Locally: Luminato announces visual arts program

 

... and it won't take long to share it: Only 2 projects this year, the first from Toronto architect Philip Beesley, whose dangly feather and light sculpture Aurora (above; with Beesley amid) was a crowd-pleaser at last fall's Nuit Blanche, taking home the people's choice award; and a performance piece called Habit, realized -- I'm grasping for the proper verb here -- by David Levine from a script by Brooklyn's Jason Grote.

The latter is a 24-hour continuous re-run of Grote's play in a self-contained house on OCAD's grounds; the former, called Sargasso, is a canopy (of sorts) suspended under the Santiago Calatrava awning at Brookfield Place. Beesley surely has a gift for altering environments with his ephemeral, site-specific interventions -- above is Beesley's piece for last year's Venice Biennale of Architecture, Hylozoic Ground, with the architect himself amid -- though Aurora left me a little cold (to be fair, it might have been the crowds and the fact it was 4 am). As for Habit, I like the idea, but have a sneaking suspicion it's better on paper than in person. However, I'll do my darndest to reserve judgment.

If I sound a little cranky, forgive me (or don't. Suit yourself). But the offering this year seems a little thin. Then again, last year we had brand-namers like Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, along with Michael Snow, and that didn't work out overly well. Overwhelmed by its omnibus mission -- I suppose it's also my duty, marginally, to inform you that Luminato covers its fashion base with an Alice in Wonderland inspired costume show by Canadian Denis Gagnon -- maybe Luminato has slowly, quietly started to leave well enough alone. Time will tell. 

Comments

[Brandon]

The installation that Philip Beesley is standing in is not Aurora, it is actually a version of Hylozoic Ground, which represented Canada at the Venice Biennale last year.

[Grant Van Heighton]

Thank you for your incite into the work of this artist and his work. I find this very interesting and am looking forward to read more about installation art.

[Kim Simon]

A little thin this year indeed... hold your judgement on Levine though. He's a smart, interesting artist, and I'm working on roping him into a little public program with Gallery TPW while in town. For what it's worth, Habit had its first trial run at MASS MoCA recently... and I think Levine is doing some really interesting things pushing the relationship between the live moment and representation.

[Murray Whyte]

You're right! My mistake Brandon ... thanks.

[ChrisToronto]

Great shot of Beesley's Sargasso up now on LiveWithCulture.ca: http://tinyurl.com/63fxqq2