Oliver Husain, Maïder Fortuné and Annie MacDonell, Jon Sasaki, Skawennati: Immaterial Architecture (online)

The Art Museum at the University of Toronto presents Immaterial Architecture (online), a series of newly commissioned projects specially conceived for the screen-space. Curated by Yan Wu, the series features four new works by Oliver Husain, Maïder Fortuné and Annie MacDonell, Jon Sasaki, and Skawennati. 

Over the course of the past few months, in the midst of an unprecedented global social experiment, the screen-space has become the controlling facet of our lives, combining domestic and work space into one. Already a mainstay of everyday life, the screen’s function has expanded to become a portal, a lifeline, a primary means to exchange and to connect with others. In the art world, for the first time in its history, the screen has become the almost-exclusive interface for reaching its audience. The works in Immaterial Architecture (online) reflect on this exceptional moment, guiding and luring us into the medium that, for the time being, shapes almost all of our relations.

The projects will launch on Art Museum’s website every Thursday from October 29 until November 19, 2020.

Thursday, October 29, 7pm EST
Oliver Husain, Streamy Windows
A real-time experimental choreography from our garages live to your kitchen. Doors, windows, passages form a set of rules for dancers and performers to move, press, dip and stretch through and against. Reassembling the cast and crew of his film French Exit (2018)—Megumi Kokuba, Charlie Diaz, Anni Spadafora, Iris Ng, Vanessa Magic and Matt Smith—Oliver Husain invites viewers to join a public television style variety show, featuring multiple channels, digital glitches, vertical blinds, and virtual puppets. 

Thursday, November 5, 7pm EST
Maïder Fortuné and Annie MacDonell, OUTHERE (for Lee Lozano)
In July 1971, Lee Lozano gave a talk at NSCAD called “The Halifax 3 State Experiment.” Stretching over eight hours and across multiple locations, Lozano delivered the lecture in three states: sober, stoned on weed, and high on LSD. On November 5, the ninetieth anniversary of Lozano’s birth, the artists revisit this event to burn a Lee-sized wormhole in the time/space continuum. The event will happen in three time-states: synchronous, asynchronous and polysynchronous.

Thursday, November 12, 7pm EST
Jon Sasaki, Open 24 Hours
Through Upwork, a virtual platform connecting freelancers and clients, Jon Sasaki commissioned 24 videographers from around the world to produce a one-hour self-portrait, for a fee of 100 USD. The resulting 24 videos will be uploaded to Vimeo, viewable around the clock. The life of a freelancer can be difficult and precarious at the best of times. Here, freelancers give us a glimpse into their worlds under COVID-19, showing us the things that are important to them.

Thursday, November 19, 7pm EST
Skawennati, Greetings from Skyworld
In Skawennati’s 2017 movie She Falls For Ages, a sci-fi retelling of the Haudenosaunee creation story, Skyworld is headed for doom. In the hope of saving their kind, a brave woman journeys through a portal and lands on Earth. In Greetings from Skyworld, Skawennati imagines that the planet somehow survived and its citizens—our ancestors—have been looking for us ever since. This short, looping, machinima without dialogue relays their message when they find us.

For more information, please visit artmuseum.utoronto.ca

About the Art Museum at the University of Toronto
The Art Museum at the University of Toronto is one of the largest gallery spaces for visual art exhibitions and programming in Toronto. The Art Museum organizes and presents an intensive year-round program of exhibitions and events that foster—at a local, regional, and international level—innovative research, interdisciplinary scholarship, and knowledge of art and its histories befitting Canada’s leading university and the country’s largest city.