Tania Ursomarzo: Chinatown
August 4 – 19, 2012
CIRCUIT GALLERY
993 Queen Street West, Suite 203
Toronto, ON M6J 1H2
T: 647.477.2487
E: info@circuitgallery.com
Flip Books and Urban Story-telling Collide with Digital Media in Flip-Toronto
Pattison Onestop, Art for Commuters (A4C) in collaboration with Circuit Gallery (Toronto) and Dar Onboz (Beirut, Lebanon) present Flip-Toronto, a fun new project that collides flip-books and digital media screens, bringing to life animated anecdotes that explore and capture the city’s transformations, hidden histories and surprises. Animated flip-books created by eight Toronto-based artists will play on the network of Pattison Onestop’s TTC subway platform screens throughout Toronto from August 4 to August 19, 2012 and will appear every 10 minutes on TTC platform screens, in over 60 stations on more than 300 screens across the city.
“We are very pleased to premiere Flip-Toronto in North America to more than one million daily commuters, so residents and visitors alike can enjoy these innovative narrative flip-books highlighting Toronto,” states Sharon Switzer, Pattison Onestop Arts Programmer and Curator.
Artists took on the challenge to explore and tell a story about a Toronto neighbourhood or location in only 60 pages, without text or sound. Working in diverse media (drawing, photography, paper-cut) the artists have captured and illustrated everyday moments and childhood memories, revealed historic events, and showcase this ever changing and dynamic city.
“The results are quite amazing! The range of subjects and approaches taken were unexpected. From the use of pen and ink to bring to life a rain soaked 1950s football game, to Google maps used as the source material for a series of encaustic paintings animating the changing urban landscape of The Junction,” says Claire Sykes, Curator.
Flip-Toronto reveals the energy and transformation of Parkdale, Chinatown and the Junction, depicts the morphing of City Hall, highlights the famous Mud-Bowl Grey Cup game of 1950 played at Varsity Stadium, portrays the dynamic performing Dufferin neighbourhood crossing-guard and conveys the harmonic tunes of musicians in the Museum subway station.
Flip-Toronto features work by: David Grenier, Aubrey Reeves, Alec Dempster, Cortney Stephenson, Mary Porter, Tania Ursomarzo, Patrick Jenkins, and Lise Beaudry.
Flip-Toronto is curated by Claire Sykes and Susana Reisman, Circuit Gallery (Toronto), Nadine Touma, Dar Onboz (Beirut, Lebanon) and Sharon Switzer, Art for Commuters.
Flip-Toronto was inspired by Flip-Beirut, the successful flip-book project conceived and realized by the Lebanese publishing house Dar Onboz. Flip-Toronto is the second installation in what is hoped to become a multi-city initiative, under the umbrella title of Flip-City.
About Pattison Onestop – www.onestopmedia.com
About Art for Commuters – www.art4commuters.com