FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Untitled Seven
Emma Hart & Benedict Drew
April 2 – 11, 2010
Opening reception: April 3, 8 – 11 p.m.
Live performance of Untitled Seven: Saturday, April 3, 7 – 8 p.m.
Admission: $10.00 General
$8.00 Students, Seniors, Pleasure Dome Members
MOCCA Members Free
Toronto, March 24, 2010 – The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art and the 23rd Images Festival are pleased to present the exhibition Untitled Seven, featuring the work of U.K. based artists Emma Hart and Benedict Drew.
Emma Hart and Benedict Drew began their collaboration in 2005 at the “Soundtrack” event in London. Their Untitled series of works that they have developed since then explores and destabilizes moving images, sound and performance. By inverting the technologies used to create and project images, Hart and Drew create anarchic systems which make the process of their creation explicit.
For their debut exhibition in Canada, Hart and Drew will present Untitled Seven, a new installment in this series that exists both as a site-specific installation as well as a live performance within the MOCCA main space.
For the live performance of Untitled Seven, viewers will be confronted with an installation of audio-visual equipment re-purposed to play musical instruments. This mechanical orchestra includes a stack of DVD players striking the keys of a keyboard, a film projector beating on a snare drum, and a moving disco light strumming a guitar. The live performance is documented by small concealed spycams and projected live as a single channel video, but the cameras are at the mercy of instruments played by the live performers. As Drew and Hart create sound, they also affect the cameras’ relay and playback.
Based in London, Emma Hart exhibits videos and installations and performs internationally, frequently collaborating with other artists. Her work has been presented at institutions including Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Camden Arts Centre, the ICA, Battersea Arts Centre, Dundee Contemporary Art Centre, Cell Project Space, and recently at Performa 2009 in New York.
Benedict Drew is an artist who works in performance, sound and video. Drew has a long history of engaging in collaborative projects with artists such as Otomo Yoshihide and Sachiko M, the trio Portable, and with various improvisers including Tom Chant (as duo Suscet), Angharad Davies, Lee Patterson, Steve Beresford, Seymour Wright, Rhodri Davies, Mark Wastell and Matt Davis. Drew has also composed the soundtracks for five films by Emily Richardson. A CD of these soundtracks was released in September 2004.
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All programs and activities of the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art are supported by Toronto Culture, the Ontario Arts Council, BMO Financial Group, individual memberships and private donations.