Toronto Biennial of Art FINAL WEEKEND highlights: In Conversation with Curtis Talwst Santiago | A Walk Across Space and Time| Haruko Okano: Six Chairs in a Circle

Ayumi Goto and Peter Morin, Roaming performance at 7a*11d Festival, 2018. Photo by Henry Chan.

Seventy-two days of free contemporary art will come to a close on Sunday, December 1, the final day of the inaugural Toronto Biennial of Art. With more than 100 artworks at 15+ locations around the city, now is the time to get out and experience the exhibitions and events created by more than 90 local, international and indigenous participants.

The Biennial will finish on a high note this weekend with 15 programs taking place across the final 3 days. From artist talks and walks to performances, screenings and storytelling sessions, visitors will have one last opportunity to experience Toronto’s first Biennial. Take advantage of the free shuttle bus leaving from OCAD University and travelling to the main Biennial location at 259 Lake Shore Blvd E, on Sunday, December 1.

Don’t delay! Plan your visit today!

View the full list of exhibiting artists and locations, plus, the Programs and Events calendar.

This week’s highlights include:

In Conversation with Curtis Talwst Santiago
Program: Currents
Date: Fri, Nov 29
Time: 5-6:30pm
Location: 259 Lake Shore Blvd E, Programs Hub

This conversation with Yaniya Lee and Curtis Talwst Santiago opens up the processes and practice behind Santiago’s contributions to the Toronto Biennial of Art. Spanning from the ongoing Infinity Series–which inspired a host of responses from school students participating in facilitated workshops in the Biennial’s Programs–to J’ouvert Temple (2019)–an architectural fantasy or “capriccio” installed at 55 Unwin–Santiago reflects on the role of residual histories in the present and the possibilities of shifting scales of intimacy.

Isonomia in Toronto
Performance by Aki Onda, Ayumi Goto, and Peter Morin
Program: Currents
Date: Fri, Nov 29
Time: 7-9pm
Location: 259 Lake Shore Blvd E

In this double bill, Aki Onda will perform the multi-media Reflections and Repercussions, followed by …Crow meets Salmon, a collaborative performance by Ayumi Goto and Peter Morin.

Isonomia in Toronto
Performance by Ayumi Goto and Peter Morin
Program: Currents
Date: Sat, Nov 30
Time: 2-4pm
Location: Small Arms Inspection Building

…Crow meets Salmon, a performance by Ayumi Goto and Peter Morin, moves together and apart with respect to all that has accumulated in specific sites, locations, histories. Crow-Salmon-Human relations reflect on the interconnections between sky, water, and land, and the mutability of forms to make a joyous sound for creating joyful kinships.

Visitor drawings of the shorelines at San Francisco Bay and Lake Ontario, Art Toronto 2018. Photo: Amir Gavriely.

Art in Access
Program: Co-Relations
Date: Sat, Nov 30
Time: 1–4pm
Location: Humber Art Commons

Creating reactionary artworks, Humber students and their community collaborators present artefacts, installations, and drop-in workshops to enliven critical debates on social and systemic barriers, while providing a space where art and access can collide. This community-engaged project explores the deep relationship building at the critical intersections of art, education, community, and access-oriented programs, particularly around mental health and questions of livability.

Co-presented in partnership with Humber College, Humber Galleries, Among Friends Community Mental Health Organization, and Workman Arts.

A Walk Across Space and Time
Participants: Jane Wolff, Susan Schwartzenberg, Sandy Smith, James Roche, Anishinaabe Grandmother Kim Wheatley
Program: Storytelling
Date: Sat, Nov 30
Time: 1:30–4pm
Location: 259 Lake Shore Blvd E

The goal of A Walk Across Space and Time is to observe—and share observations—about plural understandings of the shoreline, Toronto, and the landscape embodied in the area around 259 Lake Shore Blvd E. The past remains present in the material landscape, but its absence from most people’s everyday consciousness is striking. Through walking and talking indoors and outdoors together, we can observe (and document) what comes to the surface. As part of the walk, a temporary installation transforms part of the Programs Hub at 259 Lake Shore Blvd into a field station where visitors can trace their own relationships to the shoreline.

Haruko Okano: Six Chairs in a Circle
Program: Co-Relations
Date: Sun, Dec 1
Time: 1:30-3:30pm
Location: 259 Lake Shore Blvd E

In Six Chairs in a Circle, artist Haruko Okano invites Ayumi Goto, Cheryl Trudeau, Elwood Jimmy, and Peter Morin to explore ideas of collectivity based on desire, love, relation-building, empathy, collaboration, and generosity. Learning from human and non-human living networks and systems, each practitioner shares knowledge, experience, and methods of gathering through differences and conflicted narratives deriving from the complexities of sharing an intercultural landscape. The circle will open up for participants to join the conversation and evoke a sense of interconnectedness and belonging.

Flotilla text on rock, 2011, image courtesy Haruko Okano

Antarctica: Live Performance
Artist: Syrus Marcus Ware
Program: Currents
Fri, Nov 29, 6:15–6:45pm
Sun, Dec 1, 2–2:30pm and 3:15–3:45pm
Location: 259 Lake Shore Blvd E

The Drowned World
Guest Curated by Charles Stankievech
Date: Sat, Nov 30
Time: 11am
Location: Ontario Place, Cinesphere

Storytelling Sessions
Program: Storytelling
259 Lake Shore Blvd E
Fri, 5-7pm; Sat & Sun, 12-2pm
Small Arms Inspection Building
Sat & Sun, 12-2pm

About the Toronto Biennial of Art
The Toronto Biennial of Art (the Biennial/TBA) is a new international contemporary visual arts event that is as culturally connected and diverse as Toronto itself. For 10 weeks every two years, the city will be transformed by exhibitions, talks, and performances that reflect the local context while engaging with the world’s most pressing issues of our time. In an effort to make contemporary art available to everyone, the Biennial’s free, citywide programming aims to inspire people, bridge communities, and contribute to global conversations from a variety of perspectives.

For more information, visit: torontobiennial.org, @torontobiennial, and #TObiennial19 on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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Media Contacts
For additional information, Libby Mark or Heather Meltzer at Bow Bridge Communications, LLC, Toronto: +1 647-544-8441, New York City, +1 347-460-5566; info@bow-bridge.com.