Photorama turns 25: Gallery TPW’s 25th Annual Affordable Art Fundraiser begins December 2nd

This year marks the 25^th anniversary of Gallery TPW’s annual Photorama fundraising exhibition featuring over 70 artists exhibiting contemporary photography and lens-based work. Photorama has become one of the most successful seasonal art sales in the city, and this year’s selection will not disappoint. Photorama 2011 is open to the public from December 2 – December 10, 2011 with an exclusive Collectors Preview on December 1^st, 6 – 9 pm.

Photorama features work by some of Canada’s most accomplished artists and promising young photographers. With most works priced below $600, Photorama offers seasoned collectors and first-time buyers alike the opportunity to buy limited edition photographs and artwork. Each sale from Photorama directly assists with the operations and programming at Gallery TPW, while also supporting local artists and culture in Toronto.

Highlights at Photorama 2011 include works by some of Canada’s most esteemed photographers such as Edward Burtynsky, Suzy Lake, Robyn Cumming, and a new piece by Carole Condé and Karl Beveridge. A complete list of participating Photorama artists is available online at gallerytpw.ca/photorama2011

On Thursday, December 1st, 6 – 9 pm Gallery TPW invites Collector Members to attend an exclusive Collectors Preview of Photorama 2011. Collector Members are given first opportunity to purchase art works before Photorama opens to the public. Collector Memberships can be purchased online for $75 at gallerytpw.ca/membership or by contacting the gallery at 416.645.1066. Photorama opens to the public on Friday, December 2^nd, 26, 6 – 9 pm with an opening reception.

Photorama is Gallery TPW’s major annual fundraising event featuring artists selected by Gallery TPW’s Board of Directors. Photorama 2010 was the most successful year ever, with sales exceeding $57,000. Nearly $20,000 was paid out to artists in sale fees and $30,000 was raised in direct support of the gallery’s programming and operations. This year, Gallery TPW hopes to raise $35,000 towards the support of its innovative programming and community building events.

About Gallery TPW

Gallery TPW is an artist-run centre dedicated to the presentation and critical investigation of contemporary lens and screen-based art. Gallery TPW operates an exceptional exhibition space located in the heart of Toronto’s West Queen West Art and Design District. The gallery’s programs address the vital role that images play in contemporary culture and explore the exchange between photography, new technologies and time-based media. Gallery TPW facilitates critical discourse through its exhibitions, screenings, live events, public discussions and commissioned critical writings.

Dates

December 2 - 10

Collectors Preview: Thursday, December 1st, 6 – 9 pm

Opening Reception: Friday, December 2nd, 6 – 9 pm

Sale continues: Saturday, December 3, Noon – 6 pm

Tuesday December 6 – December 10, Noon – 6 pm

Admission to PHOTORAMA is free.

Follow us Online

Gallery TPW will be blogging and tweeting during Photorama. We post staff picks, information about the artists, sales updates, images from the opening and more. Follow us at tpwphotorama.wordpress.com, on Twitter at twitter.com/GalleryTPW, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GalleryTPW.Toronto.

Media Contact:

Gary Hall, Executive Director

416-645-1066 / photorama@gallerytpw.ca

Gallery TPW

56 Ossington Ave.

Toronto, ON M6J 2Y7

gallerytpw.ca

Gallery TPW would like to thank the sponsors of Photorama 2011: Circuit Gallery, BlogTO, NOW Magazine, Onestop Media, Magenta Foundation, Kronenbourg 1664, The Apartment, Union Restaurant, Diamond Wines and De Sousa Wine Cellars.

Spotlight on “Question Bridge: Black Males,” Innovent’s Transmedia Partner at the Sundance Festival 2012

Blessings come in threes. The artist-producers behind “Question Bridge: Black Males,” an immersive art installation turned educational transmedia project, are still spinning from the events at Sundance Institute’s New Frontier Story Lab in Utah. The Story Lab provides creative storytelling support to artists contributing to the emerging field of multi-layered, multi-formatted, immersive narratives. Question Bridge creators Chris Johnson, Hank Willis Thomas, Bayete Ross Smith, and Kamal Sinclair couldn’t be more thankful for the honor of taking part in this inaugural Story Labs. But now they have another humbling blessing - Question Bridge is now on the roster of the Sundance Film Festival’s New Frontier exhibition line up for January 2012.

Maybe blessings come in threes. Prior to being chosen to take part in Sundance’s Story Lab, Question Bridge, partnering with transmedia firm Innovent, has secured exhibit partners in Brooklyn and Oakland. The Question Bridge art installation is scheduled to open at the Brooklyn Museum and at the Oakland Museum also this January.

“Talk about multiple entry and exposure points,” said Innovent CEO Antonio Kaplan. “We’ve always been developing transmedia strategies with the Question Bridge team on enriching the project’s outreach platforms - via online presence, mobile app, art installations, street teams, and as an educational curriculum. What a better way to kick off the transmedia campaign then at the Sundance film festival.”

The New Frontier Story Lab is founded on the Sundance Institute Lab model, which offers intensive, residential retreat focused on creative support. These include daily keynotes, case-studies, group sessions, and the scenic, invigorating mountainous outdoors of Sundance Resort in Utah.

“It was really amazing to be in the room with such legends of storytelling and masters of technology all figuring out how to tell a compelling story or create spaces for compelling stories to manifest in a transmedia world,” said Kamal Sinclair, collaborator and media lead for Question Bridge. “This must have been what it was like to be one of the early filmmakers experimenting with how to tell a story through ‘moving pictures,’ only we are dealing with smart phones, tablets, computers, interactive objects of all kinds and our audience isn’t sitting still in a theatre, they are constantly moving through multiple environments in real time. It is exciting to be part of a paradigm shift.”

Creative Advisors for the New Frontier Story Lab includes, among many others, Michael Goldenberg (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Contact), Richard Lagravenese (The Fisher King, Water for Elephants), Aaron Koblin (Johnny Cash Project, Google Data Arts Team), Wesley Strick (Cape Fear), David Gale (MTVX), Takaaki Okada (Condition ONE), Susan Bonds (42 Entertainment), Nick Fortugno (Playmatics), Laura Poitras (My Country, My Country), Noland Walker (Citizen King), and Lance Weiler (Pandemic, The WorkBook Project).

“We’ve been completely inspired by the Sundance Lab and mentors,” said Kamal. “Nick Fortugo gave a brilliant presentation on storytelling in gaming. Susan Bonds is a guru of Alternate Reality games. Lance Weiler walked us through his massive thoughts on transmedia. We’d shout paragraphs on Twitter if we could. There’s so little space to convey all that warmth and gratitude.”

Innovent’s co-founders have now partnered in several of Sundance’s transmedia firsts. Pandemic 1.0 (Sundance January 2011 selection), market the first time the lab supported a feature film / transmedia project. As for another first, Question Bridge took part in the first ever New Frontier Story Lab in Utah and will now set a precedent in cross-nation dialogue via art installations.

Six artist teams and projects were chosen for the 2011 Sundance New Frontier Story Labs - “Follow Back,” “Kill Shakespeare,” “The Last Hijack,” “Rome,” “Question Bridge: Black Males,” and “18 Days in Egypt.” The last two have partnered with Innovent in pulling out a transmedia engagement plan - from sketches to actual implementations.

“18 Days in Egypt” is a collaborative, crowd-sourced interactive documentary and worked with Innovent to design an interactive web portal that covers the last 18 days of the Egyptian Revolution. The project features thousands of videos, photos, emails, tweets supplied by eye witnesses and participants. 18 Days is also a recipient of the first-ever Tribeca Film Institute New Media Fund, having been awarded a 100,000 USD grant.

“We’re happy to work with such innovative teams,” said Innovent CCO Elise Baugh. “We seem to be drawn to projects that vehemently push the envelope. They dream up the twistedly engaging and the poignantly arresting.”

“Question Bridge: Black Males” and “18 Days in Egypt” question the fabric of the status quo using new media alternatives, and in the process unweave them. Innovent is a transmedia company that takes on projects that aim for social change.

What happens when you deliver great art to an unsuspecting public? That is the focus of The Craigslist Project. A diverse collection of photographic work delivered through a series of postings on the social medium.

View the ads, read actual responses, and discover how great images and alluring text can evoke unexpected emotions and reactions.

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Featuring the work of Samantha Allen.
November 10th - 13th, 2011Reception: Thursday November 10th, 6 - 10 pmGallery Hours: Friday and Saturday, 12 - 7 pmSunday by appointment only
Artscape Triangle Gallery38 Abell StreetToronto, ON3 blocks east of Dufferin Streetjust south off Queen St West across from the Drake Hotel
For more information:416.889.1820samantha@getfreshphotos.com