Fine Arts Festival Celebrates
State-of the-Art Accolade Project with
Exhibitions, New Media Installation, Public Talks
and Interdisciplinary Performances
TORONTO, March 7, 2006 – York University and its Faculty of Fine Arts celebrate the official opening of The Accolade Project, York’s outstanding new $107.5 million state-of-the-art teaching, exhibition and performance complex, with a week-long multi-disciplinary Fine Arts Festival running March 20-26.
The Department of Visual Arts and Fine Arts Cultural Studies Program celebrate the inauguration of the new Student Gallery and Fine Arts Cultural Studies Project Rooms in The Accolade Project with exhibitions, public talks and performances on Wednesday March 22 and ongoing displays throughout the week of the festival, highlighting the work of students, faculty and guests artists/scholars.
VISUAL ARTS:
The 3rd Annual Goldfarb Lecture in Visual Arts
Wednesday, March 22 - 2:30 pm – 005 Accolade West
Visiting scholar, writer and critic Brian Massumi speaks on
Going Kinetic: Moving beyond Biopower
This free public lecture is generously supported by Joan and Martin Goldfarb.
Brian Massumi is an academic, writer and social critic who teaches in the communication department of at the Université de Montréal. His research and publications focus on the philosophies of communication, electronic art, computer-aided design, architecture and the virtual. In his talk, he will look at what new modes of power are implied by the shift toward the logic of preemption embraced by the Bush administration in the U.S. as the governing principle of its indefinitely prolongable “war on terror.” Massumi finds a paradox in that precise actions must be directed toward nonspecific, or potential, objects. He argues that the paradox must also apply to the group that is supposed to be protected by the administration’s preemptive acts.
Random Thought Generator
March 20-24, 9:30am-4:30pm – Student Gallery, 105 Accolade West
Wednesday, March 22 - 9:30am-9pm. Opening Reception 4-6pm.
The Department of Visual Arts celebrates the inauguration of its new Student Gallery with a group exhibition by 12 young artists in the Graduate Program in Visual Arts. A variety of media will be shown: drawing, print media, photography, time-based media, painting and sculpture. The artists will be present to discuss their work with visitors at the opening reception.
Currents
Wednesday, March 22, 4-9pm – Joan & Martin Goldfarb Centre for Fine Arts
Open house group show featuring works in a wide range of media by upper-year undergraduate students, on display throughout the studios of the Visual Arts Department. Artists will be on hand to introduce their work.
Also on view: Pressed for Time, a student exhibition of print media work, running in the Goldfarb Centre Gallery March 13-24, and Fiona Tan, an exhibition of photo and video works by the internationally-acclaimed artist, curated by Philip Monk, running to March 26 in the Art Gallery of York University’s outstanding new home in Accolade East.
FINE ARTS CULTURAL STUDIES:
Windows on Fine Arts Cultural Studies
Wednesday, March 22 – 102 & 103 Accolade West
Interactive exhibitions, public talks and inter-cultural performances by students, faculty and guest artists inaugurate the program’s new project rooms.
4-5pm. Luis Jacob & Adrian Blackwell in Conversation
Toronto artists Luis Jacob and Adrian Blackwell hold an open public dialogue exploring social and cultural issues that shape urban space and cultural production. Interacting in a 'show and tell' format, the artists will present each other with a set of objects or images to provoke spontaneous, unscripted reflections on their possible meanings, raising questions about power, community and change. Audience participation is encouraged.
5-7pm. New media installations, live audio/video presentations and interactive, interdisciplinary and inter-cultural performances.
What is Fine Arts Cultural Studies?
Introduction by Program Coordinator Marlene Kadar
New Media Installations:
Interface In Your Face
This installation contemplates the increasing digital interface options available and their potential effects on the transmission of a message.
Screen-based Fluid Interfaces
Internet-based collaborative explorations of the dynamic relations between technological and social interfaces and the intersections of physical and virtual spaces.
Kensington Market Intercultural Laboratory
Students explore the multiple 'cultures' that thrive in Toronto’s Kensington Market by mapping out contemporary historical memories of the area.
Performances:
Call me hear
Jeremy Rotsztain (audio) and Don Sinclair (video) perform live digital media manipulation. The audience will be invited to share their personal camera phone images which will be used as source material for the performance.
Three by Three
Interdisciplinary performance by Don Sinclair, Intan Murtadza and Yves Candau combining dance and gamelan with interactive sound and video processing.
Voicing Tabla
Denise Nuttall presents a short workshop and performance on the North Indian percussion form.
***
The Accolade Project, to be officially launched at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on March 20, provides state-of-the-art teaching, exhibition and performance facilities in two new buildings – Accolade East and Accolade West – framing the existing fine arts complex at the heart of York University’s Keele campus. Flagship facilities include a 325-seat proscenium theatre, 325-seat recital hall with integrated recording studio, 500-seat cinema/lecture hall, two art galleries, and dozens of cutting-edge classrooms, labs and studios. A $107.5 million expansion project, totalling 358,000 square feet of superb new facilities designed by leading architectural firms Zeidler Partnership and B+H Architects, The Accolade Project offers Canada’s future artists and arts scholars a striking new home. This visionary initiative reflects York’s stature as a rising cultural powerhouse and partner in Toronto’s cultural renaissance.
The Faculty of Fine Arts at York University is one of North America's leading and largest educational institutions for the fine arts. A vibrant community of more than 3,000 students and 250 faculty working at the leading edge of fine arts practice and scholarship, it offers academic studies and professional training at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in all the fine arts: dance, design, film, music, theatre, visual arts, as well as interdisciplinary cultural studies.
York University is the leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada’s most international city. The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as 190,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 10 faculties and 22 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries. This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges. York University is an autonomous, not-for-profit corporation.
York University and its Faculty of Fine Arts present the Fine Arts Festival running March 20-26
All Visual Arts/Fine Arts Cultural Studies presentations are free and take place at York University’s Keele Campus, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto
as noted in summary below:
The 3rd Annual Goldfarb Lecture in Visual Arts:
Brian Massumi speaks on Going Kinetic: Moving beyond Biopower
Wednesday, March 22, 2:30 pm – 005 Accolade West
Random Thought Generator – Group exhibition by graduate students
March 20-24 – Student Gallery, 105 Accolade West. Gallery Hours: 9:30am-4:30pm
Opening Reception Wednesday, March 22, 4-6pm (gallery open to 9:30pm).
Currents – Open house exhibition by undergraduate visual arts students.
Wednesday, March 22, 4-9pm – throughout the Joan & Martin Goldfarb Centre for Fine Arts
Pressed for Time – Student exhibition of print media work
March 20-24 – Goldfarb Centre Gallery. Gallery Hours: 9:30am-4:30pm;
Wednesday, March 22 to 9pm.
Fiona Tan – Exhibition of photo and video works by this internationally acclaimed artist, curated by Philip Monk
March 20-26 – Art Gallery of York University, Accolade East.
Gallery hours: Mon.-Fri. 10am-4pm, Sun.12-5pm
Tours Wednesday, March 22, 6-8pm (gallery open to 9pm)
Windows on Fine Arts Cultural Studies (FACS):
March 22, 4-7pm – 102 and 103 Accolade West
4-5pm Luis Jacob and Adrian Blackwell in Conversation
5-7pm New Media Exhibitions:
Interface In Your Face
Screen-based Fluid Interfaces
Kensington Market Intercultural Laboratory
Performances:
Call me hear - Jeremy Rotsztain and Don Sinclair
Three by Three - Don Sinclair, Intan Murtadza and Yves Candau
Voicing Tabla - Denise Nuttall
Information & Fine Arts Festival Box Office: 416-736-5888
Fine Arts Festival www.yorku.ca/finearts/festival
The Accolade Project: www.yorku.ca/accolade
Department of Visual Arts: www.yorku.ca/finearts/visa
Department of Fine Arts and Cultural Studies: www.yorku.ca/finearts/facs
For more information, contact:
Media Relations, York University, 416-736-5585 / media@yorku.ca
