#
Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W3732
18.05.2011
POP GOES THE WEASEL - Anne O'Callaghan & Barbara Sternberg
WWW
The following is a brief synopsis of the proposal, POP GOES THE WEASEL, that we submitted for 2011 Nuit Blanche, Toronto, Ontario Canada. This proposal was rejected due to censorship by the local Business Improvement Association (BIA), see emails below** ...

The following is a brief synopsis of the proposal, POP GOES THE WEASEL, that we submitted for 2011 Nuit Blanche, Toronto, Ontario Canada. This proposal was rejected due to censorship by the local Business Improvement Association (BIA), see emails below**

We participated in the peaceful March on June 27/10 in Toronto during the G20 fiasco. Prime Minister Harper spent $ 1. 2 billion dollars on it and rounded up over 900 mostly peaceful demonstrators.

POP GOES THE WEASEL was a response to this event – its history – a moment in time – and the ramifications and continuing reverberations of that time. The central image of our proposed piece was taken on that day -one of the police lines- and we have collaged images into it acting as graffiti. (see enclosed PDF)

POP GOES THE WEASEL was to be a video projection onto a wall in the area where the main photo was taken, including an LED sign with looped text from The Police’s “Walking in Your Footsteps” and the children’s rhyme “Pop Goes The Weasel”. Repeated images of riot-geared police show them not only as a force but as individuals. Other images undercut, satirize, emphasize, and broaden associations. The universe is vast – greater than our short moment.
** From: Earl Miller eecritic@sympatico.ca Date: May 8, 2011 5:07:09 PM GMT-04:00 To: Anne O'Callaghan currentseparate@gmail.com Subject: Re: Out of Site 2011-Nuit Blanche-any results

Hi Anne - We have made a decision. Or rather the funders have. They are concerned about the police imagery, and will not let me go ahead with it. While this is disappointing to me, especially since it is a legitimate local issue, which is the point of my exhibition, my hands are tied here. All of this said, the quality of the project and the track record or yourself and your collaborator were viewed very positively.

Best, EM

Dear Anne DAMN - that's censorship - AND why we need government funding of the arts not corporate - Damn - B.

ps. I didn't get to play tennis - I was here doing laundry - damn. B.

Anne O’Callaghan’s work extends from photo-based work to site-specific sculpture. Selected site-specific installations include The Tree Museum (1998-99); The Visual Arts Centre of Clarington, Ontario (Public Art Project 2001-2003); An Artist Garden, Visual Arts, York Quay Centre, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Ontario. (2003 to present); Fifthtown, Prince Edward County, Ontario, and Kiwi Gardens, Perth, Ontario. (2008). Selected exhibitions include: Redhead Gallery, Toronto (2004, 2006); The Visual Arts Centre of Clarington (2002, 2004, 2007); Oeno Gallery (2005, 2007); Visual Arts York Quay Gallery at Harbourfront Centre Toronto (2002, 2007). As well as being a practicing artist, O’Callaghan has an active curatorial practice. She is the co-curator and a founding member of The Tree Museum, Gravenhurst, Ontario, and a founding member of “the intersperse curatorial collective”. Born in Ireland, O’Callaghan lives and works in Toronto, Ontario and is represented by Oeno Gallery, Prince Edward County, Ontario.

Barbara Sternberg has been making (experimental) films since the mid-seventies. Her films have been screened widely in North America and Europe in artist-run centres and galleries, including the prestigious Museum of Modern Art in New York, George Pompidou Centre in Paris, and Ontario Cinematheque in Toronto. Her films are in the collections of Queen's University, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the National Gallery of Canada. Sternberg has also participated in gallery exhibitions with mixed media installations, performance art and videos. She was co-founder of Struts gallery in Sackville, New Brunswick, was a founding member of Pleasure Dome: Film Artists Exhibition Group in Toronto, and taught in Film and Visual Arts at York University.

Most recently Sternberg won The Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts (2011).

The following is a brief synopsis of the proposal, POP GOES THE WEASEL, that we submitted for 2011 Nuit Blanche, Toronto, Ontario Canada. This proposal was rejected due to censorship by the local Business Improvement Association (BIA), see emails below** ...

The following is a brief synopsis of the proposal, POP GOES THE WEASEL, that we submitted for 2011 Nuit Blanche, Toronto, Ontario Canada. This proposal was rejected due to censorship by the local Business Improvement Association (BIA), see emails below**

We participated in the peaceful March on June 27/10 in Toronto during the G20 fiasco. Prime Minister Harper spent $ 1. 2 billion dollars on it and rounded up over 900 mostly peaceful demonstrators.

POP GOES THE WEASEL was a response to this event – its history – a moment in time – and the ramifications and continuing reverberations of that time. The central image of our proposed piece was taken on that day -one of the police lines- and we have collaged images into it acting as graffiti. (see enclosed PDF)

POP GOES THE WEASEL was to be a video projection onto a wall in the area where the main photo was taken, including an LED sign with looped text from The Police’s “Walking in Your Footsteps” and the children’s rhyme “Pop Goes The Weasel”. Repeated images of riot-geared police show them not only as a force but as individuals. Other images undercut, satirize, emphasize, and broaden associations. The universe is vast – greater than our short moment.
** From: Earl Miller eecritic@sympatico.ca Date: May 8, 2011 5:07:09 PM GMT-04:00 To: Anne O'Callaghan currentseparate@gmail.com Subject: Re: Out of Site 2011-Nuit Blanche-any results

Hi Anne - We have made a decision. Or rather the funders have. They are concerned about the police imagery, and will not let me go ahead with it. While this is disappointing to me, especially since it is a legitimate local issue, which is the point of my exhibition, my hands are tied here. All of this said, the quality of the project and the track record or yourself and your collaborator were viewed very positively.

Best, EM

Dear Anne DAMN - that's censorship - AND why we need government funding of the arts not corporate - Damn - B.

ps. I didn't get to play tennis - I was here doing laundry - damn. B.

Anne O’Callaghan’s work extends from photo-based work to site-specific sculpture. Selected site-specific installations include The Tree Museum (1998-99); The Visual Arts Centre of Clarington, Ontario (Public Art Project 2001-2003); An Artist Garden, Visual Arts, York Quay Centre, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Ontario. (2003 to present); Fifthtown, Prince Edward County, Ontario, and Kiwi Gardens, Perth, Ontario. (2008). Selected exhibitions include: Redhead Gallery, Toronto (2004, 2006); The Visual Arts Centre of Clarington (2002, 2004, 2007); Oeno Gallery (2005, 2007); Visual Arts York Quay Gallery at Harbourfront Centre Toronto (2002, 2007). As well as being a practicing artist, O’Callaghan has an active curatorial practice. She is the co-curator and a founding member of The Tree Museum, Gravenhurst, Ontario, and a founding member of “the intersperse curatorial collective”. Born in Ireland, O’Callaghan lives and works in Toronto, Ontario and is represented by Oeno Gallery, Prince Edward County, Ontario.

Barbara Sternberg has been making (experimental) films since the mid-seventies. Her films have been screened widely in North America and Europe in artist-run centres and galleries, including the prestigious Museum of Modern Art in New York, George Pompidou Centre in Paris, and Ontario Cinematheque in Toronto. Her films are in the collections of Queen's University, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the National Gallery of Canada. Sternberg has also participated in gallery exhibitions with mixed media installations, performance art and videos. She was co-founder of Struts gallery in Sackville, New Brunswick, was a founding member of Pleasure Dome: Film Artists Exhibition Group in Toronto, and taught in Film and Visual Arts at York University.

Most recently Sternberg won The Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts (2011).