Saturday, September 11, 2010

My second night at SWARM.

The evening began at 6:30PM. Gareth Moore had cultivated an installation amidst the ruins off Terminal Avenue -- wooden figures in the landscape, like the title of my Richard Jefferies collection: Landscape With Figures. Gareth had apprised me of the show the night before, so I went.

I was given vague instructions. Rather than get lost, I arrived closer to 7 than 5, knowing that the crowd would tell me where I was.

And there they were, gathered under Jimmy Pattison’s free-standing billboard, the kind our former premier Glen Clark places on behalf of Jimmy’s company. Gareth had supplied a tray that held a vodka bottle, plastic cups and cigarettes. The vodka was from a local distiller, the cups from China.

Still early for SWARM, I parked my car outside the darkened Or and walked to Holt Renfrew, where I purchased a pair of shoes. When I returned, the Or was buzzing -- a group show curated by Kim Nguyen, on love and its impermanence.

Jon Sasksi was at the newly-landed Access. His “pairs” parkour piece resonated. Artspeak was a crush; I could not see the installation. The Pitt has moved to Chinatown, and I like their new digs. Teagan Moore had work there, but I prefer her CSA show, particularly her window pieces. She is one to watch.

The night ended at Every Letter In The Alphabet, where fillip was launching a new issue. I purchased a copy and a year’s subscription. As a bonus, new subscribers will receive a nicely designed publication by Dexter Sinister, featuring Louis Brandeis’s 1913 essay “Other People’s Money”. And that was it for me.

Arrived home at 10:55PM, picking a tomato on the way up the stairs, which I made into a sandwich. Then to my computer, where Judith Hopf’s Hey Produktion (2001) waited to be un-paused.

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