SPECIAL EVENTS
FALL 2010

SEPTEMBER

THE OTOLITH GROUP
Otolith III
4-19 September
HD Video, 48 min.
The work will be projected in a specially built cinema located in the gallery’s lobby area. Free screenings will begin on the hour throughout The Power Plant’s regular opening hours.

Working with moving images, sound, text, and curatorial practice, London-based artists The Otolith Group explore media archives, histories of the future and the ongoing legacies of 1960s anti-imperialist struggles, such as the Non-Aligned and tricontinentalist movements. The Otolith Group was represented in The Power Plant’s Summer 2009 exhibition ‘Universal Code: Art and Cosmology in the Information Age’ with the first two parts of their eponymous trilogy. In collaboration with the Toronto International Film Festival’s Future Projections program, we are very excited to present the North American premiere of Otolith III (2009).

Otolith III takes The Alien, the unrealized screenplay by legendary Bengali director Satyajit Ray (Pather Panchali, The World of Apu), as its point of departure. Written in 1967, The Alien would have been the first science-fiction film to be set in contemporary India. Otolith III returns to 1967 to propose an alternative trajectory in which the fictional protagonists of The Alien attempt to seize the means of production in order to create the conditions for their existence as images. The result is a rigorous, intellectually and visually dazzling treatise on cinematic representation, past, present and future.

The Otolith Group was founded in 2000 in London by its core members Anjalika Sagar and Kodwo Eshun. Their works and curatorial projects have been presented internationally, including at documenta 12 (2007) and the 7th Shanghai Biennial (2009). The Otolith Trilogy (2003–09) was presented in the solo exhibition ‘A Long Time Between Suns Parts I and II’ at Gasworks and The Showroom, London (2009). The Otolith Group is nominated for the Turner Prize 2010.

The 35th Toronto International Film Festival and Future Projections, TIFF’s program of contemporary art projects, run 9–19 September, 2010. TIFF Bell Lightbox opens to the public on 12 September.

12th Annual RBC Canadian Painting Competition
25 September–3 October, 2010
FREE

Established in 1999, the RBC Canadian Painting Competition, with the support of the Canadian Art Foundation, is a unique initiative that helps to nurture and support promising new artists in the early stages of their careers, a time when they need both recognition and financial support.

One national winner and two honourable mentions will be selected by a jury panel of distinguished members of the arts community. The national winner and honourable mentions will be awarded $25,000 and $15,000 respectively. With a total of $55,000 in prizes, the RBC Canadian Painting Competition offers the highest total award of any painting competition in Canada.

Semifinalists in this year’s RBC Canadian Painting Competition are Western Canada: Eli Bornowsky (Vancouver), Aaron Carpenter (Vancouver), Megan Hepburn (Vancouver), Laura Piasta (Coquitlam), Melanie Rocan (Winnipeg) Central Canada: Sarah Cale (Toronto), Scott Everingham (Toronto), Jon Reed (Toronto), Mark Stebbins (Toronto), Beth Stuart (Toronto) Eastern Canada: Hugo Bergeron (Montréal), Scott Bertram (Halifax), Benjamin Klein (Montréal), Alexis Lavoie (Montréal), Rick Leong (Montréal).

NOVEMBER

FIELD TRIP / Walking with Shawn Micallef
Sunday, 14 November | 3 PM
The Power Plant
$4 Members, $6 Non-Members (at the door)
Free entry with book purchase at the door.

Following the Sunday Scene tour by Professor Robert Wright, join Shawn Micallef, author of the recently published Stroll: Psychogeographic Walking Tours of Toronto for a walking wander of the Harbourfront area.

Micallef is a modern-day flâneur whose walks situate Toronto’s buildings and streets in living, breathing detail. Attendees will receive a free artist edition: a map of the Harbourfront drawn by Stroll illustrator Marlena Zuber. Straying from the beaten path, Micallef’s “psychogeography” encourages us to pay attention to and get excited about the city. Not a historical tour, this walk is a drift through the neighbourhood, where diversions and getting a bit lost will be encouraged. Be prepared to share your personal history and anecdotes about the neighbourhood with your fellow strollers.

Shawn Micallef is a senior editor at Spacing magazine; a co-founder of [murmur], the location- based mobile-phone documentary project; and a columnist for Eye Weekly. He writes about cities, culture, buildings, art, and politics, and is also an instructor at the OCAD.

Co-presented with Coach House Books
www.chbooks.com.