There are 220 open exhibitions during CONTACT. With so many shows I have picked only the exhibitions that I am interested in. Please check CONTACTs website to view hours open to the public.
I look forward to seeing Michael Willems exhibition. His work, although different in style and approach, reminds me of Nan Goldin's work. Both Willems' and Goldin's work explores the world of drugs and the people that inhabit them. These works are not meant to be pretty pictures.
APR 29 - MAY 10
MICHAEL WILLEMS: IV - INTRAVENOUS
*NEW*GALLERY
In this shocking photographic documentary that is ultimately a story of hope and a tribute to strength and love, Canadian photographer Michael Willems shows a world most of us will never see: the tough world of a Toronto drug den: a world of addiction, where free will has ceased to exist. Michael and the victims of addiction, who became his friends, share that dark world here - but this is a positive story: one of hope, strength, art; and one of eventual redemption and recovery.
906 Queen St West
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Although I am gay myself, I have found in the past that gay male artists frequently focus on the nude, well-muscled male body. To be fair, I have often also found lesbian art focused on the spiritual (wiccan, pagan, goddess) or reference a lot of genitalia. Perhaps it is due to many artists being self-taught. Admittedly I am very critical of amateurish art. I am wondering if this is the case with this project. However this one image has me intrigued enough to go.
MAY 1 - 31
ZACHARY AYOTTE AND TED KERR: THIS IS HOW WE MADE LOVE
ACT (AIDS COMMITTEE OF TORONTO)
This is How we Made Love is an exhibition about two men growing apart before they grow together. This collection of Polaroids, camera-phone images, digital and film photographs reflect a summer of shared yet separate explorations into personal progress and social change. The photographs reveal two people maintaining intimacy without discarding their individuality. This exhibit was made possible in part by HIV Edmonton and the AIDS Committee of Toronto.
399 Church Street, 4th floor
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I am weary of group exhibitions that are not curated. I am also suspect when words like diverse mediums and subject matter are used to describe the exhibition. Fortunately they chose an excellent image by Susanna Reisman to encourage people to visit the show.
APR 30 - MAY 22
HERE AND NOW
AGO ART RENTAL AND SALES GALLERY
Here and Now brings together several of Canada’s established and emerging photographic artists. Exploring their diverse uses of the medium and subject matter, the exhibition examines the current state of contemporary photography and reveals the wide scope of this art form.
Image by Susanna Reisman, Measuring Tapes #1, 2005 / 2008
481 University Ave
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I definitely want to see this show. Not because it's a loosely tied exhibition on the theme of the festival, Still Revolution, but because the work is completed by some of the youth in Toronto. I believe in supporting programs and encouraging youth in creative endeavours.
APR 30 - MAY 21
REVOLUTION: OUR TIME
FATHER JOHN REDMOND SS, LAKESHORE CI, LAMP - ASSEMBLY HALL
Young eyes showcase passion, chaos and tranquility in the images by youth from LAMP Community Health Centre and students from Lakeshore Collegiate Institute and Father John Redmond Secondary School. The revolution continues— evolution, revolution, it’s our time! Curated by Christian Bortey.
Image by Gavin Smith, Passenger, 2008
1 Colonel Samuel Smith Park Drive
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MAY 1 - 30
JEROME BOURQUE: STAND STILL
BASIA HOME
Basia Home is pleased to present Stand Still. This exhibition of ten large-scale images by Quebec artist Bourque represents the photographer’s desire to produce dramatized imagery from everyday scenarios. He uses mise-enscène to create images that exploit the possibilities of the photographic image. This process permits him to reference his own memories and amplify them in order to increase their imaginary potential. Curated by Basia Polowska.
163 Dupont St
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MAY 13 - 24
MELISSA GENERAL: LONGING AND BELONGING
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Longing and Belonging examines the challenges facing a First Nations person who lives “off-reserve” while maintaining a strong attachment to their heritage and “home.” Raised on Six Nations Reserve, General focuses on identity in relation to understanding her place as a First Nations woman in an urban contemporary culture. The dresses sewn for her as a child by her mother are the starting point for a dialogue about her relationship to belonging.
1080 Queen Street W
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MAY 12 - JUN 11
ELDON GARNET: DOMINION AND CATEGORIES OF DISAPPEARANCE
CHRISTOPHER CUTTS GALLERY
Eldon Garnet creates photography that is predicated upon constructing a series of images to frame an abstract narrative about our current social, political and economic environments. In Dominion, as in much of Garnet’s work, the polarities of beauty and threat, rapture and effrontery, confront each other. Pushing the boundaries of photographic depiction, Garnet presents metaphoric constructs for the individual condition, which is fragile and precarious in our current cultural moment. He creates iconic images that are lyrical yet threatening – the individual in a struggle against an undefined violence, or the body under attack. In one image, two men fight violently, set against the background of Mies van der Rohe’s iconic Toronto Dominion Centre; in another photograph, a lone man immersed in a river struggles with the heavy current. We are confronted with the hope of a future in the difficulty of the moment.
Based in Toronto, Garnet has established an internationally recognized artistic practice, working as a multi-media artist and writer since the 1970s. Surveys of his sculptures and photographic work have been held at the National Gallery of Canada (CMCP) in Ottawa, the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art in Toronto and the Centrum voor Fotografie in Amsterdam.
21 Morrow Avenue
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MAY 1 - JUN 15
JES SACHSE : ALLEVIATE
COME AS YOU ARE
The gaze has long defined the depiction of physical disabilities, from Vaudeville to the medical text. Stereotypes exist as flattened notions molded by the viewer. Alleviate is a series of images— some playful, some provocative—that form an unapologetic narrative told from the viewpoint of the subject. Juxtaposing recognizable archetypes with self-representations, this series provides the observer with an invitation to take a fresh look.
701 Queen St. W
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APR 7 - MAY 31
SAMER MUSCATI: THE MEN WHO KILLED ME
CRAIG SCOTT GALLERY
In the 1994 genocide that ravaged Rwanda, 500,000 women were raped. Fifteen years later, The Men Who Killed Me features 17 survivors. While many still struggle to cope with enduring trauma, these survivors were empowered by communicating their experiences—a testament to the transformative potential of photography. Listed as a “must-see show", NOW magazine describes the exhibit as presenting a "sensitively modulated look at each woman’s continuing struggle to piece herself together after the atrocity.” Curated by Craig Scott.
95 Berkeley St
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MAY 1 - 31
JOSHUA MELES: CHILDREN IN CONFLICT, ISRAEL AND PALESTINE
CREPES A GOGO
This exhibition documents Israeli and Palestinian children who have grown up entangled in war.
18 Yorkville Ave
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MAY 2 - 30
ROBERT BERLIN: PEOPLE'S DESIRE
DRABINSKY GALLERY
People’s Desire is a photographic compilation of Berlin’s recent journey through Burma—an ancient land of contrast and conflict where the collective spirit of a people is evident as culture and history clash with a ruthless military regime. Dignity overcomes deprivation and spirituality and lyrical beauty persist despite a devastated political landscape. This journey evoked more questions than it answered.
5A Hazelton Avenue
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MAY 1 - 31
BARBARA MANNERS: THE MAKING OF A PHOTOGRAPH[ER]
EZRA'S POUND
The Making of a Photograph[er] is a series of black-and-white images rich in metaphor and symbol that chronicles Manners’ journey to becoming a maker of photographs. From a lone bud on the verge of blossoming, to a powerful cityscape, Manners’ photojournalistic portraits beautifully express the universal desire to realize one’s potential as well as portray the honesty of real life.
238 Dupont Street
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MAY 1 - 31
RETOUR DE ROME: CLARA GUTSCHE, DAVID MILLER
GALLERY 345
In 2002, Gutsche and Miller photographed Rome over a period of six months. Retour de Rome is focused on a complex history marked by pervasive change. The work, though grounded in architecture, is chiefly about human relationships to man-made spaces and buildings. The images captured by the two photographers distill the chaos, richness and surfeit that is Rome, suspending moments in time and history.
345 Sorauren Avenue
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MAY 8 - 31
EXPOSED: INNOVATION, TRANSFORMATION, REVOLUTION
KATRINA JENNIFER BEDFORD, STEFAN BOUDREAULT, ALEX COLEY, LEILA COOLS, SALLY CUMMING, JEFFERY CUTLER, ALLAN DAVEY, DIANNE DAVIS, MATTHEW FUNG, RYAN FUNG, SARAH GILLETT, MARGARET GLEW, TAMMY HOY, GREG HUSZAR, JESSE COLIN JACKSON, SOUMEN KARMAKAR, AMEE KING, R. KOLEWE, MICHAEL KRAUSS, PHILIP LEPAGE, BRENT LEWIN, CHRISTOPHER MCLEOD, DONG-KYOON NAM, BEN NG, JENNIFER PAUL, DALE M REID, WILLIAM SELF, ADRIAN SMITH, OLENA SULLIVAN, MICHELE TARAS, ROSALIE VILLANUEVA, JUSTYNA WERBEL
GLADSTONE HOTEL
In keeping with CONTACT 2009’s thematic focus, Exposed showcases photographic works ranging from reportage to abstraction, documented fact to constructed fiction, and highlights both established and emerging contemporary photographers. The exhibition is co-produced by the Gladstone Hotel and SpeakEasy. Curated by David Brown and Chris Mitchell.
1214 Queen St W
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MAY 7 - 31
RE:PRO: MICHELE CROCKETT, WALTER SEGERS
GLADSTONE HOTEL, ART BAR
Emerging artists Crockett and Segers explore the ideas of evolution, reproduction and revolution within society. Crockett addresses transitional stages within the life of a woman. Segers investigates the transformation of the male body through evolution, technology and robotics by romanticizing the industrial revolution and the next generation of androids.
1214 Queen Street W
