Abbas Akhavan - Toronto, Canada
Kristina Lee Podesva - Washington State, USA
Musicians performing throughout the night:
From the University of Toronto Faculty of Music: Hussein Janmohamed (Music Curator), Betty Allison, Brooklyn Bohach, David Bruce, Yekaterina Cragg, Jacob Feldman, Sonya Harper Nyby, Alex Hetherington, Nicholas Higgs, Grace Liang, Ryan Patrick McDonald, Yujene Oh, Cynthia Peyson Wahl, Jennifer Routhier, Deanna Singh, Elias Theocharidis, Korin Thomas-Smith, Jackson Welchner
Guest Musicians invited by the Faculty of Music:
Shaho Andalibi, Jeremy Dutcher, Alan Gasser, Tamar Ilana, Maryem Tollar, Stacey Yerofeyeva
If taking to the streets has worn you out, if your feet will bear no more, and if you are looking for a moment of repose and recuperation, drop into the Music Faculty’s building. Hosts will guide visitors to find a quiet place amongst rows of cots to lie down and rest. The pillows offering cover and comfort have been individually prepared by newly arrived refugee women, in collaboration with the Toronto-based chapter of “Mes Amis Canada / Darzee,” a social enterprise dedicated to helping newcomers develop their sewing skills and become part of a new community. The gently lit room is filled by individual or multiple voices, improvising sounds in unison, harmony, and also separation; they invite reverie, memories, and repose from which new dreams might emerge. Extending the gesture of hospitality and invitation into a sphere of trust, the quiet space suggests forms of exchange between host and guest, quietly countering oppressive hierarchies and perhaps generating empathy, recognition and new social bonds.
Abbas Akhavan’s practice ranges from fleeting installations to drawing, video and performance. The domestic sphere, as a forked space between hospitality and hostility, has been an ongoing area of research in Akhavan’s work.
Kristina Lee Podesva is an artist, writer, teacher, and editor who works at the intersection of art making, writing, and publishing.
Edward Johnson Building, 80 Queen's Park
Sunset to sunrise (7 pm to 7 am)
Free
Read more about the Taking to the Streets exhibition
Nuit Blance Toronto website