The After School Special at Xpace

I can’t make it to this event, but “The After School Special: A Panel Discussion on Pedagogy” happening at Xpace this Saturday afternoon sounds like it will be amazing.

Curated by Stephanie Rosinski with Casey Wong and moderated by the one and only Jennifer Cherniack, an artist, curator and InterAccess-er, the panel aims to examine “the recent shift towards increasingly specialized education and unconventional methodologies,” especially in light of the art and cultural spheres’ increasing interest in the notion of the ‘creative class’ and all they (supposedly) have to contribute to society and the economy. (I, along with a lot of people, am skeptical about the application of Richard Florida’s theories about the creative class and its potentially detrimental effects – see the Toronto Free Gallery’s recent exhibition, for instance – but also know I have a job because of his theories’ notoriety in Toronto especially).

The featured speakers include:
Luigi Ferrara – Director, School of Design and Institute without Boundaries
Eric Nay – Architect, Design Theorist, Educator, and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Liberal Studies at OCAD
Scott Rogers – Artist, Curator and Writer, founding member of the Arbour Lake Sghool
Maiko Tanaka – Independent Curator, Curatorial Resident at the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery

Arbour Lake Sghool, Grow Op, 2007
from canadianart.ca

I’m not familiar with Ferrara or Nay, but am a big fan of the work of the Arbour Lake Sghool (though recently heard a rumour that they may not be working together any more) and Maiko Tanaka, responsible for the clever “Toronto Free Library” show (along with co-curator Sarah Todd) and, more recently, “Empty Orchestra,” a show about karaoke in contemporary art (and who doesn’t love karaoke?).

The talk at Xpace begins at 2 pm this Saturday, March 28th at 56 Ossington Ave.

On another note, this weekend, the events leading up to the 22nd Images Festival really start to rev up, including several “Off Screen” gallery exhibitions/installations and a few pre-festival screenings. Their entire program can be found online here and they have some amazing screenings happening this year that are not-to-be-missed. I’ll be blogging for them throughout the week and will be posting my fest picks here soon.