Powerful Plasticity at MOCCA
Toronto’s Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art lit a rocket under curator Camilla Singh’s latest exhibition Friday night with a lively opening reception that gave the city’s art set plenty to chew on. Titled Ineffable Plasticity, the show features an all-Toronto slate of artists whose works consider “the experience of being human.”
The title is intentionally poetic and ambiguous, explains Singh, as she leads me through the show: “It invites you to put your own take on it rather than being a really descriptive thing that nails it down.”
Like Rogers and Hart’s “Funny Valentine,” some of Ineffable Plasticity is unphotographable, either because it’s too explicit (Mat Brown, Jordan MacLachlan, above) or too experiential (Sherri Hay).
Luanda Jones at Home On Lula Stage
Singer/songwriter Luanda Jones never imagined she’d leave Brazil. She was born in Ipanema, she lived one block from the world-famous beach, the rhythms of Rio bubble in her veins. And yet here she is as the snow threatens to fly for what will be her sixth winter in Toronto.
Much to her surprise, the singer fell in love with her adopted city, and even though the relationship that brought her to Canada has since ended, Jones chooses to remain in the Great White North. She plays the Uma Nota Festival at Lula Lounge this weekend, sharing the stage with musicians from around the globe in a celebration of Latin, Caribbean and Afro-Brazilian funk, soul and jazz.
Budget Window Wonderland
Toronto’s Downtown Yonge BIA presented Ryerson Retail Management students with a real life design challenge when they offered teams of would-be merchandisers a store window and a budget of just $100 to creatively capture the theme of peace on earth. The results are on display now in various windows up and down Yonge Street with a winner to be determined by online voting. Scroll through the Window Wonderland web page and toss a laurel at your favourite design.
ROM Reveals Maya Secrets
The Royal Ontario Museum uncorked it’s latest blockbuster this morning with a media preview of Maya: Secrets of Their Ancient World. The exhibition, which opens Saturday, explores the fascinating empire that thrived in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula from 250 – 900 CE. Nearly 250 artifacts, including large sculptures, ceramics, masks and jewellery, have been assembled from museums in Mexico and the US, as well as from the ROM’s own permanent collection. Objects, models and videos reveal numerous aspects of Maya culture, which was shrouded in mystery until the end of the 19th century. Most of the artifacts have never been seen before in Canada and some of the finest pieces have only recently been excavated. Maya: Secrets of Their Ancient World runs until April 9, 2012.
TO Screen Biz a “Good News Story”
Toronto’s screen-based industries were in the spotlight at City Hall yesterday where leaders of three prominent organizations made presentations to Toronto’s Economic Development Committee. Wesley Lui, above left, with Toronto Film Commissioner Peter Finestone, noted that business is booming in the animation sector where Toronto is “the global leader in children’s television production. We produce more children’s content than anywhere else in the world, our revenue has climbed from $37 million in 2008 to almost $60 million in 2010.”
Lui is President of Computer Animation Studios of Ontario (CASO) and Co-Founder of House of Cool, a visual/special effects and animation house. He noted that his business partner, Ricardo Curtis, “was in LA for 12 years working for Pixar and Dreamworks but he didn’t want to raise his family there so he moved back to Toronto. That happens a lot.”
