(Independent / 25 November 2019)• Stream it on your favourite serviceRob Alexander is back with Being Myself, his second album of melodic pop/rock. He's got a radio-friendly sound in a classic rock mode, characterized by a big voice and lush retro pop arrangements.He's surrounded himself with a talented band on this release, including three members of Elton John's band, and others who are current or former members of Frankie Valli's band.The first single from the album is Never Gonna Let You Go, a song he penned when one of his closest friends passed away this past year. It's a catchy ballad with some nice sax work from Rick Keller. With an interesting melody and harmonic changes, it's a standout track on the album.Friend of Mine (Elton's Epic) is another intriguing track with multiple layers and changes. Fed Up has an insistent groove, fueled by the play between acoustic and electric guitars and the rhythm section. It's got a sense of urgency that isn't found on the other, largely upbeat tracks.The songs cover a range of styles and genres inside the classic/retro rock realm. I-O-U is a funky disco track with an infectious beat, and Another Love Affair is a moody rock ballad with an earworm riff.By day, Rob is a physician anesthesiologist living in South Florida, but with this second album, it looks like music may be gaining the upper hand.Track List:1. This Hollywood Road2. Being Myself3. We Own This Town Tonight4. Life As We Know It5. Never Gonna Let You Go6. Friend Of Mine (Elton's Epic)7. Our Love Will Last Forever8. We're Living In A Dream9. Fed Up10. American Love Song11. I-O-U12. Another Love Affair13. Secrets & Lies14. Kaden15. Loved By YouPersonnel:Gabe Lopez: keyboards/drums; Robbie Angelucci: acoustic/electric guitars; Kevin Taylor: acoustic guitar; Matt Bissonette: bass; Kim Bullard: keyboards; John Mahon: drums/percussion; Rick Keller: saxophone; Brian Brigham: backing vocals
Rencontres de Bamako Photography Biennale - Nov 30 2019 to Jan 31 2020 in Mali
From a media release:The 12th Rencontres de BamakoStreams of ConsciousnessBamako Encounters Photography BiennaleVarious venues in Bamako, MaliNovember 30, 2019 to January 31, 2020The 12th edition of Bamako Encounters Photography Biennial will be an opportunity to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the festival. The Ministry of Culture, in partnership with the Institut Français, is pleased to produce this international event. Created in 1994, Bamako Encounters is today the principal event dedicated to contemporary photography and new imagery in Africa. Bamako Encounters is a platform for the promotion and visibility of photographers and …Curatorial team, clockwise from top: Dr. Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung (Photographer: Alexander Steffens), Kwasi Ohene-Ayeh (Photographer: Kofi Kankam), Astrid Sokona Lepoultier (Photographer: Moussa John Kalapo), Aziza Harmel.Organized by the Ministry of Culture of Mali with the support of the Institut Français, Bamako Encounters is the principal event dedicated to contemporary photography and new imagery in Africa. Internationally renowned, Bamako Encounters is a platform for discoveries, exchanges, and visibility.Sites: Musée National du Mali, Palais de la Culture – Amadou Hampate Ba, Mémorial Modibo Keita, Conservatoire des arts et métiers multimédias Balla Fasséké Kouyaté, Galerie Médina, Musée de la Femme – Mousso Kounda, Institut Français du Mali.Bamako Encounters, the historical and internationally renowned Biennale for Photography and Video Art on the African Continent, is proud to announce the artists who will contribute to its 25th-anniversary edition.Conceived by Artistic Director Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung and a curatorial team comprised of Aziza Harmel, Astrid Sokona Lepoultier and Kwasi Ohene-Ayeh, with artistic advisors Akinbode Akinbiyi, Seydou Camara and scenographer Cheick Diallo, this edition is an invitation to think about the artistic practice of photography as a stream of consciousness, as well as to consider photography beyond the tight corset of the photographic; the moment of a snapshot emanates from a flow of thoughts and associations reflecting the photographer’s inner voice, which is unavoidably and constantly in motion.Titled Streams of Consciousness, after the eponymous 1977 record by Abdullah Ibrahim and Max Roach, the Biennale will employ multiple overstandings of how such streams can be used as photographic tools. Tools that bridge the African continent with its various diasporas, in addition to conveying cultures and epistemologies. ‘Africa’ has, after all, long ceased to be a concept limited to the geographical space called Africa. Africa as a planetary concept relates to people of African origin, the I & I, that are spread over the world in Asia, Oceania, Europe, the Americas and the African continent.Charles Okereke, Homeward, Mali, 2010. Invisible Borders Trans-African Project. Courtesy of Rencontres de Bamako.The exhibition will apply the notion of streams of consciousness as a metaphor for the flux of ideas, peoples, cultures that flow across and with rivers like the Niger, Congo, Nile or Mississippi. This edition of the Biennale listens carefully to remoteness, and invisible matters, hitherto erased voices and images, and celebrates politics and poetics of (in)animate ecosystems.It expands on the role of collectives in African photographic practices, and the possibility of collectively telling our own stories through images, arguing for the fact that in society we are not individuals, but dividuals: divisible entities that together make up a larger collective.In an effort to go beyond the frame of photography as a visual experience, this Biennale will engage with the textuality, the tangibility, the performativity and above all the sonicity of photography. The sonic properties of photography are envisioned as streams of consciousness wherein the photographic and phonographic intersect. How can we understand the lyricism of the photographic in that space of cognitive flux? The stream in streams of consciousness is a spectrum that encompasses the conscious and unconscious and forms a space in which the notions of consciousness and unconsciousness collapse into each other.Roughly eighty-five artists from all over the African continent and diasporas will showcase their contributions.An exhibition told in four verses.Four chapters have arisen from the artist selection, each of which will take the beholder on their own distinct stream of consciousness narrative. The chapters are named after verses taken from a poem featured in the prelude of The Dilemma of a Ghost, a play written by Ama Ata Aidoo.‘The Sudden Scampering In The Undergrowth’On Presence of the Invisible, the Remote, and other Ghostly Matters‘For The Mouth Must Not Tell Everything’On Politics and Poetics of Ecosystems‘We Came From Left, We Came From Right’On Displacement, Errantry and Diasporas‘The Twig Shall Not Pierce Our Eyes’On the Possibility of Hope and the Future as Promise
Solo exhibition: Gravity & Grace from sculptor Glen LeMesurier Nov 28 to Dec 28 2019 in Montreal
From a media release:Solo exhibition:Gravity & Grace from sculptor Glen LeMesurierNovember 28 to December 28, 20194881, Boul. St-Laurent; Tuesday-Sunday, 11am-7pm28 November 28–December 28, 2019Vernissage Thur. November 28, 5-10pmMontreal, November 2019 – Lauded local sculptor Glen LeMesurier will be exhibiting his new creations in his solo exhibition, Gravity & Grace, from Thursday, November 28-December 28 at Galerie Grace, 4881 Boul. St-Laurent. The artist, an alchemist of metals, has once again played with and explored different textures and states of his favorite material. Along with current work from the past nine months, there will be many pieces from previous explorations in steel. The sculptor will be present throughout the month-long exhibition.Glen LeMesurier...grindingHere, we have gravity—parts of these works are heavy and challenge their weight against the vortices of space and time, and grace—the beauty of form, the melting of metal, and the poetry of space and time. Their presence reflects a dichotomy between their massiveness and the space they inhabit. “The gravity of the situation and the works, (through color, which could be understood as emotional field) and shape, suggest at times the teleological suspension of the ethical, which Kierkegaard spoke of in his early works. To manifest these principles through steel and reflect this to a viewer is, or could be, a febrile chance to connect, but I believe the movement of gravity and grace together can do this. I hope you like these works,” said LeMesurier.Glen LeMesurier - Gravity & GraceDrawn to the place occupied by the individual in time and space, and the individual in his relationship to the other, Glen LeMesurier is a ‘green’ artist. He has developed techniques allowing the use of recycled objects, mainly focusing on large pieces of metal. Once recycled, these materials become sculptures that link the observer to the collective memory by raising the historical and ecological questions inherent to the actual past life of the objects. The artist believes that the transformation of these materials is similar to the mutations of certain mythological characters. In this sense, this transformation can appear at once surreal, poetic, playful and fabulous.Glen LeMesurier - Gravity & GraceFor Gravity & Grace, LeMesurier has included a series of sculptures that reflect magical thinking and expressive form in steel. Some earlier sculptures are totem-like in their construction, at times conjuring up religious alter pieces; a result of 2-months travel and research of church iconography in Rome, Florence, Pisa and Sicily.Artist statement: glenlemesurier.com/artist-statement/www.glenlemesurier.com IG: glenlemesuriersculptor FB: sculptor Glen LeMesurierGlen LeMesurier - Gravity & Grace
Singer-Songwriter Danny Medakovic: The Years
Singer-SongwriterDanny MedakovicThe Years• Pre-Order The CD+Songbook & Double-Vinyl ReleaseIf you like your country/roots solid and well crafted, with layers of melody and catchy hooks, and a bonus songbook AND vinyl, Danny Medakovic's upcoming release is one that you'll want to get hold of.Danny has built a career as a singer-songwriter whose lyrics are as down to earth as the blue collar Southern Ontario city he calls home. The project was inspired by a string of challenges and difficulties among his family and circle of friends - challenges that bring out universal emotions everyone can connect with.There are 17 tracks on the album. King of the Jungle is a standout, a retro rocker with a country flair. There's a nicely understated organ swelling up underneath the guitar picking.Carpe Diem is another interesting track - part country, part art rock, with a combination of acoustic and pedal guitar. Shake Hands With The Devil is a sad country ballad about Romeo Dallaire and his fateful experiences in Rwanda (inspired by the book of the same name). The guitar solo wails out mournfully, adding to the effect.Danny has a nimble voice that suits the genre, with some lovely harmonies arranged by Juno winner Mike Trebilcock. He is a solid songwriter who covers well traveled ground with polished arrangements, and a range of genres from the straight up country of The Girl Effect and This Ain't Hollywood to the reggae-infused To the Top of the Mountain, with some country-rock thrown into the mix.He's surrounded himself with talented musicians and singers to flesh out the album, with some interesting instrumentation to add to the variety, including cello and sax on a couple of tracks.The package is ready for pre-order now, with shipments expected to go out December 5.Personnel:Dan Medakovic: lead vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, organ ; Michael Scott: Drums; Alan Hinckley: Bass; Chris Altmann: Pedal Steel; Mike Trebilcock: Signing and Arranging Background Vocals; Dave Pomfret: Background Vocals on Shake Hands with the Devil, I’m a Machine, The Girl Effect, This Ain’t Hollywood; Denis Keldie: Keyboards; Mark Volkov: Sax; Lester Smith: Harmonica; Geoff Ball: Cello