ONE WORLD, DOUBLE TAKE
Ancient-Contemporary Convergence
Sunday, November 27, 2011, 4 PM
$5 | FREE for Koffler Envision Members
Toronto School of Art, 410 Adelaide St. W., 3rd floor
One World, Double Take is an annual series where media insiders, curious creatives, and big thinkers share their perspectives on hot topics through a global lens.
Responding to themes in the current Koffler Gallery exhibition, Spin Off, this roundtable discussion features artists who draw on ancient traditions in creating new work. Is the result sacred or profane? Spiritual or secular? Can it be both at once?
Curator Evelyn Tauben moderates with Spin Off artists Vandana Jain and Melissa Shiff together with Dora and Gemini award-winning actor and writer Rick Miller speaking about his unique theatrical production, Bigger Than Jesus – a poignant multi-media ‘mass’ and actor and playwright Julie Tepperman whose critically acclaimed YICHUD (Seclusion) is set at an Orthodox Jewish wedding.
Presented in association with Spin Off: Contemporary Art Circling the Mandala.
Image: Melissa Shiff, JAMS: Jewish Animated Mandala Series, 2008 (video still).
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ARTIST BIOS
Vandana Jain (Brooklyn, NY) has shown at a variety of venues locally and internationally, including MoMA PS1, New York; ABC No Rio, New York; Momenta Art, New York; the Soap Factory, Minneapolis; Grey Noise, Lahore; and With Space, Beijing. Her awards include the Bronx Museum’s AIM program (2003), the Emerging Artist’s Fellowship at Socrates Sculpture Park (2007), the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Workspace Residency (2008–9), and the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant (2010). www.vandanajain.net
Rick Miller (Toronto, ON) is a Dora and Gemini award-winning actor/writer who has performed in five languages on five continents. For 3 years, Rick hosted ABC’s hit primetime series “Just for Laughs”, and Entertainment Weekly has called him “one of the 100 most creative people alive today”. As artistic director of WYRD Productions, he has created and performed shows such as Art?, Slightly Bent, Into the Ring and MacHomer, which is part of Stratford’s 2012 season. His two latest WYRD Productions have been co-creations with director Daniel Brooks and Necessary Angel: Bigger Than Jesus and HARDSELL. Rick is also a frequent collaborator with Robert Lepage, on such plays as Géométrie des Miracles, Zulu Time (co-created with Peter Gabriel), Lipsynch and on the film Possible Worlds. Rick recently starred as Brian Mulroney in the satirical film “Mulroney: The Opera”. He is currently hosting a new doc series called Canadian Made, and developing various projects, including a solo documentary play called BOOM! He lives in Toronto with his wife Stephanie Baptist and their 2 daughters. www.rickmiller.ca
Melissa Shiff (Toronto, ON) is a video, performance and installation artist whose work is engaged with Jewish cultural memory and the relationship between religious ritual and performance art. Her acclaimed outdoor video sculpture, ARK (2006), was the keynote project for the Jewish Museum in Prague's centennial celebration. Shiff’s work has been featured in exhibitions, festivals and public events around the world including the Jewish Museum, New York; Beit Hatfutsot, Tel Aviv; and the Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco. Shiff is Assistant Professor in the Department of Art at the University of Toronto and studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. http://www.melissashiff.com/
Julie Tepperman is an actor, playwright, educator and co-founding artistic director of the Dora-nominated company, Convergence Theatre, creators of the hit plays AutoShow, The Gladstone Variations and YICHUD (Seclusion). Selected acting credits include: two seasons at The Stratford Festival, their Conservatory for Classical Theatre Training, as well as numerous play-development workshops and appearances at local Toronto theatre festivals. As a playwright: ROSY (as part of AutoShow), I Grow Old (as part of The Gladstone Variations – Dora nomination), YICHUD (Seclusion) – published by Playwrights Canada Press in 2011, and a re-imagining of the August Strindberg play The Father, commissioned by Winnipeg Jewish Theatre. Julie is an artist-educator with multiple theatres and festivals, most recently, Luminato Festival, the Stratford Festival, and Tarragon Theatre's Paprika Festival. She is currently a Playwright-in-residence at Theatre Passe Muraille.
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| Location: | Toronto School of Art, 410 Adelaide St. W., 3rd floor |
| Fees: | $5 | FREE for Koffler Envision Members |