data.tron

Back in Toronto now ...

What better way to highlight the end of the year with a continually failing internet service by Rogers?  The more I travel to different places of the world, the more I see how over-priced and substandard the near-monopolized internet and phone services in Canada are.  I am using the wifi at my gym to upload this post.

Although I have seen an even more immersive version of this three years ago in Montreal, Ryoji Ikeda's data.tron was still the main attraction for my visit to the exhibition Big Bang Data at Somerset House when I was in London earlier this week.  The sight and sound are still powerful as always.

From Paris To Riyadh + Embrace

Exploring migration, resistance and exchange, poetic yet political works by Palestinian artist Emily Jacir from her solo exhibition Emily Jacir: Europa currently at Whitechapel Gallery, London ...

From Paris To Riyadh (Drawings For My Mother)*:

Embrace:

*The story behind the work From Paris To Riyadh (Drawings For My Mother) is quite interesting.  A collection of white vellum papers dotted with black ink, they are "illegal" sections from Vogue magazines.  In Jacir's own words: "These pieces are based on my memories of traveling in and out of Saudi Arabia.  On the airplane flying into Saudi Arabia, my mother would black out with a marker all the exposed parts of female bodies from the latest Vogue magazine in order to bring them into the country.  I collected old Vogue magazines from the years we lived in Saudi Arabia and retraced my mother’s action.  Extracting the 'illegal' sections from each magazine, the work speaks about traversing the space in between two extreme forms of repressing woman; a space in which the image of women is commodified and a space in which the image of women is banned."

Transience

From his current solo exhibition Transience, Michael Craig-Martin at Serpentine Gallery, London:

Anti-portraits

Kamolpan Chotvichai's Internal Monologue currently at Saatchi Gallery, London:

Emma Critchley's Portrait (Pool) currently at Saatchi:

Piccadilly Circus

Snapshots from yesterday ...

Piccadilly Circus, London:

Piccadilly Circus Station, London:

Wind Sculpture

Just started my short visit to London today.  Since there's no train service to London from Gatwick on Boxing Day, I took a National Express coach to Victoria Station.  I decided to walk around a bit before checking in at my pad.  And there I saw Yinka Shonibare's gravity defying public art Wind Sculpture at Howick Place, just a few blocks from Victoria Station:

No galleries are open today.  And since I haven't slept much on the plane last night, I decided to call it a day ...

Torque

I read about Toronto's newly (2015) completed SFC Bridge a couple months ago.  I finally found time to visit this past weekend.  The pedestrian bridge connects the Southcore Financial Centre with Delta Hotel just off the Union Station section of PATH.  The Torque project of the SFC Bridge by Jennifer Marman & Daniel Borins with architect James Khamsi is the purpose of my visit.

I love the sunlight through triangular windows throwing polygonal shadows on to the geometric patterns on the wall ...

(Waiting for the night) Waiting for the day

I made two versions of Christmas ecards this year.  The night version was deemed too dark to be a greeting card.  So only the day version has been sent to my friends.

Waiting for the night:

Waiting for the day:

Both came from this original picture taken at Toronto's Union Station last month:

Waiting For The Night

From Depeche Mode's 1990 album Violator:

Video from 9L1977's youtube channel

Snow Storm At Robarts Library

Reminding me of Michael Snow, Mark Lewis's beautiful film Snow Storm At Robarts Library currently at the Power Plant, Toronto: