DISCUSSION DEN LIST OF PUBLIC EVENTS
Whippersnapper is excited to be hosting a slew of great events in the Discussion Den. These include workshops, reading groups, panel discussions, performances, and “a poetry marathon drop-in alliance building teach-in recite&respond collaborative durational multidisciplinary performance hangout”. See below for details! Most events require an RSVP because our space is limited. Contact the facilitator of each event to let them know you’re coming. This list below will be updates with new events as they are added. All events take place at the Discussion Den, 594b Dundas St. West
If you would like to use the space for an public or private discussion, meeting, anything, please read through the details HERE on how to book the space. Only public events are listed below. See the Discussion Den Calendar for the full details on the availability of the space.
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SOCIAL PRACTICES STUDY GROUP:
An open-to-all discussion group around the subject of socially engaged art
Mar 3rd, April 2nd.
Sundays, 1-4pm.
RSVP highly recommended: socialpracticestudygroup@gmail.com
PWYC
CONCEPT:
Socially engaged art has been a hotly debated subject matter in recent times. This discussion group aims to create an opportunity for close reading of selected material and to facilitate a low-key, friendly space where practitioners, curators, and anybody interested in the subject matter can share their ideas and learn from each other.
FORMAT:
Anyone can join the group by signing up to the newsletter (and/or joining a Facebook Group). Everyone takes turns facilitating the discussion each month. The discussion facilitator is responsible for choosing the material for that month, making the material available for all (via a website link) two weeks in advance of the meeting, and kickstarting the meeting by giving a 5-10 minute presentation on the material (ie. give a brief summary, and some reasons for their choice). The material should be relevant to socially engaged art and be of appropriate length (e.g. one chapter of a book, or a two-hour long video clip).
Erica Brisson and Angel Chen will be responsible for maintaining a blog (for announcements and archives), facilitating the monthly newsletter and creating basic promotional material.
FOOD & BEVERAGES: Bring your own.
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Live/Working It: When your home becomes an art venue
Facilitated by William Ellis and Jordan Tannahill of videofag
Open to the public
Tuesday March 5, 8:30pm
William and Jordan just moved in together and decided to turn the front room of their home into an arts space. They are now learning month by month how to manage this private/public continuum. But they have been mostly learning in isolation. For this Discussion Den, they are inviting friends who have been running art spaces out of their homes - some for many years - to share stories and best practices.
A few questions that might be explored: What inspires artists and collectives to convert their homes into public spaces of cultural activity? What is gained and lost in the personal and artistic lives of artists by this live/work hybridity? What advantages and disadvantages do these live/work spaces have over singularly public institutions? And how do these spaces differ (in terms of public engagement, administration, art making, etc) depending on the creative medium the space is associated with (visual art, music, theatre, etc)
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Readings on Filipino Topics
Wednesday March 6, 20, April 3, 17, 7-9pm
The Readings on Filipino Topics is a group for people who are interested in deepening and expanding their knowledge on topics like Filipino Psychology, Philippine history and politics, Art and Culture in the Philippines, and the Decolonization and Indigenization processes that happen to Filipinos.
We will be looking at academic and researched works, so it will be at that level of reading. But the discussion will be a space where we can figure out the readings together and ask questions.
This is for people who enjoy learning with a group, building community, and appreciate the work and research that goes into academic texts.
To join the group, and have access to readings, please please do so on our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/290501657737856/?fref=ts. Members are encouraged to lead discussions on particular readings or recommend readings to the group. All are welcome, but RSVP because there's limited space!
The organizers of this reading group are Christine Balmes (balmesc@gmail.com) and Ferdinand Dionisio-Caballero (caballerofd@gmail.com)
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No Reading After the Internet: “THE PHILOSOPHY OF ANDY WARHOL” AS SELECTED BY JESSE MCLEAN
Saturday March 16, 2pm
In conjunction with It’s Going Through You Like an X-Ray, an exhibition of the works of Jesse McLean, this salon will feature excerpts from The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again) as selected by the artist.
Jesse McLean in attendance.
There’s this moment when a crowd at a Christian rock show find themselves in an ambling, prolonged silence. This is the prescribed point to connect with the Lord. Sway, watch and wait.
Jesse McLean’s videos examine fixations, confound certainty and build a trajectory through the inconceivable. Inner life is synthesized with the screen, convincingly, right up until the moment when the pull-back occurs. Resonance coupled with essayistic layers of images and words; it’s all coming through you. We sway with it. Transfixed and thoughtful, we tumble toward understanding until it is mere steps away. One foot in, one foot out, sometimes the understanding reached is not what is expected, it’s disarming, leaving new questions in its wake. Other times our pre-existing questions—the big ones—are reframed and expanded into a form that can drive us forward. All this through the vessels of televangelists, geysers, ill-fated shuttle launches, reality TV anxiety, tears, trances, songs that cycle perpetually through re-performance on YouTube and collections of things left behind; all carefully selected, all with something to offer. “You can’t see it, you can’t feel it, and you can’t taste it, but it’s here, right now, all around us, it’s going through you like an X-ray.”
No Reading After the Internet is a salon series dealing with cultural texts, which are read aloud by participants. The particular urgency of the project is in reforming publics and experimenting with the act of reading, as its own media form, in our moment.
No Reading After the Internet is a project of the collective efforts of Amy Lynn Kazymerchyk, Alexander Muir and cheyanne turions.
Participants are invited to attend a screening of McLean’s work preceding the salon. (Though this is not necessary, her films are wild. You should go.)
Friday, 15 March 2013
CineCycle (129 Spadina Avenue)
7:30 PM
$8/$5 Pleasure Dome members + students
FULL INFO ON THE SCREENING HERE
This meeting of No Reading After the Internet (Toronto) is supported by the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (as always) and Pleasure Dome. Special thanks to Whippersnapper Gallery for hosting the salon.
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Feminist Art: Where is it? Who has it?
Two options for workshops: April 8th and April 16th
Please RSVP by March 10 - email me at capranijennalee@gmail.com
***THIS EVENT IS NOW FULL***
This evening discussion will focus on intersections of feminist and institutional practices, asking what a feminist art collection looks like? Where it is? Who collects it? Interrogating how curatorial practices including large and small institutions impact its reception and representation. Our conversation will specifically be concerned with how the gallery, a public space, represents and collects feminist art.
For example, what is feminist about the curation of Frida Kahlo and Patti Smith showing at the AGO? Are there aspects of post-feminism that we can interrogate? What smaller galleries or artists run centres are collecting or representing feminist art in Toronto?
This is a very informal and respectful discussion.
All are welcome.
In preparation for this talk it would be lovely if you took some time to watch/read the following. However, if you cannot watch or read any of this, that’s okay too. Please just come prepared with a working definition of what Feminist Art is, where it exists, or should exist )
Watch: http://youtu.be/fjikMGTeyjc
( you can stream this in its entirety for free on various sites online )
Explore: http://sites.moca.org/wack/
And read:
Michelle Meagher 2011. “Telling Stories about Feminist Art” Feminist Theory 12.3
Available for free download here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bh46arr1k3a6rtm/kaBNFnZcsT/FEMINIST%20ART?lst
http://www.wgs.ualberta.ca/en/FacultyandStaff/FacultyMeagher.aspx
This conversation is inspired in part by my research and also by this previous event
http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/calendar/event/6051
I was unable to attend this event, but have been intrigued and inspired by the themes the organizers were working with.
How are Toronto artists, curators, queers and feminists thinking through issues of feminist art in relationship to curation, archives, institutions and sex politics?
Accessibility info: We regret that our space is not accessible. Whippersnapper has a removable wooden ramp for the front entrance of our space but it is not to code. Our bathroom is not accessible (located down a flight of stairs in the basement). Since our main space is very small (11x11ft), we are happy to rearrange the spatial layout as needed for the mobility/comfort of attendees. As we don’t have funds for the Discussion Den, we cannot arrange for professional ASL translation. We will work with facilitators of public discussions, or offer co-facilitation, to do the best we can to ensure that a respectful and anti-oppressive space will be maintained for all participants.
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Discussion Panel: Folk Art as “Authentic” Practice?
March 19th, 7pm
A discussion panel about folk art- its definition, its variances, its role in various spaces (galleries, homes, festivals, forests); how does it come to be considered authentic, can it be bastardized, does it matter. (discussion panel members to be listed soon)
Facilitated by Olenka Kleban. RSVP to: general [at] whippersnapper [dot] ca
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backforward collective in association with the Community Arts Practice program at York University presents
After the 9 to 5 in Audre's Livingroom
(A poetry marathon drop-in alliance building teach-in recite&respond collaborative durational multidisciplinary performance hangout)
Thursday, March 21st , 2013
6 pm - 11 pm
"The Contemporary Urgencies of Audre Lorde’s Legacy," a series of events jointly offered by York University and the University of Toronto throughout March 2013, kicks off on the eve of International Women's Day. backforward collective's Danielle Smith and Heather Hermant offer this closing space on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in a 11 x 11 square foot gallery space set up as a livingroom, with maximum capacity for fifteen people at a time. Come dialogue with and through the multi-historied neighbourhoods of Dundas and Spadina through the poetry of Audre Lorde. Read a poem of Audre's, commit one to memory, respond in movement, sit, listen, ask, pay homage, sing, jam, have some tea, write, strategize around the contemporary urgencies of Audre Lorde's legacy. One key rule: read/recite from Audre's vast body of poetry as an entry point into the space and into engagement with whoever else is hanging out. Those present at any one moment will determine what happens next. Books provided. Books welcome.
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"Radical Honesty in Alternative Relationships"
March 25, 8-11pm
"Radical Honesty in Alternative Relationships" is an ongoing workshop aimed at providing practical advice to help navigate new forms of open relationships, as well as deconstructing narratives being handed down through patriarchy and neo-liberalism that make the status quo of what relationships are supposed to look like so damaging for so many hearts. Facilitated by Natalie Boustead.
RSVP info TBA shortly. Please check back soon.
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Artist-Run Residencies!
Facilitated by Stephen McLeod of VSVSVS
Tuesday March 26, 8-11pm
What are the motivations for hosting or attending a residency? How are the parameters set, and how does that determine what is created? What is the difference between institutionally supported and DIY efforts?
Pleas RSVP to stephen@vsvsvs.org
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Think Tank + Experiments of all Sorts + Queer Living Room
Self-organized mini teeny tiny residency
4 days of coming out to the Chinese-speaking community
I will for sure be in the space during these times:
Thursday 28th: 2-6pm
Friday 29th: 2-8pm (may stay till late after)
Saturday 30th: 12-8pm (except 3-4pm, 5-6pm where I would be doing a walking tour departing from videofag. see below for event link)
Sunday 31st: 2-8pm
Friends and lovers are invited to drop by although this is not meant to be a social event. I will be researching, daydreaming, doodling and chatting with passers-by in the space. If you come visit I might make you do things with me. Bring snacks or cheap art supplies :)
♥ Alvis Parsley @ FiRU (Fantasy is Reality Unlimited)
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Juliana's Daughter will be playing 2 intimate acoustic shows in promotion for her upcoming album release and tour:
Saturday April 6, 20
9pm-10:30
Listen here:
https://soundcloud.com/julianasdaughter/sets/songs-726
Space is limited, so please RSVP to be added to the list:
Email - julianasdaughter@gmail.com
Wall Post - www.facebook.com/julianasdaughter
Tweet - @julianasdaughtr
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Mining Injustice Art Build:
April 7th, 14th, and 21st 1-5pm
Organized by Mining Injustice Solidarity Network and Rising Tide
Open to all
All are welcome to take part in an art build to create street theatre props, paint banners, and contribute to ongoing campaigns against the destructive actions of canadian mining companies in Canada and abroad. Spring Into Action is a month long series of events organized by Mining Injustice Solidarity Network. A number of major mining companies have their annual shareholder meetings in Toronto between the months of April-May. The materials created through this art build will be brought to shareholder meetings to confront shareholders and execs on the devastating impact of their operations on local indigenous communities and the environment. For those that are less familiar with mining issues, we will have an informal teach-in as we build.
The Mining Injustice Solidarity Network (MISN) is a grassroots, volunteer-run group that works to bring the voices and experiences of communities impacted by extractive industries to Toronto, Canada, a country where over 75% of global mining businesses are based. MISN organizes to highlight and confront negligent mining practices. We do this by (1) educating the Canadian public on mining injustices in Canada and around the world; (2) advocating for stronger community control and supporting self-determination in mining affected areas; (3) denouncing corporate impunity and seeking substantive regulatory change. Our work is in solidarity with affected communities in an effort to be responsive to their calls for support.
https://mininginjusticesn.wordpress.com/
http://www.solidarityresponse.net/
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3 Day Performance Installation
Inviting Discussion
April 11, 12, 13
Grey Muldoon
Title: Code Blue
Themes: Care, Neglect, Responsibility, Legacy, Medicine, Death
Code Blue is the hospital staff alert term for a stopped heart, requiring a response: attempt to re-start the heart and deter the immediate death
Code Blue is an attempt to address the vast question, “who is responsible?”
The performance installation piece will use the collection of pill bottles and breathing tubes I have from my mother's death, as well copies of her medical records, possibly a sandwich.
Personally it looks at the relationship between my own diagnosis of Depression and my mother's of Anxiety Disorder through my relationship in real-time to these objects.
Politically, this is a statement and exploration of the relationship between spirits, bodies, and economic equity, madly questioning the limits of apologizing.
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Reading group: If I can't dance I don't want to be part of your revolution
Saturday, April 20 from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Discussion Den at Whippersnapper - 594b Dundas St. W
Facilitated by Jacob Korczynski and Maggie Flynn
After launching last month at Art Metropole with a discussion of Henrik Olesen's text "Pre-Post: Speaking Backwards", the If I Can't Dance reading group here in Toronto continues with our second session. See http://www.ificantdance.org/ReadingGroup for background on the group/
We'll continue to explore the dynamic between appropriation and dedication with a discussion of Isabelle Graw's text "Dedication Replacing Appropriation: Fascination, Subversion, and Dispossession in Appropriation Art". This text was instrumental in the development of the thematic of appropriation/dedication for the current edition at If I Can't Dance and you can find it attached here as a PDF. In addition, Maggie Flynn, Co-Director of Whippersnapper will be introducing and moderating a discussion of "Contested Images: The Politics and Poetics of Appropriation" by Michael Alan Glassco. To received pdfs of the texts and RSVP, please email general@whippersnapper.ca
The reading group is free and open to the public so please pass the word along if there is anyone you know who would be interested. Please RSVP if you plan on coming as capacity at Whippersnapper is limited.
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Mandarin through Music: Melting Barriers to Learning Standard Chinese
Thursday, 25 April, 2013, 6 pm to 7:30 pm at the Discussion Den.
Host: Caroline Xia
RSVP to: mandarinthroughmusic@yahoo.ca
* An etymological and musical introduction to a major world language. No prior knowledge of Mandarin required.
* Learn to sing a Mandarin Hit Song in one hour.
* Laptop optional. Homemade musical instruments will be provided. Or bring your own guitar, tambourine, drinks, snacks, dinner, etc.
Everyone welcome! Come and celebrate on this very last day of Whippersnapper's Discussion Den.
