Fantastic Opening! Next up: Film Screening and Artist’s Talk (bring the kids!) November 21, 2013

We’re still in recovery mode from an amazing opening night at Artscape Youngplace. After more than a decade laying empty, what a thrill it was to see the hallways and former Shaw Street School classrooms filled once again with people, including and especially all the enthusiastic kids. Artscape launched Youngplace in style, with resident artist and curator Heather Nicol’s two building-wide exhibitions, Unarchive and Stairmasters, gracing the passageways, plus food, drink, and music galore.

TYPOLOGY’s doors were open all day for tours by the kids from neighbouring Givins Shaw School, who unanimously loved the unpredictable projections of ERRATIC ROOM. Some even came back with their parents later in the day, joining the hundreds of visitors who attended the official ERRATIC ROOM opening and catalogue launch as part of the greater building’s festivities. The response was wonderful and we thank everyone who stopped by, introduced themselves, made comments, and/or signed up for the mailing list. Welcome to TYPOLOGY!

Moving forward, we hope you’ll join us for one of our upcoming events which will present the exhibition in a different, much less crowded, light. Two Saturdays from now, on November 30th, we’ll be hosting a family-friendly film screening and informal artist’s talk featuring the hilarious and amazing Buster Keaton shorts that inspired Lyla Rye’s installation. Bring your own pillow (chairs available as needed); there will be popcorn aplenty!

Details below:

Erratic Room Film Screening and Artist’s Talk
Saturday, November 30, 2013 from 1:00 – 4:00 pm

Each short is around 20 minutes long. Come around 1pm to see Lyla Rye’s installation and get your seat; first screening starts at 1:30. After a short break, the second screening will start, followed by a brief artist’s talk and kid-friendly Q+A. Stay for as long as you like!
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Event is free to attend
Suggested donation of $1 per bag of popcorn to cover costs.

As space is limited, please RSVP
Kids welcome accompanied by caregivers; recommended age range is 5 and up. If plans change, please notify us a day in advance so that others may have the chance to attend.

Event will be held at TYPOLOGY Projects
180 Shaw Street, No. 302, Artscape Youngplace, Toronto, ON M6J 2W5
See Google map of location

We look forward to seeing you!
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About Buster Keaton and the Erratic Room
The presence of Buster Keaton within Erratic Room is no accident or joke; his work fascinates Rye (as well as a long list of other artists who cite him as a major influence, from Jacques Tati to Jackie Chan, Samuel Beckett, Woody Allen, and Robert Wilson). Among the images Rye sourced for Erratic Room are key moments from two of his short films, namely One Week (1920) and The Electric House (1922). Both films feature the actor entangled in an epic struggle with structure — in One Week he vainly attempts to build a kit home for himself and his new bride; in The Electric House he gamely outfits a patron’s house with all manner of automated gadgetry which goes haywire to disastrous effect.

Both houses become impassive machines which offer not security but treachery in their baffling transformations; windows become exits to be launched through, a stairway propels people into a swimming pool. Walls flip upside down and turn inside out — in Keaton’s representation of the world, all that happens is contrary to reasonable expectations.

— Passage excerpted from the Erratic Room exhibition catalogue

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images
top: photo of Artscape Youngplace façade with new signage by Andrew Louis for the Torontoist
below: animated gif of Buster Keaton navigating treacherous stairs in The Electric House