Three Art Exhibits Unveiled at The Power Plant
By: Nicole Witkowski
Fifty pocket-sized, blue books hang in a perfect square from the ceiling of a large, white room. Beneath, people push three rolling ladders from book to book. They climb up, tilt their heads sideways. open the pages and read.
This was one of the scenes at The Power Plant’s fall season opening party. The art gallery, located beside the Harbourfront Centre, unveiled three new exhibitions and a commissioned artwork. “All three exhibitions, while separate projects by artists from different parts of the world, collectively consider narrative mutability,” said The Power Plant in a press release.
Toronto-based artist Derek Sullivan was the only exhibitionist to attend the opening. The books dangling from the gallery’s ceiling are part of his “Albatross Omnibus.” There was also a large, accordion-shaped wall. Each zigzag represents the left and right pages of a book.
“Mutability, a characteristic of Sullivan’s practice, is deepened in this exhibition, with different forms and ideas folding into one another in a way that tests the boundaries of the infinite,” says the press release.
Sullivan’s work marks the seventh instalment of The Commissioning Program at The Power Plant. The program is ongoing and aims to showcase major new works by artists whose work reflects local, national and international dialogues.
Opposite Sullivan’s piece was “The Plot” by Keren Cytter, Jos de Gruyter and Harald Thys, and Isabelle Pauwels. The three videographers share a non-linear narrative approach to explore history, human relationships and space created by the camera. A constructed hut showcased two of the films. One side was straw-covered, with a window-like opening to look through. The other side had a chair and headphones plugged into a TV. The third film was projected overhead on a wall, with three rows of cubes as seats.
Upstairs was a mock saloon exhibit, “Welcome to the Hotel Number,” by Simon Fujiwara. “[It] is a multi-layered installation that sets the stage for his parents’ lives during the Franco era in Spain. The work is a reconstruction, based on photographs and oral histories, of the bar in his parents’ hotel during the 1970s,” according to The Power Plant’s press release.
These exhibits will run from September to November. For more information, you can visit wwww.thepowerplant.org.
