AWP (Atelier Wundershon Peplum)
Curated by: Catherine Sicot
23 June 2005 - 30 July 2005
Opening Reception 6 April 2023 12am
TORONTOTROLL, A residency project at Mercer Union in Toronto
With the support of AFAA, the French Consulate of France in Toronto, Evergreen, the Drake Hotel, and Institut pour la Ville en Mouvement.
AWP is a Paris-based agency of “territorial reconfiguration” whose practice integrates visual arts, design, music, architecture, and landscape design. The collective have been in residence at Mercer Union since June 20th to explore nighttime urban mobility in Toronto. With their Protocol Troll they have initiated debates and participatory projects with local artists and professionals interested in urban mobility. These interventions aim to create alternative ways to think about mobility and to move throughout the GTA.
Mercer’s front gallery has been transformed into an urban mobility research lab and participants, collaborators and the public are invited to come interact with the artists and get involved with the project.
All events are free admission
Torontotroll AGENDA
We shall explore and test mobility at night in Toronto in order to identify Troll sites and strategies (to go from one suburb to the other, Troll meeting points, Ravines, Brickworks, Gardiner expressway). These explorations will give way to micro interventions to be documented and become elements (flesh) for installations at the Mercer Union Gallery and future developments of the project.
The ToTrollsound project will develop through the 4 weeks, with a musical performance each week and a studio recording on the final week.
Collaboration proposal : We shall have four teams (one can participate in several groups). Each team will concentrate on one of the four main themes, (mobility, night time gardening, temporary occupation of public spaces and creation of cumulative work sound).
Each of the teams will develop the collaboration between at least one member of the AWP collective and one or several Canadian artist(s). For instance, Martin Arnold and Arnaud Hirschauer for the music project.
Members of the AWP collective who will participate in the project, are : Marc Armengaud (philosopher, urban designer, artist and musician), Matthias Armengaud (architect, urban designer, artist and musician), Arnaud Hirschauer (architect and musician), Sari Myöhänen (designer and artist) and Rob Mazurek (artist and musician).
TorontoTroll Program :
Thursday, June 30th, 7PM at the Mercer Union gallery :
Workshop on night time mobility patterns in the greater Toronto area, followed by an exploration trip from suburb to suburb. Gathering members of the collaborative teams.
Friday, July 1st, 9:30PM at the Mercer Union gallery :
Multimedia performance with Matthieu Mevel, Arnaud Hirschauer, Marc Armengaud, Martin Arnold and Serena Kemball.
Tuesday, July 5th, 7PM at the Mercer Union gallery :
Public debate on night time mobility patterns in the greater Toronto area.
Thursday, July 7th, 10PM to 1AM Path to Shore FREE
meeting at the front doors of Toronto City Hall (Nathan Phillips Square, 100 Queen St West):
Starting at 10pm at the front doors of City Hall this migration from the Path to Cherry beach, will feature a guerilla sound-system navigation and host interventions by the City Beautification Ensemble, Pete Gazendam, Devon Knowles, Martin Arnold and others. A cell phone has been set up for along the route updates, please call 416.315.5719 if joining us after 10pm. Radios will be provided for the first 20 participants but if you have your own portable radio, please bring it along. The first 20 participants will also receive a Reflector Pin by Sandy Plotnikoff.
Sunday, July 10th, 10PM to 1AM Sub to Sub FREE (+ single fare)
meeting outside St. George subway station, Bedford Rd entrance:
Starting at 10pm at the Bedford entrance to the St George Subway stop. In order to disrupt the usual dynamic between the urban center and the suburbs, AWP creates a temporary mobility network from Markham to Scarborough. Along the way they will animate public spaces with interventions by the Guerilla Gardeners, Sari Myöhänen and others. The performance ends with a reception at the Drake Hotel.
Tuesday, July 12th, 9PM Saturday Night Beaver FREE
Torontotroll concert at the Drake Hotel (1150 Queen St West)
The Drake Hotel and Mercer Union present the AWP ensemble in concert, joined by their long time collaborator Rob Mazurek (Chicago Underground, Stereolab, Tortoise, Calexico, etc) and a rotating group of Toronto musicians and artists (Martin Arnold, Eric Chenaux, Ryan Driver, etc) for a multi-media extravaganza. Sounds and images collected during night-time odysseys are processed and mixed with acoustic and electronic sounds to form an experimental free-jazz soundtrack for the night.
Saturday, July 16th 10PM to 1AM FREE
Toad Ecstasy and Cricket Frenzy: Nocturnal Migration from Regent Park to Brick Works
Meeting points @ Mercer Union (37 Lisgar Street) and Front Street, in front of Union Station 10PM
Generating An Alternative Night-Time Mobility
Mercer Union presents Toad Ecstasy Cricket Frenzy, a night migration from Queen West to Regent Park and the Don Valley Ravine by French collective AWP. Buses will drive participants from outdoor urban art performances, to momentary retreats in the nature of the Don Valley Ravine. In collaboration with Jamie Todd and Adonis Huggins, Program Director of Regent Park Focus, AWP will host an outdoor event in Regent Park featuring Regent Park’s Myths, a sound performance by Ambient Ping along with multimedia installations addressing issues of urban public life and mobility. In the Don Valley Ravine, at Brick Works, outdoor installations will include a series of videos on Toronto at night by AWP; Mirage light, a textile installation by Sari Myöhänen (with the participation of Mona Filip); Forest, a video and sound piece by Kathleen Hearn; Velocity by Chris Hardwicke, and sound works by the PED (represented by Millie Chen) and Lewis Kaye.
Yellow AWP buses leave from Union Station and Mercer Union promptly at 10pm. Buses will return to these sites at regular intervals. Please wear sensible footwear and bring a flashlight if you have one (extra flashlights will be available if necessary).
Wednesday, July 27th 7PM FREE
Artist Talks by Ninjalicious and Sean Lerner
Mercer Union (37 Lisgar Street)
Infiltration, the “zine about going places you’re not supposed to go”, is a paper publication devoted to the art of urban exploration, a sort of interior tourism that allows the curious-minded to discover behind-the-scenes sights and have a lot of free fun. Founded by Ninjalicious, Infiltration has been published since the mid-1990s, growing in popularity, and influencing other zines published nternationally. Ninjalicious will be speaking about his own history of urban exploration, and his experiences exploring various types of buildings.
Sean Lerner has been working on the TTC Subway Rider’s Efficiency Guide for
the past five years. The guide features diagrams of every station that allow riders to line themselves up with the appropriate escalator at their destination station, shaving seconds off of their journey. Most recently the guide has been featured in the Globe and Mail and Metro magazine. Sean Lerner will talk about the trials and tribulations of creating a guide that focuses so resolutely on the details.
Mercer Union presents talks by both artists on Wednesday July 27th at 7pm. These presentations are the final event in the month-long series of lectures, excursions, performances and panel discussions around the topic of Nighttime Mobility. The Parisian collective AWP were invited by Mercer Union, along with AFFA, The Drake Hotel, Evergreen and the French Consulate, to come to Toronto as part of a month-long residency. Curated by Catherine Sicot, the project included an exhibition and intense schedule of events, including many collaborations with Toronto artists.
A book documenting the project will be released in 2006.
For more information, contact info@mercerunion.org or 416.536.1519 or visit www.mercerunion.org or www.torontotroll.ca.
The public is invited to experience softly disrupted nocturnal landscapes as conditions for a renewed relationship to the city. Mobility becomes a physical and imaginary incubator for alternative public spaces, experiences, and relations.
Thanks to Vtape for their assistance
Contact :
info@mercerunion.org
www.torontotroll.ca