After having seen the basement, first and second floors - see our post HERE - we returned last night to the AGO see the upper galleries.

We took the elevator up to the fifth floor, where the soaring ceilings made the rooms feel spacious. The only criticism we had, really was the inescapable feeling that the galleries were overcrowded.

A lot of large scale work demands large open space to make it feel proportionate, like Brian Jungen’s oversized totem poles, or the Mark Lewis (next year’s representative at the Venice Biennale) excellent video of Algonquin Park.

Mark Lewis, Algonquin Park, Early March, 2002. Image: marklewisstudio.com

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1. HARUN FAROCKI: one image doesn’t take the place of the previous one

1 November 2008 to 1 February 2009

Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston Ontario

Some of you may have seen Farocki’s excellent film installation at last year’s Documenta in Kassel, Germany. Or perhaps when it was shown as part of Re-Enactments at Montreal’s DHC/ART Foundation.

Harun Farocki Deep Play (2007) Image: canadianart.ca

This exhibition brings together six installations by renowned German filmmaker Harun Farocki, several of which are being presented in North America for the first time. Farocki’s filmic montages are presented in the gallery, where documentary visuals are subtly accompanied by spoken commentary.

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…Isn’t it? When art prices go stratospheric, many smart collectors turn to prints, ephemera, and…books.

New York Art Book Fair at Phillips, de Pury and Co.
October 24 - 26, 2008
New York City

The cover of the One Cent Life portfolio, screenprint by Roy Lichtenstein, 1963.
Image: artnet.com

Collector and friend of VoCA Bill Clarke has been doing this for years and is well on his way to completing an edition of One Cent Life, with poetry by Walasse Ting and co-edited with painter Sam Francis, 1964, edition of 2100 copies.

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It’s been almost a year, and we’re wondering where these out-of-the-box thinkers are now. Click HERE to see what they were up to last year.

Wedge Curatorial Projects, Toronto

BECOMING: Photographs from the Wedge Collection at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit
September 12 – 28 December, 2008

Wayne Salmon, Mr. MacKenzie. Image: mocadetroit.org

Wedge’s Kenneth Montague has been busy. Aside from having curated a neat show-within-a-show at Toronto’s Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art that opened yesterday (More on that excellent exhibition coming soon), he’s got a show of photographs showing in Detroit. Featuring approximately 67 works by 38 artists, the show focuses on the portrait, and the reclaiming of identity through the photographic image.

Click HERE for more information.

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Following the trend of commercial galleries collaborating with the auction houses (lest the auction houses overtake them - see VoCA posts HERE and HERE ), in Montreal, the Contemporary Art Galleries Association (AGAC) is going to be organizing an exhibition between its members and Ritchies Auction House.

Massimo Guerrera, Au coeur du sujet, 2003-2006. Mixed media on paper mounted on canvas.
Image: joyceyahoudagallery.com

Entitled A suivre…, the first exhibit is perfect for new collectors, as it will focus on the relatively affordable medium of works on paper. Handily, it will parallel the art fair PAPIER 08, which will take place in Montreal from October 23 to 26, 2008, and which is also organized by AGAC.

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