MERCER

PAST EXHIBITION

A Light In The Moon

Geoffrey Farmer

1 November 2013 - 11 January 2014
Opening Reception 1 November 2013 7pm

In her 1977 book On Photography Susan Sontag pronounced “to collect photographs is to collect the world.” This statement resonates with the work of Geoffrey Farmer who excavates multifarious cultural histories, from the life of Frank Zappa and his Mothers of Invention, photographs in Life magazine between 1935 and 1985, Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of […]

PAST EVENT

Carte Blanche Film Screening

Offsite at Cinecycle, 129 Spadina Avenue (alley off the east side of Spadina between Richmond and Adelaide) Presented in collaboration with York University’s Department of Film Join Mercer Union for an intimate screening of films selected for their affinities to Geoffrey Farmer’s own practice as an artist. This rare presentation will include the projection of […]

PAST EVENT

PLATFORM: Princess Century / new fries / Bizzarh

Tickets available at the door MUSIC AT MERCER 2013 Princess Century new fries Bizzarh For more information, please contact york@mercerunion.org

PAST EVENT

Nuit Blanche Weekend

  ONE HOUR MIXER Saturday 5 October, 5-6PM   NUIT BLANCHE HANGOVER BRUNCH Sunday 6 October, 10AM-1PM       ONE HOUR MIXER: Mercer Union Member’s Only Cocktail Hour **PRE – NUIT BLANCHE SPECIAL** SATURDAY OCTOBER 5, 5-6PM Image from Maryanne Casasanta’s Instagram, October 2013 For Mercer members, Nuit Blanche starts early this year. On […]

PAST EXHIBITION

WHEN PLATITUDES BECOME FORM

Christopher Kulendran Thomas

6 September 2013 - 12 October 2013
Opening Reception 6 September 2013 7pm

UK-based artist Christopher Kulendran Thomas takes as materials the whole system by which art is distributed, purchasing existing artworks from the margins of international art power and reconfiguring them for worldwide circulation. Through this evisceration of contemporary art’s globalising mission, cultural exchange is explicitly perverted by the underlying colonial trading patterns that it usually masks. […]

PAST EVENT

SMALL PRESS BOOK FAIR, CURIO + VINTAGE SALE

Rain or shine! Admission PWYC (suggested donation $2) / free for Mercer Union members SMALL PRESS Anchorless Press Bywater Bros Editions Coach House Books Colour Code Printing Fake Injury Party Fuse Magazine Go Home Print Jesse Harris Koyama Press Little Brother Magazine Millions Magazine Nothing Else Press Paper Pusher Printworks Papirmasse Paul + Wendy Projects […]

PAST EXHIBITION

THE THICK OF IT

Eric Cameron, Tammi Campbell, Monique Mouton, Lisa Muzzin, Sasha Pierce, Josh Thorpe, and John Baldessari

Curated by York Lethbridge

28 June 2013 - 3 August 2013
Opening Reception 28 June 2013 7pm

Front and Back Galleries The Thick Of It brings together work by seven artists that balances process and the material concerns of painting, not as a discrete medium, but as a starting point with outcomes that blur disciplinary boundaries. Works here posit painting as a meditative or mundane activity, and painting as objects created with […]

PAST EVENT

In Studio: Jeremy Laing & Vanessa Maltese

Location will be confirmed on RSVP Refreshments will be served Join in this exclusive opportunity to visit Canadian designer Jeremy Laing and artist Vanessa Maltese, who collaborated on Laing’s 2013/14 fashion collection. Maltese and Laing will discuss their recent collaboration, in addition to current issues and interests in their practices. The In Studio series is […]

PAST EVENT

Stellar Living 2013

A Benefit for Mercer Union, a centre for contemporary art at Scrap Metal | 11 Dublin Street, Unit E, Toronto Auction Tickets $85 click to purchase via PayPal or call 416.536.1519 Join us for Stellar Living 2013, the fifth installment of Mercer Union’s biannual auction series. Canadian and international artists and designers have generously contributed […]

PAST EVENT

In Studio: Jeremy Bailey

Join us for an exclusive studio visit with artist Jeremy Bailey. Refreshments will be served. Free and guaranteed to Sustaining Members on RSVP. Space is extremely limited. Select tickets may be available to non-Sustaining Members for $25. Please contact York Lethbridge, Director of Operations & Development at york@mercerunion.org or 416.536.1519 for more details.

PAST EVENT

PLATFORM: I Am Robot And Proud / Alex Durlak / Cell Memory

Tickets available at the door MUSIC AT MERCER 2013 I Am Robot And Proud Computer composer Shaw-Han Liem presents a new performance of live electronic melodies and procedurally generated, reactive projections. Alex Durlak Alex Durlak will present an original, immersive electronic composition utlizing a multi-speaker setup. Among other things, the piece will feature an indiscernible […]

PAST EVENT

THE DJ WHO GAVE TOO MUCH INFORMATION

FADO Performance Art Centre, Mercer Union Contemporary and PME-ART present The DJ Who Gave Too Much Information (Hospitality 5) By Caroline Dubois, Claudia Fancello & Jacob Wren Collaborators: Mathieu Chartrand, Sylvie Lachance & Radwan Ghazi Moumneh +++ A pile of records and a record player. For every record we have one story at the ready. […]

PAST EVENT

RG*RG / What is Difference? Recognizing and Reassembling

A public conversation with Wanda Nanibush, Andrea Fatona and cheyanne turions What is difference? What constitutes difference? And what does difference mean? This series of questions has been at the forefront of Idle No More, post-colonialism, feminism, Marxism, and other cultural theory and still continues to influence much artmaking today. This conversation engages the public […]

PAST EXHIBITION

PAUL SIETSEMA

14 March 2013 - 20 April 2013
Opening Reception 14 March 2013 7pm

Mercer Union is pleased to present the first solo exhibition by Paul Sietsema in Canada. The exhibition will foreground the 16mm film Telegraph as well as a small selection of ink drawings. Deeply invested in the process of image-making, Paul Sietsema’s layered, self-reflective work explores how imagery and material affect society’s understanding of culture and […]

PAST EVENT

Ever Ending Kicks & Wyrd Visions

Mercer Union is pleased to announce the revival of its music series in its new incarnation as Platform: Music at Mercer 2013. with Ever Ending Kicks Breezy pop music on a potential spring day. Solo project from the drummer of Mount Eerie. http://www.everendingkicks.com/ Wyrd Visions An old friend that you are constantly rediscovering, Colin Bergh […]

PAST EVENT

RG*RG / What / Where is Social Practice?

A public conversation with Linda Duvall, Kim Simon and Amish Morrell Where can we view social practice within the framing of art? Do Canadian institutions make space for these kinds of socially and community-engaged artworks? What is the role of the institution, curator and artist in making these works more visible? This conversation is takes […]

PAST EVENT

In Studio: Marla Hlady

Join us for an exclusive studio visit with artist Marla Hlady. Refreshments will be served. Free and guaranteed to Sustaining Members on RSVP. Space is extremely limited. Select tickets may be available to non-Sustaining Members for $25. Please contact York Lethbridge, Director of Operations & Development at york@mercerunion.org or 416.536.1519 for more details. Marla Hlady […]

PAST EVENT

RG*RG / What Does the Commercial Gallery Mean for the Artist Today?

A public conversation with Derek Liddington, Daniel Faria, Erin Stump and Pascal Paquette What role does the commercial gallery play in contemporary society? What does this mean for artists who arguable do not make saleable work? Where do artists and their ephemeral works fit in to the gallery’s catalogue? What does representation mean for an […]

PAST EXHIBITION

DISCIPLINE

Matt Rogalsky

10 January 2013 - 16 February 2013
Opening Reception 10 January 2013 7pm

For twelve self-resonating Fender Stratocaster guitars shadowing a classic rock radio station Discipline focuses on the electric guitar as the iconic musical instrument of the 20th century and an object of obsession. The model of guitar used in the installation—twelve of them in bright colors, brand name hardly needing to be mentioned—was designed in 1954 […]

PAST EXHIBITION

HOW TO SEE AND READ THE AURA

Kyla Mallett

10 January 2013 - 16 February 2013
Opening Reception 10 January 2013 7pm

These works began as a tangent to Mallett’s Self-Help work. In collecting second-hand self-help materials, she encountered a book entitled How to See and Read the Aura which fell under the category of parapsychology and new-age healing. This text became a key element to her research in self-help, which Mallett expanded on in this body […]