TORONTO, April 6, 2017 /CNW/ - The Ryerson Image Centre (RIC) will kick off the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival with the official launch party, open to the public, on April 28, 2017, 7:00–11:00 pm. In addition to acting as a host institution for CONTACT, the RIC is proud to present the Scotiabank Photography Award exhibition, which this year features the work of Suzy Lake, 2016 winner of the prestigious award. Alongside this show, the RIC will showcase two more CONTACT primary exhibitions, including a robotic installation by artist Max Dean and a four-part film series by First Nations and Métis artists Kent Monkman, Caroline Monnet, Jeff Barnaby, and Michelle Latimer.
Scotiabank Photography Award: Suzy Lake celebrates the career of this Canadian artist, renowned internationally for her work on self-representation, female identity and the aging body. This survey of more than fifty objects, made between 1976 and 2014, brings focus to Lake's artistic process and methodologies. Including never-before-seen photographs, maquettes and working materials, the exhibition examines this important artist's career of experimentation and unwavering efforts through the years to push the boundaries of the photographic medium. This exhibition is presented by Scotiabank and organized by the Ryerson Image Centre in partnership with the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival.
Through an interactive experience where gallery visitors can instruct a factory automaton to save endangered family photographs, Max Dean's As Yet Untitled (1992-1995) explores issues surrounding a viewer's responsibility for culture and memory. Composed of an industrial arm, conveyer belt, paper shredder, and two silhouetted hands, Dean's mechanized robot is programmed to pick up a 4 x 6" snapshot from a hopper and present it to the viewer as a final step before it is discarded—allowing the audience to decide which images will survive, and which will be lost to history.
The RIC's Salah J. Bachir New Media Wall will feature Souvenir, a series of four short films that address Indigenous identity and representation through reworked material from the National Film Board's archives. Using montage, intercutting and juxtaposition, First Nations and Métis artists Kent Monkman, Caroline Monnet, Jeff Barnaby, and Michelle Latimer explore and deconstruct cinematic stereotypes and interrogate history. These short collage films, each derived from a distinct artistic vision, explore Canada's complicated past—recasting documentation into critical inquiry and shining a harsh light on official inhumanity, appropriated iconography, and the politics of representation. This film series is produced by the National Film Board of Canada.
Scotiabank Photography Award: Suzy Lake; Max Dean: As Yet Untitled; and Souvenir: Kent Monkman, Caroline Monnet, Jeff Barnaby and Michelle Latimer are all primary exhibitions of the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival. These exhibitions will also have free public programming, including artist and curator walk-throughs, talks, and more. A full schedule of events is available via ryerson.ca/ric/lectures/uplectures.
Ryerson Image Centre
33 Gould Street
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
FREE ADMISSION
Free exhibition tours daily at 2:30 pm
www.ryerson.ca/ric
416-979-5164
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The Ryerson Image Centre (RIC) exists for the research, teaching and exhibition of photography and related media. We are an active partner within the academic fabric of Ryerson University, the cultural network of greater Toronto, and the national and international artistic community. We develop rigorous yet inclusive programs for students, faculty, artists, researchers and curators, as well as the general public. The RIC boasts three interrelated areas of activity. Our exhibition program addresses topics of social, cultural, aesthetic and historical concern from a variety of contemporary perspectives. Our Peter Higdon Research Centre conducts and facilitates inquiry into primary resource materials and offers workshops, lectures, symposia and publication programs. Finally, we maintain a collection of photography spanning the medium's history, as well as several artist and journalism archives—including the renowned Black Star Collection of twentieth century photoreportage. For more information, visit www.ryerson.ca/ric
Ryerson University is Canada's leader in innovative, career-oriented education and a university clearly on the move. With a mission to serve societal need, and a long-standing commitment to engaging its community, Ryerson offers more than 100 undergraduate and graduate programs. Distinctly urban, culturally diverse and inclusive, the university is home to more than 41,500 students, including 2,400 master's and PhD students, 3,200 faculty and staff, and nearly 170,000 alumni worldwide. Research at Ryerson is on a trajectory of success and growth: externally funded research has doubled in the past five years. The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education is Canada's leading provider of university-based adult education. For more information, visit http://www.ryerson.ca
CONTACT fosters and celebrates the art and profession of photography with an annual Festival in May and year-round programming in the CONTACT Gallery. CONTACT, a not-for-profit organization founded in 1997, is generously supported by Scotiabank, Nikon Canada, Pattison Outdoor Advertising, La Fondation Emmanuelle Gattuso, Vistek, Dentons Canada LLP, Toronto Image Works, The Gilder, Transcontinental PLM, 3M Canada, Waddington's Auctioneers and Appraisers, Four By Eight Signs, Beyond Digital Imaging, Steam Whistle Brewing, Art Toronto, The Gladstone Hotel, Canadian Art, CBC, The Globe and Mail, and NOW Magazine. CONTACT gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund, Celebrate Ontario, Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, Ontario Arts Council, The Government of Ontario, Partners in Art, Street Art Toronto (StART), Canada Council for the Arts, the Howard Webster Foundation, Goethe-Institut, the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council, and all of our funders, donors, and programming partners.
The Scotiabank Photography Award, now in its seventh year, is Canada's largest annual peer-nominated, peer-reviewed acknowledgment of excellence in contemporary photography. In 2010 Scotiabank co-founded the Award with photographer Edward Burtynsky, in order to recognize an established mid to later-career artist; celebrate the outstanding contribution they have made to the arts; and raise international and national awareness of the strength of photography in Canada. Each year, the Scotiabank Photography Award-winning artist receives a prize of $50,000, a book overview of their oeuvre, published and distributed worldwide by esteemed German imprint Steidl Verlag AG, and a solo exhibition at the Ryerson Image Centre during the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival. These three components of the Award combine to reward the winning artist and advance his or her career in a tangible and meaningful way.
SOURCE Scotiabank
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