Fall art talks: Canadian Art Gallery Hop (Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012) and Art Toronto (Friday and Saturday, Oct. 27 & 28, 2012)
I will be doing two art talks this fall, one for Canadian Art‘s Gallery Hop, one for Art Toronto.
The first is also a Q&A with photographic artist Alison Rossiter. It’s on Saturday, September 22, at 3:30 p.m. at Stephen Bulger Gallery, 1026 Queen St. W.
The second is a talk about and tour of Montréal galleries affiliated with AGAC at Art Toronto. Dates are Friday, October 27 and Saturday, October 28. Times to come.
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Pride Toronto readings: Sunday, June 24 and Friday, June 29.
I will be doing two readings, one officially and one unofficially attached to Pride celebrations in the city in which I live.
The first is part of the excellent series What We Talk About (WWTA). It’s WWTA#6: Gay Men in Art, and will take place Sunday, June 24, at 7 p.m. (doors at 6 p.m.) at The Drake Underground, 1150 Queen Street West.
I will be speaking on Sebastian Venable in Tennessee Williams’ Suddenly, Last Summer (and also in Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s 1959 film). Other talks will be on Rufus Wainright’s personae and Benjamin Britten’s Death in Venice.
The second is Fiction with Friction, part of the legendary Glad Day Bookshop‘s week of Pride Toronto programming. It will take place Friday, June 29, at 2 p.m. at 598 Yonge Street. I will be reading from Contrivances, alongside authors Ken Harvey and Matthew J. Trafford.
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ECW Press Spring Literary Party. Mon, May 14, 2012, 7 p.m. The Sister, 1554 Queen St. W., Toronto.
Featuring readings by:
David Balzer (Contrivances)
Heather A. Clark (Chai Tea Sunday)
Joey Comeau (The Complete Lockpick Pornography)
Sky Gilbert (Come Back)
George Murray (Whiteout)
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MELODRAMZ: A Night of Contrivances. Fri, May 11, 2012, 8 p.m., The White House Studio Project, 277.5 Augusta Ave., Toronto.
MELODRAMZ: A Night of Contrivances honours all manner of lavish gestures, flamboyant dress and states of distress in celebration of the launch of Toronto-based writer David Balzer’s new e-book of short stories, Contrivances (Joyland/ECW Press).
The launch is marked by a one-night-only exhibition featuring artwork from and related to the book by:
Derek Aubichon
Marcel Dzama
Alison Fleming
Alexandra Flood
Oliver Husain
Sholem Krishtalka
Vanessa Rieger
Emily Stoddart
Janet Werner
Margaux Williamson
Throughout the evening, there will be short readings—in drag—by Lauren Bride, Sean O’Neill, Liz Peterson, Bojana Stancic, Regina the Gentlelady.
Between readings, reeraw (Sheroes) DJs.
After the readings, dance your red shoes off with DJs Kevin Ritchie (Big Primpin), Luis Jacob (Love Saves the Day) and Balonius (Shakedown Street). Enjoy a unique array of gifs pertaining to the book, from Johnny Guitar to Jennifer Jason Leigh after-school specials, curated by reeraw and made by Helen Adamidou, Gaby Cepeda, Manuel Fernández, Tony Halmos, Georges Jacotey, Rollin Leonard, Grace McEvoy, Sally McKay, Rea McNamara, Lorna Mills, Chiara Passa, Yoshi Sodeoka and Giselle Zatonyl.
Admission is $8 and includes a copy of Contrivances, downloadable through a beautiful, QR-coded postcard. #thefutureisnow
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The Trampoline Hall Lectures. Mon, Dec 5, 2011, 8:00 p.m., The Garrison, 1197 Dundas Street West, Toronto. My topic: “Aging Actresses.” My co-lecturers: Daniel DeSouza and Aleesa Cohene. Curated by Sholem Krishtalka (large likeness of whom is below).
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Sat, Sep 24, 2011, 1:00 p.m., Birch Libralato Gallery, Canadian Art Gallery Hop.
I will be giving a talk and interview with artist Nicholas Pye, before Ann Webb leads a tour of galleries in the area.
From Facebook:
LOCATION3
CANADIAN ART GALLERY HOP 2011
FREE TOURS & TALKS | Saturday, September 24, 2011
On Saturday, September 24, the Canadian Art Foundation—celebrating its 20th anniversary as Canada’s ultimate portal for the exposure of visual arts—invites art lovers to join us for our 16th annual Gallery Hop. Location, location, location—it’s the recipe for success in real estate, and also to a large extent in the art world, a phenomenon we celebrate in the theme of this year’s Gallery Hop, Location3.
It’s easy to plan your Gallery Hop itinerary online: visit canadianart.ca/galleryhop and check out the full Gallery Hop schedule and choose a tour, several talks or a combination of both.
MORNING PANEL | 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX
Cinema 3, Reitman Square | 350 King St. W.
Start your day with Canadian Art Editor Richard Rhodes and a trio of top artists—Winnipeg’s Sarah Anne Johnson, LA’s Jed Lind and Toronto’s An Te Liu—as they discuss the power that place has on art and its creators. For more details on panelists, go to http://galleryhop.canadianart.ca/gallery-hop-day/panel-and-gallery-talks/
AFTERNOON TOURS & TALKS | 1:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
VARIOUS LOCATIONS ACROSS TORONTO
The day continues with a series of free afternoon tours and talks led by art-world experts primed to introduce audiences to the artists and ideas that make Toronto’s visual arts scene tick. Noted artists, curators and writers will guide the public through a broad selection of must-see exhibitions throughout the city, located in key gallery districts and neighborhoods. With new additional tour areas included in this year’s Gallery Hop, there’s even more gallery districts to explore! For full schedule and area maps, go to http://galleryhop.canadianart.ca/gallery-hop-day/gallery-hop-2011/
EVENING MAGAZINE LAUNCH | 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
MONTE CLARK GALLERY
55 Mill St.
End the day with fellow art lovers at the free launch of Canadian Art’s blockbuster fall issue in the historic Distillery District. Our latest issue puts a contemporary thematic spin on ideas of the North, featuring Zacharias Kunuk, Donald Weber, Joyce Wieland, the Cape Farewell artists project, Terrance Houle, the Fogo Island Art Corporation residency program, Sarah Anne Johnson, and Soft Turns (Wojciech Olejnik and Sarah Jane Gorlitz). To attend, please RSVP to rsvp@canadianart.ca by September 19, 2011.
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Fri, Jun 18, 2011, 12:30 p.m. – 11:30 p.m. 159 Manning BBQ 2011
I will be reading at this all-day extravamaganza, before two bands: Ladies of the Canyon at 1pm on the outdoor stage (for them, I will read sections from a topically appropriate short story entitled “Poncho”) and later sometime, probably with Julie Fader at 5pm.
From Facebook:
THE BBQ IS ADVANCE TICKETS ONLY. NO WALK UPS.
Timothy Alexander McCready, Hand Drawn Dracula and Eric Ervine Presents! present the 3rd Annual 159 Manning BBQ 2011.
Special thanks/shout-outs to Moog Audio and Breadwinner.ca
This event is open to the “public”, just buy a ticket at Rotate, Soundscapes, MOOG Audio, by appointment at 159 Manning, or at Parts & Labour when Tim is working. TICKETS ARE $30. 275 hand-numbered and stamped general admission tickets available. When it’s sold out, there will be no more tickets available. Whether or not those 275 tickets sell, tickets will not be available at the door. Advance tickets only.
Click here to read the “Official Announcement”:
http://timmccready.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/159-manning-bbq-2011-official-announcement/
There will be pigs on spits! Veggie burgers! $3 beers, BYOB ok.
Art show upstairs featuring the work of Allison and Lauren Knight:
http://www.lauralart.net/processofaportrait.html
Backyard DJ’s Scott Cudmore and DJ OMGBLOG.com
Readings by Kate Carraway, Chandler Levack, Chris Randle, and David Balzer. Please be quiet and listen to them when they’re reading.
Indoor stage and outdoor stage featuring performances by Ladies of the Canyon, the Third Mind, Fields of Fur, No Gold, Choir!Choir!Choir!, Ell V Gore, Buck 65, Biblical, Burning Love, the Vandelles, Julie Fader + more TBA
Doors @ 12:30pm (just past noon, not midnight), first band on at 1pm. You’re working. Take the afternoon off, duhh.
BBQ ends at 11pm sharp.
http://www.timmccready.tv/
http://www.alexandermccready.ca/
http://ericervinpresents.com/
http://www.handdrawndracula.com/
http://youlookdeath.ly/
http://www.unfamiliarrecords.com/
http://www.breadwinner.ca/
http://www.moogaudio.com/
http://themusebox.net/
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Thu, May 19, 2011, 8:00 p.m. Ain’t Too Proud to Beg: A Joyland Fundraiser
In support of my amazing publishers, freshly arrived from Brooklyn, I will be conducting an interview with Julie Wilson of BM&A on spying and eBook etiquette.
From Facebook:
Admission is PWYC (with door premiums, including Joyland coffee mugs!)
Presented with generous support from The Walrus, Kobo, Book Madam & Associates, and ECW Press.
Running an international journal for short fiction is the most satisfying and fun job we’ve ever had but it also takes a little help from time to time. So please join us May 19 at Supermarket to raise money with a night of stage interviews, eBook launchings, and a raffle for a Kobo Reader.
Performances
Natalee Caple in conversation with Andrew Pyper
Natalee Caple is the author How I Came To Haunt My Parents, a Joyland/ECW eBook and a forthcoming novel, In Calamity’s Wake, from Harper Collins. Andrew Pyper is the author of several best selling novels, most recently The Guardians.
Chris Eaton in conversation with Carl Wilson
Chris Eaton is the author of the Joyland/ECW eBook Letters To Thomas Pynchon and is also the songwriter behind Rock Plaza Central. Carl Wilson is a critic, an editor at The Globe and Mail and the author of the widely praised book on the culture of Celine Dion, Journey to the End of Taste.
http://www.joylandmagazine.com/
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Sun, May 1, 2011, 7:00 p.m. The Drake Hotel’s Movies in the Mess Hall presents Boom!
HOSTED BY DAVID BALZER AND DEREK AUBICHON
**IN ADDITION TO WHAT IS OUTLINED IN THE OFFICIAL WRITE-UP BELOW, WE WILL BE PRESENTING A SPECIAL “LIZPLOITATION SIZZLE REEL,” AS WELL AS A “LIZPLOITATION MANIFESTO.”
Tonight, Movies in the Mess Hall pays tribute to the iconic Elizabeth Taylor with the 1968 British film Boom!, a movie John Waters called the greatest failed art movie of all time.
…
Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Noel Coward come together in this lavish adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore.
Host David Balzer is Assistant Editor at Canadian Art magazine and has written about visual art and film for Artforum.com, ARTnews, Toronto Life, Cinema Scope and The Walrus. His first book, a collection of short fiction called Contrivances, is forthcoming from Joyland/ECW Press in March 2012. Derek Aubichon is a freelance designer, painter and musician.
Don’t miss out on dinner, inspired by tonight’s film!
SEA MONSTER
charred octopus, chickpeas + salsa verde w/ “Soiled Reputation” Greens, EVOO + 9yr old balsamic + bittersweet chocolate biscotti $15
WITCH OF CAPRI
Aperol + Prosecco topped w/ soda $7
http://www.thedrakehotel.ca/events/11053/boom-hosted-david-balzer
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Fri-Sat, Apr 15-16, 2011: Conference of Independent Teachers of English: Writing Off Key
Along with Russell Smith, Andrew Pyper, Lee Gowan and more, I will be leading a workshop at Ridley College, St. Catherines’ CITE conference this year, on Saturday morning, Session Two, 11:30 a.m.
My conference topic is as follows:
*The Artist as Critic*. “you can’t you can never be sure / you die without knowing / whether anything you wrote was any good / if you have to be sure don’t write.” W.S. Merwin, “Berryman.”
Merwin’s statement is ostensibly hopeful: creativity is so mysterious as to obscure even its own worth to the creator. Pedagogy surrounding art-making now follows suit. What right does the teacher have to censure, through evaluation, students’ attempts at free self-expression? Essentially rejecting Merwin’s statement, this workshop addresses how to inject a critical sensibility into the teaching of creativity, and thereby empower students who are serious about entering the adult world as art-makers. Topics to be discussed include: how to teach aesthetics accessibly and dynamically; how to encourage students to develop their own sense of taste, to read voraciously and analytically, and to practice self-reliance as editors and drafters.
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Thu, Mar 17, 2011: Toronto Alliance of Art Critics Panel and Public Debate
8-10pm at the White House (227.5 Augusta Ave, Kensington Market, Toronto). Pay-what-you-can. Doors at 7:30 p.m.
Join us for a two-part discussion open to Toronto’s art-going public on issues surrounding SCOTIABANK NUIT BLANCHE and a potential TORONTO BIENNIAL.
What would a biennial mean for Toronto— would it be artistically stimulating? Commercially valuable? Or just another case of keeping up with the Joneses? Last April, a day-long forum on the subject was held by the Power Plant and MOCCA. A few months ago, the report was released, out…lining the remarks and discussions that took place. Now what? PANELISTS: Murray Whyte, Vicky Moufawad-Paul, Otino Corsano, Zack Pospieszynski, Peggy Gale, David Liss.
Toronto’s Nuit Blanche is the world’s best-attended event of its kind, but it is also criticized widely. Popularity and punditry go hand in hand. Typically the established discourse around the event happens after the event and not before, and the TAAC would like to change the course of things, inflecting change in – and not merely respond to – the event this year. PANELISTS: Sarah Robayo Sheridan, Jennifer Marman & Daniel Borins, David Balzer, Camilla Singh, Dave Dyment, Kim Simon.
Whether you’ve got biennial burnout, nuit blanche boredom, or feel excited at the prospect of these and other art festivals, we need to talk. Join the Toronto Alliance of Art Critics and guest speakers for a discussion on the state of Toronto’s Nuit Blanche, our potential for a Biennial, and other issues pertaining to Toronto criticism and culture.
Image Credit: An Te Liu, Ennui Blanc, 2010; neon sign, installation view; Out of Site / Nuit Blanche, Toronto; photo: Annie Wang.
davidkbalzer.com 