The Learning Zone

A new exhibition video, Toronto Harbour 1688 – 2013, is currently screening at xpace’s off-site gallery External Space hosted by OCAD U Learning Zone.

Toronto Harbour 1688 – 2013, it’s a stop motion sand animation by Marjan Vestappen which captures the shifts in form of the Toronto waterfront shoreline as an imprint of the city’s development.

Verstappen’s first animation, a medium that allowed her to play with the sense of time, tell history through shapes, and set static perspectives in motion.  — Britt Wray

On until February 25th at the Learning Zone.

Queenston Quarry by Jordan Loeppky-Kolesnik is a series of 3D animations on view at the External Space gallery located in the Learning Zone thru December 9th.

Loeppky-Kolesnik created this video series in response to the future development of the Queenston Quarry Restoration Project on the Niagara Escarpment which re-envisions the abandoned limestone quarry property into residential buildings, recreational facilities and tourist destination. The developers vision is to design a community that embraces and compliments both the natural and man-made environment.

Using 3D modeling software Loeppky-Kolesnik takes a playful approach to  that vision, re-imagining the architectural renderings and constructing abstract forms, unified in series of animations.

Kolesnik (seemingly) takes no direct stance for or against the proposed developments of the quarry. Rather, the series highlights the absurdity of human progress and the multiple transformations of the space.
— Connor Crawford

To view Queenston Quarry live, visit the Learning Zone or access it online at xpace Cultural Centre.

Lynn Canyon by Canadian artist Adam Waldron-Blain is a video performance placing the artist playing a violin, while taking different positions in the middle of a rushing creek in a North Vancouver park.

The interruptions of sounds of rushing water, wind, birds and a dog with its owner flitting through the static frame, engages and challenges the viewer to watch and hear his violin performance in a powerful and unpredictable space.

On at the Learning Zone until June 18th and available online.

Hey, wow, it’s a new video in External Space!

This Goes Out to All My Girls is the fifth and final work in a series of “unassuming, documentary-type videos” from emerging Canadian artists curated by OCADU grad Jennifer Simaitis. In this video, a young woman (Elise Boudreau Graham, the force both in and behind This Goes Out to All My Girls) dances just like Beyoncé in Run the World (Girls) — only, by decontextualizing the choreography and peeling away the fashions, makeup, backdrops, charismatic acting, and production values, Graham’s performance is strikingly bare and mechanical. In her exhibition precis, Simaitis writes:

This Goes Out To All My Girls uses pop culture and its tropes as access points to interrogate mediated or purposed identities, and the implications of pop icons as paragons. […] The visual glitz and glamour of [Beyoncé’s] original video is stripped away, resulting in a tension between an awkward fan video and an empowering critique of prescribed gender expectations in the twenty-first century.

Elise Boudreau Graham is in her final year of a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. On her art blog, she describes herself as an interdisciplinary artist who “works mostly with paper & fabric & found objects” and who “likes to read non fiction & watch bad television & dance.” Graham has been exhibiting in Halifax since 2008, but This Goes Out to All My Girls is her Toronto debut!

This Goes Out to All My Girls will be on exhibit until April 23rd. You’ve got a whole month, but don’t procrastinate — stop by the Learning Zone and check it out!

Decenter is the latest video on exhibit in External Space, the exhibition space we host for Xpace Cultural Centre. Created by OCADU student Sona Safaei, Decenter is a short video that plays with the TV news format.

Decenter is the fourth piece in an ongoing series curated by Jennifer Simaitis, graduate of OCADU’s Criticism and Curatorial Practice program. Here’s an excerpt from Simaitis’ write-up:

Decenter explores the extensive expansion of twenty-four-hour news culture and the cycles of stories, which no matter how unconnected, extreme or invalid, are delivered with the same cold bravado. The video loops, and although it is under a minute in length, it appears endless, hypnotising the viewer to envision and insert their own current event into the green screen backdrop.

Decenter is actually part of a larger project that Safei has been exhibiting internationally since last year. (You can learn more about it on Safei’s website.) Sound interesting? Yes, it does, so come on down and watch! Decenter will be on exhibit in the Learning Zone until March 21 — don’t miss it!