#AGO1st returns Feb. 4 to celebrate Song Dong's Communal Courtyard
Tickets on sale now for February First Thursday featuring Toronto's own Casey Mecija
TORONTO — Toronto's biggest monthly art party makes its 2016 debut on Feb. 4, 2016 with an exciting line-up of music, performances, talks, food, drinks and art making. Inspired by the new immersive exhibition Song Dong's Communal Courtyard, the theme for February's event is No Place Like Home, and artists including Alvis Choi, Andil Gosine, Jerome Havre and Matthew Ryan Smith will invite audiences to consider how we might hold onto traditions while radically reimagining them for the present. Tickets for this 19+ event are on sale now at www.ago.net/firstthursdays. Regular-priced tickets are $12 for the public and $10 for members. Advanced ticket purchase is strongly recommended, as First Thursdays regularly sell out and tickets are not held back for at-the-door sales.
February's musical headliner is Toronto's own Casey Mecija, formerly of Ohbijou. Debuting her new solo album, Psychic Materials in Walker Court at 10 p.m., her performance will be accompanied by visuals created by local photographer and filmmaker Sammy Rawal. An experimental combination of art and music, Mecija's dreamy songs investigate memory, desire, queerness and history. The music doesn't stop there: DJ Stunts of Yes Yes Y'All and Cameron Lee of Feministry fame will both be spinning beats all night long.
February First Thursday Highlights:
Artist projects include a performance in Irinia Moore Gallery by Toronto's Alvis Choi (a.k.a Alvis Parsley) entitled The Cartography of Heart Strings. Mixing historical and nostalgic references, Trinidad-born artist Andil Gosine presents Cane Portraiture, a performative look at the history of indentured labour in the Caribbean and the idea of home as an image.
A series of pop-up talks on the subject of geography, memory and belonging will also be happening throughout the night. Matthew Adam Smith will be speaking on Andil's project Cane Portraiture. The AGO's current Artist-in-Residence Jérôme Havre will speak about his work, politics and contemporary life, as they relate to nationalism in France and Canada. A speaker from the Syria Film Festival will offer a timely perspective on notions of home, landscape and placehood.
Art-making activities include a pop-up heraldry station, where visitors can invent and create their own utopic family crests; and in the Reuben Wells Leonard Gallery, a giant window display waits to be decorated by visitors.
Plus, don't miss all the regular First Thursday favourites, including the monthly Out of the Vaults exhibition and fabulous Night Market featuring delectable snacks prepared by AGO chefs.
For the latest details on First Thursdays programming and tickets, visit www.ago.net/FirstThursdays, and follow #AGO1st on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Official Vodka Partner: Absolut Vodka
Sigature Partner, AGO Artist Projects: RBC Emerging Artists Project
With a collection of more than 90,000 works of art, the Art Gallery of Ontario is among the most distinguished art museums in North America. From the vast body of Group of Seven and signature Canadian works to the African art gallery, from the cutting-edge contemporary art to Peter Paul Rubens' masterpiece The Massacre of The Innocents, the AGO offers an incredible art experience with each visit. In 2002, Ken Thomson's generous gift of 2,000 remarkable works of Canadian and European art inspired Transformation AGO, an innovative architectural expansion by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry that in 2008 resulted in one of the most critically acclaimed architectural achievements in North America. Highlights include Galleria Italia, a gleaming showcase of wood and glass running the length of an entire city block, and the often-photographed spiral staircase, beckoning visitors to explore. Visit ago.net to learn more.
Oct. 31, 2015 – Jan. 31, 2016: J.M.W. Turner: Painting Set Free
Mar. 12 – May 29, 2016: Outsiders: American Photography and Film, 1950s-1980s
July 2 – Sept. 11, 2016: The Idea of North: The Paintings of Lawren Harris
The Art Gallery of Ontario is funded in part by the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport. Additional operating support is received from the City of Toronto, the Canada Council for the Arts and generous contributions from AGO members, donors and private-sector partners.
For all media inquiries about AGO First Thursdays, including interview requests and high-resolution images, please contact:
Andrea-Jo Wilson; Senior Communications Officer
Caitlin Coull; Communications Manager
416-979-6660, ext. 364, caitlin_coull@ago.net
AGO to present first museum retrospective of famed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro in September 2017
Organized by the AGO in partnership with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia), Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters makes its Canadian debut at the AGO on Sept. 30, 2017 and runs to Jan. 7, 2018.
AGO to be only Canadian stop for highly anticipated Yayoi Kusama exhibition
Following its debut at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden on Feb. 23, 2017, the exhibition will travel to four major museums in the United States and Canada, opening at the Art Gallery of Ontario on March 3, 2018.
AIMIA | AGO Photography Prize Announces 2016 Shortlist
Four outstanding international artists have been shortlisted for the 2016 Aimia | AGO Photography Prize, Canada's most significant award for photography.
Canadian vocal star Measha Brueggergosman joins dynamic AGO Creative Minds line-up
Four artists, one conversation on this issues of our time and an award-winning soprano make for an unmissable series launch
AGO, in partnership with the Met and Rijksmuseum, delves into the mysteries of making extraordinary miniature works of art from the early 1500s
Debuting in Toronto on Nov. 5, 2016, Small Wonders: Gothic Boxwood Miniatures, for the first time brings together more than 60 rare boxwood carvings from institutions and private collections across Europe and North America.
AGO, Massey Hall, CBC and The Banff Centre join forces to launch provocative live event series
Creative Minds kicks off on Sept. 20, 2016 at 8 p.m. with an evening of unscripted dialogue on the topic of Art and Social Justice, featuring André Alexis, Rebecca Belmore, Deepa Mehta and Buffy Sainte-Marie
AGO First Thursdays gets lit this fall with Mykki Blanco, Kardinal Offishall, Witch Prophet and 88 Days of Fortune
TORONTO – The Art Gallery of Ontario's (AGO) First Thursdays art party series kicks off a new season of performance, live music, talks and interactive installations tomorrow night. Tickets for Septembers First Thursday, featuring musical headliner Mykki Blanco, are on sale now. Tickets for October and November First Thursday will go on sale one week after the previous month's event, on Sept. 8, 2016, and Oct. 13, 2016, at www.ago.net/FirstThursdays.
OCAD U takes over March #AGO1st with hip hop and art history from the 6ix
An annual tradition, the OCAD U guest-curated #AGO1st is one of the year's most anticipated installments of the popular art party series, and this year's Criticism and Curatorial Practice students don't disappoint with a hotline of emerging and established artists reflecting on Toronto's artistic past, present and future.