Flavio Trevisan
Museum of the Represented City
January 19 to April 8, 2012 | FREE
Koffler Gallery Off-Site at 80 Spadina Ave., Suite 501
Curator: Mona Filip
PANEL DISCUSSION
Representing Toronto: Mapping the Role of the Artist in the City
Monday, April 2, 7 PM | FREE
EXHIBITION HOURS
Wednesday – Sunday, 12 – 6 PM
(Please note: Koffler Gallery is closed on Jewish and statutory holidays)
"Must-See Show" – NOW
"Mapping the unmappable history of Toronto" – Derek Flack, blogTO
"Drawing the Lines" – Luis-enrique Arrazola, National Post
"Navigating Toronto" – Corbin Smith, Torontoist
For Museum of the Represented City, his first solo exhibition at a public gallery, Toronto artist Flavio Trevisan takes an entirely new approach to his creative practice, articulating a conceptual context for his main body of work. Staging an immersive environment, he creates an ephemeral “museum of the present” that reflects on the current state of the city. The resulting installation conveys a fragmented yet revealing cartography of Toronto’s built history, inviting the visitors to explore different ways of engaging with the cityscape.
Trevisan’s three-dimensional maps and playful objects expose the city as a collection of places successively shaped by and reshaping public ideals. Reduced to a single layer of information, the maps highlight means of moving around the urban environment – streets, paths, highways. These patterns uncover a complexity of geographical, social and political histories that have influenced Toronto’s development. They indirectly emphasize the human presence, alluding to the way we occupy, experience and constantly create the city.
While rendering the metropolis at once iconic and uncanny, Trevisan produces evocative documents that conjure up memories of places, enticing the viewers to recall the roads once travelled and their stories. Sparseness allows the maps to function both as memory triggers and blank slates upon which to project our narratives. At the same time, they are loaded with the expectation of further change.
Emulating museological strategies, Trevisan sets up his sculptural works as artifacts within a constructed display system that proposes a reflective representation of Toronto. In a time of civic debates and polarized views, the artist considers the dual meaning of representation, attempting a faithful depiction of the city and advocating for its future. Ultimately, he raises questions about our continuing legacy, our shared histories and our collective expectations.
Flavio Trevisan is a visual artist with a background in architecture and exhibition design. Recent projects include Pink Republic, an installation in the window at TYPE Books on Queen Street West curated by author Derek McCormack; The Game of Urban Renewal (Special Regent Park Edition), a project for Queen Specific, curated by Joy Walker; and Flavio Trevisan: Studies of a New Past, at Diaz Contemporary, Toronto. His work has been featured in Art with Heart 2011 (fundraiser for Casey House, Toronto), Titles (curated by the Way Up Way Down collective) and A Guidebook to Contemporary Architecture in Toronto (published by Douglas & McIntyre). Trevisan is a founder and co-director of the convenience (a window gallery that provides an opening for art that engages, experiments, and takes risks with the architectural, urban, and civic realm), where he co-curated the Parkdale International Art Fair with Georgiana Uhlyarik in 2008. Originally from Padova, Italy, he now lives in Toronto. His work is in private collections, and can be viewed at www.flaviotrevisan.com
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PUBLIC PROGRAMS:
Representing Toronto: Mapping the Role of the Artist in the City
Monday, April 2, 2012 | Artist-led Tour 6 PM | Panel 7 PM | FREE
80 Spadina Ave., Suite 503
How does a city form its character and unique personality? To become a livable reality, a city needs to be imagined and grow as a representation in the minds of its inhabitants. Beyond the buildings, the roads, and the landmarks, artists have a critical role in shaping the idea and identity of the city. Through their artistic practice they indirectly give form to the real physical and cultural landscape.
This panel discussion among creative urban thinkers and civically-minded creators examines the essential role of art in the city’s continuous evolution. Moderated by journalist/author John Lorinc (Spacing, The Globe and Mail, The Walrus, Atlantic Cities) and featuring Amy Lavender Harris (author of Imagining Toronto), Jacob Zimmer (Director/Performer/Collaborator at Small Wooden Shoe theatre company), and artist Flavio Trevisan.
Presented together with Diaspora Dialogues.
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Koffler Gallery is generously supported by:
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| Location: | Koffler Gallery Off-Site at 80 Spadina |