OCAD University is excited to take part in the country’s largest art fair, Art Toronto, in collaboration with the University of the Arts London (UAL).
Running through November 8, the event features contemporary artists from Canada, the U.K. and around the world. Art Toronto takes a dynamic format this year combining online content with in-person programming from across the country. Online showcases sit alongside special in-person events in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and beyond, as galleries and institutions host the fair’s socially distanced exhibitions and live programming.
“We are excited to partner with University of the Arts London (UAL) at this year’s Art Toronto,” said Ana Serrano, President and Vice-Chancellor, OCAD University. “The timeliness of this creative collaboration during the COVID-19 pandemic is more important than ever; together we share our common goal of propelling the creativity of our makers and thinkers during an unprecedented time.”
The collaboration between OCAD University and UAL comes out of ongoing dialogue between the two universities and cross-working on common areas of interest such as decolonization.
Art Toronto showcases these two world-leading communities, through an online student exhibition and virtual studio visits. Both institutions are committed to ongoing collaboration as they expand the boundaries of creative practice and innovative ways of displaying and engaging with artists’ work.
“This year has brought great challenges for cultural production and we have had to find creative ways to collaborate and share,” said Sir Nigel Carrington, Vice-Chancellor, UAL.” We’re very pleased that our partnership with OCAD University can be realized in new ways; sharing this showcase at Art Toronto 2020 allows us to reflect some of the themes which connect us.”
Student exhibition
An exhibition of student work curated by OCAD University alumna Kaylyn Hamlyn features 11 of UAL and OCAD University’s 2020 alumni. Over 11 days, the OCAD | UAL virtual booth at Art Toronto will transition through three phases: Grasping, Grounding, and Gesturing, to foster dialogue around the question “what do we talk about when we talk about space.”
Works include sculpture, installation, photography, painting, drawing, animation, film and game design from some of UAL and OCAD’s brightest emerging artists.
“This year we have found ourselves more aware of space than ever before, said curator Kaylyn Hamlyn. “The artists shown throughout this booth are part of a dialogue of shifting spaces, highlighting themes of displacement, migration, and the growing slippage between digital life and virtual/reality.”
Featured OCAD U graduates include: Ahlena Sultana-McGarry, Ana Luisa Bernárdez, Isabel Diana, Kasra Goodarznezhad, Mohammad Tabesh, Sarah-Juliet Nadler, Tania Costa and Tian Cao.
Curation schedule
Phase One: Grasping - October 28 to 31
Grasping, invites interrogation of the spaces “between”, and showcases works that explore the physicality of distance and how these gaps are spanned by memory, expectation, censorship and cultural dialogue. Ranging from installation, to painting, to video game, the artworks in this collection navigate gaps placed between body and land by factors such as migration and environmental concern, and reaches beyond physical distance to grasp at themes of cultural exchange and belonging.
Phase Two: Grounding - November 1 to 4
Grounding, positions land and body relationships in direct conversation with environmental issues, identity, and definition of boundaries. This collection features painting, sculpture, installation and photographs which look at humankind’s impact on our natural environment and takes a moment to survey the land we stand on while the world it at a standstill.
Phase Three: Gesturing - November 5 to 8
Gesturing takes the form of largely figurative work which interrogates the physical body and the spaces it holds. These works trace internalized ideas of cultural expectation, identity, and representation while striving to better understand the way the body remembers, and what weight that carries.
Virtual studio visits: Dr. Kimathi Donkor, Mark Lewis, Eunice Luk, Amanda Nedham and Erika Tan
In a series of 30-minute virtual studio visits, UAL’s Kimathi Donkor, Erika Tan and Mark Lewis share their workspaces and perspectives on location (Home Abroad), disruption and social justice; alongside OCAD University alumni Amanda Nedham and Eunice Luk.
- Dr Kimathi Donkor, artist and Course Leader, BA Fine Art, Painting, Camberwell, UAL. A member of the UAL community whose work focuses on diasporic imaginaries and the condition of decoloniality.
- Erika Tan - artist, researcher, curator and Lecturer on the 4D Pathway, BA Fine Art, Central Saint Martins, UAL. Erika’s work is informed by specific transcultural, geographical or physical contexts. Her research focuses on the postcolonial, transnational and decolonial.
- Professor Mark Lewis – Research Fine Art, Central Saint Martins, UAL – Mark has broad experience of working and exhibiting in Canada and with Canadian influences in his own work, whilst also engaging directly with international communities.
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Eunice Luk graduated from the OCAD University in 2012, receiving a Bachelor of Design and a Minor in Printmaking. Her drawings have been published by numerous publications including The New York Times and the 3×3 Illustration Annual. She has exhibited drawings, sculptures and installations, at the Howard Park Institute, Xpace and Narwhal Art Projects in Toronto.
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Amanda Nedham completed her BFA at OCAD University in Printmaking, her MFA at RISD in Painting, and resides in Brooklyn. Her practice is interdisciplinary with an emphasis on drawing and sculpture. Nedham recently published a book of letters and drawings titled, My Boyfriend is a Peacekeeper, and is currently working on a book of poems and drawings dedicated to Dian Fossey.
For free public access to the fair from 31 October create an account to log in and view the OCAD| UAL gallery.