1920s Come Roaring Back to Spadina
When I arrived at Spadina Museum: Historic House & Garden several months ago to interview for a position at the site, I was blown away by the beauty of the gracious old mansion just a stone’s throw from Casa Loma. Such elegance! Such artistry! Every room was filled with antiques and artefacts. So this is how the other half lived. I was thrilled at the prospect of possibly coming to work each day in a building with such a storied past and luxurious sensibility. The good news is I got the job. The bad news? Just as I entered the building to begin my tenure, the art and furnishings made their exit. Spadina, as the house was originally named, is being restored to reflect how it would have looked during the inter-war period with a primary focus on the 1920s.
Gladstone’s Glorious Free-For-All
The best thing about the Gladstone Hotel’s annual Come Up To My Room exhibition isn’t the art, it’s the artists. Each year the Gladdy unleashes architects, designers and artists, either alone or in teams, to create beguiling contemporary art installations across the hotel’s second floor. Rooms, hallways, even the bathroom are transformed. Some of the spaces are mysterious, some are challenging and others are just plain fun. In most cases, the artists are right there, ready to explain and expound upon their work. At yesterday’s media preview, I had the pleasure of exploring the show with Katherine Morley, left, one of four guest curators who divvied up the exhibit and teamed the collaborators, some of whom had never met before.
Morely is seen emerging from Room 207, one of the more transporting spaces in the show. Dubbed Bed Memory, visitors are required to step into a discombobulating mirrored hallway that narrows to a small entrance into a brilliant white, tented bedroom. Step carefully because the floor is a bed that provides uncertain footing; on the ceiling float lines of text culled from the Bed Memory blog of artists Richard Unterthiner and Paolo Ferrari (pictured below left).
Radiant Dark Lights Up Financial District
From a gloomy, Dufferin Street warehouse (last year) to a gleaming granite bank lobby, the high concept design exhibition Radiant Dark is always surprising. Organized by Canadian design retailer MADE, Radiant Dark touched down yesterday at Commerce Court West (199 Bay Street) in the heart of the financial district. The antithesis of a low-rent artist’s garret, the venue perfectly supported the title of this year’s show, Assets & Values.
This is the third annual installment of Radiant Dark (today thru Sunday, 11 am – 7 pm [6 pm Sunday], free), which was conceived to piggyback on the design buzz generated by IDS (now in its 10th year). I bumped into co-founder Julie Nicholson of MADE on my way into last night’s launch party and she was obviously excited about the venue, just then filling up with down-market hipsters. “We like to switch it up,” she said. “A bank seemed like the ultimate setting to explore the show’s themes of worth and value.” READ MORE
More Adventurous, More Affordable Opera
Opera will be more accessible in Toronto beginning in September when the Canadian Opera Company adds 50 standing-room tickets available on the day of each performance for just $12 each. “I believe that’s cheaper than a movie,” joked COC general director Alexander Neef, left, at a press conference held this morning to announce the company’s 2010/11 season.
“Our new season is representative of my pledge to present opera of the highest international standards,” said Neef. “With great new productions of classic favourites, the introduction of works never before seen on our stages, and brilliant, imaginative productions from around the world, you have a perfect opera season.”
Neef noted that in the four years since the COC moved into the new Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, the company has enjoyed 99 per cent capacity. “Demand for opera continues to be high in spite of the difficult economic climate,” he said.
Neef added that in North America, only the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and the Lyric Opera of Chicago produce more work. “We want to continue to contribute to the cultural vitality of the city and of the country,” he stated. READ MORE
TIDF: An Embarrassment of Design Riches
Toronto’s design community kicks into overdrive this week with the inaugural Toronto International Design Festival or TIDF. Longstanding January events like the Interior Design Show (since 2001), the Gladstone Hotel’s Come Up To My Room (since 2004) and MADE’s Radiant Dark (since 2008) have been joined under the TIDF umbrella by a much larger roster of events at Harbourfront, OCAD, the AGO, Design Exchange and the Ontario Crafts Council Gallery, among others.
On Friday, I stopped in at the Gardiner Museum to meet two-thirds of Toronto-based design team Motherbrand, specifically designers Todd Falkowsky (above left) and Michael Erdmann (right) who talked me through their exhibit, Copy, which will be joined this week by companion show Cut/Paste across the street at the ROM (January 20 – 31).
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