Victoria Symphony Splash

This Sunday (2 Aug) is the Victoria Symphony Splash This is another event that I’ve always wanted to check out. it sounds wonderful. Classical music in the harbour in the summer. Unfortunately there is always something else on for us. This time it is the arrival of my mother in law. Check out all details on the VSS at:

http://victoriasymphony.ca/concerts/splash/index.html

THE ROAD TO CANTERBURY- ends Aug 1

The guys who did Grimm Tales last year are this year doing The Road to Canterbury which they describe as a”modern-day re-imagining of The Canturbury Tales (by Grimm Tales author Sebastien Archibald).” The play takes place in Mt. Douglas Park and the audience follows the cast around the park as they tell five re-imaginings of The Canturbury Tales.  This play is extremely well done and very, very funny. I would thoroughly recommend going to see it. It ends Aug 1 so hurry! All details are at:

http://www.itsazoo.org/home.htm

AAGGV – World upside down until Aug 30

We saw this exhibition at the recent Urbanite at the AGGV. I was a little disappointed at how small the exhition was but nevertheless I would say it is definitely worth a visit. There are a number of high quality work that are very interesting. One that I keep coming back to in my mind is Planet of the Apes. Currently many of friends are travelling around the world on  holidays and seeking an authentic [insert name of country’ experience. Planet of the apes questions what it might mean to experience authentic national dress, or costume or custom.

• World Upside Down June 5, 2009 to August 30, 2009 The World Upside Down is one in which the symbolic order is turned on its head. It is a world visualized by artists where killer rabbits hunt humans and Superman is a hero of the Soviet Union. It is the Planet of the Apes and a planet where British aristocrats lose their heads when they find themselves dressed in “African” fabrics. In each symbolic inversion an artist turns a hierarchical dichotomy on its head illuminating and challenging the visual conventions that maintain social order. In most cases the dichotomy itself breaks down under the strain of its own absurdity and we are liberated through this particular form of satire. When power relations are suddenly turned on their head, we have the opportunity to recognize that some behaviours that we take to be natural and necessary are merely conventional. For this reason, contemporary artists using inversion tend to seek out existing hierarchy, often satirizing the most venerated works in the Western canon. This exhibition also extends out into public spaces to include a commissioned billboard by Terrance Houle (with Jarusha Brown) who use photography and video to parody the complexities of contemporary Aboriginal identity. In his Urban Indian Series, Houle depicts himself going about the tasks of daily life – shopping for groceries, working at the office – while dressed in his powwow regalia, highlighting the perceived but far from actual schism between traditional Indigenous identity and contemporary life. World Upside Down is curated by Richard William Hill, organized by the Walter Phillips Gallery, The Banff Centre and produced in collaboration with the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, and the Musée d’art de Joliette. This exhibition is presented with the support of the Museums Assistance Program of the Canadian Department of Heritage, the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts. CASTING CALL Presented as part of the exhibition, Terrance Houle’s public performance, Casting Call, involves Aboriginal collaborators “auditioning” for roles in famous Hollywood westerns. Responding to the Hollywood practice of casting white actors in “Indian” roles, Houle’s performance undergoes this convention, humorously destroying the credibility of Hollywood stereotypes in the process.
  See http://aggv.bc.ca/current+exhibitions.aspx#2129 for more details.