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The Arts of Togetherness

July 11 – August 23, 2009

Featuring: Sandee Moore (Winnipeg) & Yoshinori Niwa (Tokyo)
Curated by: Milena Placentile (Winnipeg)
Opening reception: Saturday, July 11, 12:00 – 6:00 p.m. at Gendai Gallery (during Natsu Matsuri)
Free workshops and events: June 28 - July 18, various time and locations.
Link to AOT Events

MORE INFORMATION ON THE ARTS OF TOGETHERNESS

Art of Togetherness Logo
Art of Togetherness Detail Images

The Arts of Togetherness is a multifaceted exhibition that gently challenges commonly held assumptions about contemporary art as a cultural practice. Working in collaboration with her chosen artists, guest curator Placentile, offers a project that seeks to bridge differences in familiarity with contemporary art by encouraging audiences of all ages to contemplate different points of view concerning what qualifies as the expression of a community, and what is pertinent to definitions of cultural life.

The featured artists, Moore and Niwa, will transpose popular traditional and modern Japanese cultural activities such as sento (traditional bathhouses) and kite-flying, into new contexts in order to explore notions of interpersonal exchange and community, memory and imagination, and the passage of ideas over time. Their use of new and alternative methods and materials will aim to reframe customary cultural activities, thereby underscoring transcendent characteristics and reinvigorating assumptions about the meanings of such practices.

Through the course of this exhibition, audiences will be invited to consider how traditions facilitate interpersonal communication and construct harmonious accord.

EVENTS AND WORKSHOPS:

We are hosting various kite-building workshops in collaboration with many communities in and around Toronto. All workshops are free of charge and open to everyone.

In addition, Niwa will team up with FADO Performance Art Centre and 111 Torontonians to create a unique performance-based action and document. All are welcome!

MORE DETAILS ON THE COMPLETE LIST OF EVENTS

Contact: Siya Chen
Telephone: 416.419.7492
siyachen@gendaigallery.org

PRESS RELEASE (PDF, 320 K)

MEDIA CONTACT: Aby Bueno 416-858-3135 | info@gendaigallery.org
WORKSHOP CONTACT: Siya Chen 416-419-7492 | siyachen@gendaigallery.org

This exhibition is generously supported by: The Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, The Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Manitoba Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, FADO Performance Art Centre, Tani Miki, and the Japan-Canada Fund (a gift to the Canada Council for the Arts from the Government of Japan).

Gendai Gallery is also pleased to collaborate with Asian Arts Freedom School, the City of Toronto, Goodwill, Ikebata Nursery School, Kamp Kodomo, Manifesto, Kensington Market's Pedestrian Sundays, Toronto Kite Fliers, and University of Toronto Art Centre

Gendai Gallery is a not-for-profit art space devoted to exhibiting contemporary art and design with a curatorial emphasis on work by Canadian and international artists of Japanese ancestry and of the larger Asian community. Gendai Gallery opened its doors in 2000.