Lugano, Switzerland; Milan, Italy; Toronto, Ontario
MASI Lugano: The naming by Johanna Kolaris of 12-foot work as “The sun is standing at about 35° from the gound. Just the way it should be at this time of year” makes more sense when explained that the painting is UV sensitive paint on drywall. Opening night for the Humere exhibition, titled as a play on the Latin root for web and also for humour. Winner of the Manor Art Prize 2024 for Lugano awarded biannually for artists under 40 years of age. (Museo d’arte della Svizzera italiana, Piazza Bernardino Luini , Lugano, Switzerland) 20241003MASI Lugano: Positioned by windows facing east towards mountains across Lago di Lugano, Alexander Calder (1957) Funghi Neri is part of the Sculpting Time exhibition. On loan from the Calder Foundation in New York, the American artist is familiar to me in galleries on the other side of the Atlantic. Lineup to enter this hall, maybe a side effect of visitors for opening night downstairs. (Museo d’arte della Svizzera italiana, Piazza Bernardino Luini, Lugano, Switzerland) 20241003Grottino Viganello: Morning plenary of day 5 of 2024 Banathy Conversation of #CSRPInstitute, with two groups in the reflecting phase, relating experiences from the prior 4 days. One group followed the traditional conventing of full-week immersion of international participants. The other group involved members within the region, and experimented with a core group maintaining continuity while swapped in as available. Asynchronous recollecting phase will follow with asynchronous collaborative editing of proceedings. (Grottino Viganello, Via della Pergola, Lugano, Switzerland) 20241004 https://sites.google.com/lab.csrp.institute/2024-banathy-conversation/engaging/reflectingGrottino Viganello: Concluding 5 days immersed on the 2024 Banathy Conversation of #CSRPInstitute. This meeting room was the venue for Team Brown, and plenary sessions with the second team breaking out nearby. Kitchen facilities meant shared lunches and dinners together, following runs to the grocery story down the street. (Grottino Viganello, Via della Pergola, Lugano, Switzerland) 20241004
Lake Como:: With 5:02pm southbound departure from Lugano, opted for first class tickets to escape the standing-room-only ride we encountered in the second class northbound trip 6 days earlier. First class is only one half of the railcar, so we could see standees packed in through the door behind us. Arrival in Milan delayed before Como, we were messaging apartment agent for assisted check-in. (Lake Como, Italy) 20241004
Fondazione Prada Milano: In the Sud exhibition space is Le Studio d’Orphée, the living-working place of Jean-Luc Godard from Rolle Switzerland, transferred in 2019 before his passing in 2022. Born in 1930, with his influence on French New Wave movies in the 1960s, his digital editing of a 2018 work shows his keeping up with technology. The permanent installation television monitor shows a loop of clips of variousGodard movies, including this image of a woman slipping down her stocking. (Sud space. Fondazione Prada, Largo Isarco, Milan, Italy) 20241005
Fondazione Prada Milano: Panoramic view north from eighth floor of the Torre building, with a series of glass cases including Damian Hirst (1997) Tears for Everybody Looking at You. An umbrella protects the decoy ducks from a continual rainshower, yet waterfowl need pools of water to float and swim. The other glass cases behind with collections of dead flies are less humourous. (Fondazione Prada, Largo Isarco, Milan, Italy) 20241005
Fondazione Prada Milano: On ninth floor of Torre building, visitors first trace a blind handrail through Carsten Holler (2000) Gantenbein Corridor (i.e. goose leg maze) completely dark passageway, to emerge out into brightness of (2000) Upside Down Mushroom Room. Lights from floor and spinning for ceiling produce a hallucination enjoyed by children. Adults attempt to capture the experience on their smartphones. (Fondazione Prada, Largo Isarco, Milan, Italy) 20241005
Ancient Lavoir Vicolo Lavandai: In a quiet alley north of the Naviglio Grande canal is a narrow stream, quiet except for the number of tourists visiting. The male guild of laundrymen used wooden slabs back into the 1700s. The stone slabs became known for laundrywomen taking over in the 1900s to bleach linens with ash, soap and soda, until mechanization became common in the 1950s. (Vicolo Lavandai, Navlgli, Milan, Italy) 20241005Naviglio Grande: Squinting into setting sun, aligned with the canal teeming with visitors on a busy Saturday. Enjoyed pizza and meatballs with potatoes for early dinner at restaurant facing the passersby. Nearby Mudec wasn’t as close as maps suggested, as the walking path has to circumnavigate the railway tracks running parallel. (Naviglio Grande, Milan, Italy) 20241005
Pirelli HangarBicocca:: A video projector at each end of 24 silk panels #SaodatIsmailova (2024) As We Fade, part of the exhibition A Seed Under Our Tongue. One of twelve installations in the dark Shed, the Uzbehki video artist transmits landscapes and moving artifacts that dissolve into shades of colour less than halfway through the fabric series. Pictures in motion are reduced in translucence as light is dematerialized. (Pirelli HangarBicocca, Via Chiese, Milan, Italy) 20241006
Pirelli HangarBicocca: The first of five large painting added Anselm Kiefer (2009) Jaipur is at the north end of the Navette exhibition space. Of the Seven Heavenly Palaces first exhibited in 2004, the closest is (2004) Sefiroth, associated with ten different channels through which the one God reveals His will, in the later Jewish literature. The original temporary installation has become permanent, probably because moving and storing the work would destroy it. (Pirelli HangarBicocca, Via Chiese, Milan, Italy) 20241006
Sforzesco Castle: Originally built as Castello di Porta Giova for Visconti dukes circa 1370, the structure was enlarged in 1450 by Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan. Repurposed many time over centuries, the city reconstructured the fortress as museums after WWII. Espoused as open until 7:30pm, we arrived after 5:00pm when ticket offices were closed. Sforzesco Castle, Piazza Castello, Milan, Italy) 20241006
Swiss Alps: Air Baltic 1617 flight from Milan to Zürich, flight time less than an hour over the Alps. Departure was cloudy, snow was evident in the southern facing mountain slopes. As we travelled north, the snow cover on peaks appeared less and less, exposing either rocks or trees. (LX1617, Alps, Switzerland) 20241007
15 Merchants Wharf: Ecological flipbook in #NuitBlanche Extended with #IsaacKing (2024) Humans Build the Biggest Nests. Narrative thinking about entangled ecologies influenced by theorists and indigenous thinkers. Visitors were encouraged to run hands through the cards to trace the interactions between species. (15 Merchants Wharf, East Bayfront, Toronto, Ontario) 20241009
125 Queens Quay East:: Unfixed dyed sand in #NuitBlanche Extended with #ShannonGardenSmith (2024) Snail-work (For The Lake) showed carefully grains at outset. Visitors were invited to gently disrupt the patterns by walking through. This reminds individuals about the accumulated environmental, historical and economic impacts of the world’s most popular construction material. (125 Queens Quay East, East Bayfront, Toronto, Ontairo) 20241009
HTO Park: On sidewalk just north of urban beach, #NuitBlanche Extended with #MichaCárdenas + the #CriticalRealitiesStudio (2024) The Probability Engine: Atlantic Overturning. Sculpture undulates for 15 feet, evoking the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), a critical system of global ocean currents. Accompanying lighting, sound, and poetry from the night time festival is absent in the late afternoon. (HTO Park, Queens Quay West, Toronto, Ontaro) 20241009Dai Kuang Wah Herb: Prescription of herbs for decoction, following 4 days of holiday weekend with the runs. Chinese doctor diagnosed as food poisoning, not notovirus where my tongue would be red. Now have been home from Italy for 7 days, malady has resulted in 9 lb. loss that might have been welcomed if interruption in life wan’t so severe. (Dai Kuang Wah Herb , Gerrard Street East, Toronto, Ontario) 20241015
Toronto Biennial of Art: Hanging strips of fabric mimic bamboo forest in multimedia installation #KarenTam (2024) #ScentOfThunderbolts of stage with Cantonese opera for #TorontoBiennialOfArt. Visitors are invited to walk around backstage, and view vintage photos of last century shows. A diasporic visual and sonic memory more for my father’s generation than me. (Toronto Biennial of Art, Lisgar Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20241019
Leslie Lookout Park: Exceptionally warm day draws out bicyclists and sunbathers, towards beach facing west into ship channel running to the inner harbour. Lookout tower can be approached by stairs or slow ramp, with bike repair station its base. Architected shape of lookout respects the cylindrical tower of the St. Mary’s Cement factory to the north. (Leslie Lookout Park, Leslie Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20241020
Full House Chinese Cuisine: Large print on wall seems incongruous with dim sum served, appears to be a 20th century copy of Cornelis Springer (1853) “The Quasihuis of Rembrandt on the St. Anthoniebreestraat” in Amsterdam. Enjoyed menu with more vegan options than is usual with other restaurants in the neighbourhood, some topped with fish paste. Day was full of medical appointments, this venue was in the same plaza as optometrist office. (Full House Chinese Cuisine, Finch Avenue East, Scarborough, Ontario) 20241022Aga Khan Museum: Electric blue neon light on ceramic tile Jamelie Hassan (2009) Arabic letter ن (pronounced “noon”) represents the 26th letter in that alphabet of 28. Part of the exhibition Light: Visionary Perspectives at the 10th year anniversary of the museum. Open late on Wednesday, couples visit just as sun was setting as fall days get shorter. (Aga Khan Museum, Wynford Drive, Don Mills, Ontario) 20241023
Aga Khan Museum: Immersive looped video in dark corner, Tannis Nielsen (2020) mazinibii’igan/ a creation as a reimagining of residual radiation from the Big Bang. Dressing in monochrome challenges discerning figures moving in the space. Short line up for visitors to become part of the art installation. (Aga Khan Museum, Wynford Drive, Don Mills, Ontario) 20241023
Centre for Social Innovation Spadina: Founder celebrating first @inwit_app Awards Party online, while staff and guests enjoy drinks and snacks in person. Recognition of partners who have shared the vision of zero-waste food service, enabling the business to grow. Company has pivoted from the original consumer target market to commercial catering, further web app enhancements coming. (Centre for Social Innovation, Spadina Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20241025
Gerrard-Ashdale: Diwala Mela lights up the darkness with sparklers and dancing. Throbbing music attracts the crowd, and a dancer on stilts encourages joining in. Major street not closed off, neighborhood event in Little India. (Gerrard Street East at Ashdale Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20241026
Art Gallery of Ontario: In Moments of Modernism exhibition, Tome Oktake (1973) Opus 3, oil on canvas. Japanese artist visting Brasil in 1936 couldn’t return home during Second Sino-Japanese War. Thin coats of paint applied with spray gun, layer by layer , to result in luminous, deep colour. (Art Gallery of Ontario, Dundas Street East, Toronto, Ontario) 20241030
Art Gallery of Ontario: Across four walls, Jinny Yu (2023) Cuboids + Colour, watercolors extended with gouache. Visual connection in series of three-dimensional shapes with six rectangular faces. Korean-born artists trained in Canada, now a professor in Ottawa. (Art Gallery of Ontario, Dundas Street West, Toronto, Ontario) 20241030
Zhang Liang Spicy Hotpot: Acknowledging malatang is not Cantonese cuisine, decided my father might try a style of pick-your-own ingredients for soup if we opted for the mild broths not available in mainland China. He chose lobster balls, crab balls, cut fish, mussels on the shell, tofu, beef tripe and hand-pulled noodles. I was expecting mushroom broth as vegan and non-spicy, but only tomato soup base was available at this branch. (Zhang Liang Spicy Hotpot, Midland Avenue, Scarborough, Ontario) 20241031
