NEWS RELEASE

New Exhibition: Circuit Gallery Presents Portuguese Photographer Paulo Catrica’s OPERA Project

Toronto, ON – May 4, 2010 — Circuit Gallery is pleased to present eleven large format photographic works from Paulo Catrica’s OPERA project. This is the Portuguese artist’s first solo exhibition in North America, and Circuit Gallery’s second exhibition at Böhmer.

In a series of exquisite pictures taken inside the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, the home of the Portuguese National Opera in Lisbon, Paulo Catrica allows us to look behind the scenes at the working spaces of this historical theatre.

Devoid of people or action, and deceptively straightforward, Catrica’s photographs seem, at first glance, to concern themselves with presenting the non-public (non-performance) spaces of this heritage building—offering us, as viewers, a privileged look at old theatre rigging, the workings of the clock featured on the main façade, the empty auditorium from the stage, the storage and rehearsal rooms, and so forth.

While presenting, indeed documenting, the interior of São Carlos in this way, Catrica’s photographs are less interested in these “backstage” spaces or the architecture as such, as they are in what has and is happening in them. Despite their objective “emptiness” the spaces Catrica presents are inhabited by both people and history.

The presence and industry of people and the past are powerfully evoked—conjured at the piano or the workshop table. The tension between past and present are pronounced in plastic wrapped chandeliers, and the juxtaposition of a calendar girl and an 18th century portrait, but they are undeniably palpable elsewhere. They are the subject of these images (and, in a profound sense, that of photography itself).

Catrica embarked upon this project between 2005 and 2009, at a time of economic stress which resulted in the trend toward the wholesale acquisition of larger European co-productions. As he says these photographs were taken “at a time when the building was undergoing significant changes,” and when, in effect, the “working spaces of S. Carlos [were becoming] obsolete or un-used.”

Paulo Catrica: OPERA

June 29 – August 14, 2010
Reception: Saturday July 17, 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Paulo Catrica is a Portuguese photographer currently living in London. Since 1998 his work has regularly been exhibited in Europe: Portugal, Spain, Finland, UK, France, Greece, Belgium, Italy, Czech Republic, Germany and Slovakia. His work is in numerous public and private collections in Europe, including the Siemens UK Art Collection, the Museum of London, the Colecção Nacional de Fotografia (Porto), and the Museu da Imagem (Braga).

Catrica’s recent solo shows include H08, at Silo Cultural, Porto (2009), No Ruses So To Speak, at Galeria Quadrado Azul, Lisbon (2008) and Images & Pictures, Arquivo Fotográfico da C.M.Municipal de Lisboa (2008). The near future is an equally busy one for Catrica as he has exhibitions opening in Barcelona, Rio de Janeiro, and Lisbon later this year, as well as an artist residency in the Galapagos Islands and a related exhibition at the Natural History Museum, London, planned for 2011.

Paulo Catrica studied Photography at Ar.Co. (Lisbon, 1985) and History at Universidade Lusíada (Lisbon, 1992). He received his MA from Goldsmith’s College, London (1997) and currently is a PhD candidate at the University of Westminster in London. His current project is entitled “Subtopia: the New Towns Program in Britain.”

Paulo Catrica: OPERA runs June 29 through August 14 at Böhmer, with a reception on Saturday July 17, from 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. The space is open for viewing Monday through Saturday, 2:00 p.m. until close.

Please visit Circuit Gallery online to see and learn more about this work.
www.circuitgallery.com

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About Böhmer

Böhmer is located at 93 Ossington Ave. (between Queen and Dundas). The restaurant is open for dinner everyday except Sunday, starting at 5:00 p.m..
Website: www.boehmer.ca
Tel: 416-531-3800

About Circuit Gallery

Circuit Gallery is the shared vision and collaborative product of Susana Reisman and Claire Sykes. The gallery specializes in high-end editions of works by emerging and established contemporary artists with an emphasis on photographic, digital and print-based works on paper.

For more information, visit www.circuitgallery.com or follow the daily conversation at www.twitter.com/circuitgallery.

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For more information, contact:
Claire Sykes, Partner, Circuit Gallery
Tel: 647-477-2487
E-mail: claire@circuitgallery.com

Circuit Gallery is based in Toronto, Canada
www.circuitgallery.com | tel. 647-477-2487 | email: info@circuitgallery.com

NEWS RELEASE

Circuit Gallery Goes On-site At Böhmer With New Exhibition Line-Up Of Contemporary Photography

Toronto, ON – May 4, 2010 — Circuit Gallery and Böhmer are pleased to announce their partnership, one that gives the on-line gallery a vital and spacious physical exhibition space to showcase larger format work from their roster of both Canadian and international artists.

Böhmer, located at 93 Ossington Avenue in the heart of the thriving Queen West art district, is the new eponymous restaurant of renowned chef Paul Boehmer and partner Tracy Ulicny. Together, with designer Roy Banse, they have transformed a 5,000 square foot former auto garage into an impressive contemporary dining environment.

Circuit Gallery is an innovative web-based gallery whose primary mission is to make high-quality contemporary art more accessible by making it affordable. “As soon as we saw the Böhmer space we realized this was a perfect fit for us,” explains Claire Sykes, Circuit Gallery co-director, “not only in terms of its prime ‘art location’ and fantastic walls, but also in terms of our desire to showcase our artists’ work in physical spaces, in addition to our on-line presence.”

Alejandro Cartagena: Lost Rivers

The inaugural “Circuit Gallery @ Böhmer” exhibition introduces the work of the award winning Mexican-based photographer Alejandro Cartagena to a Canadian audience.

Coinciding with the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival, Cartagena’s first solo exhibition in Canada features eleven large format works from the highly acclaimed Lost Rivers series.

Coming from a deeply felt love and concern for the landscape, Cartagena’s Lost Rivers series presents exquisite images of dried-up streams and river beds, visually rich in detail, colour, and light. While aesthetically alluring, these photographs simultaneously offer a poignant social commentary on the ecological and environmental effects of untempered urban expansion.

Must see work, the images in this series subtly document the direct effects of “wrongly implemented economical strategies” on the local ecosystem, all the while exposing a beauty that, despite this, inheres in the landscape. As the river beds become scars, and trash and graffiti punctuate quasi-picturesque scenes, Cartagena gives us a poignant yet ambivalent testament to the absolute interdependence of humans and our environment.

Based in Monterrey, Mexico, Alejandro Cartagena is receiving international praise and recognition for his photographic work. In 2009 Cartagena won the Critical Mass Book Award and was named one of PDN´s Top 30 emerging photographers. In 2009 Cartagena was also a finalist for the Aperture Portfolio Prize, selected as an “International Discovery” at the Houston FOTOFEST, a Hey Hot Shot Finalist, and a featured artist at the Lishui International Photography Festival in Lishui China (with a solo exhibition of Suburbia Mexicana). With his career taking off, Cartagena has a very busy 2010 with shows in New York, Monterrey, Portland, Barcelona, and Amsterdam.

Alejandro Cartagena: Lost Rivers runs May 11 through June 26 at Böhmer, with a reception on Saturday May 15, from 3:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. The space is open for viewing Monday through Saturday, 2:00 p.m. until close.

Please visit Circuit Gallery online to see and learn more about this work.
www.circuitgallery.com

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About Böhmer

“At Böhmer we celebrate seasonality as Mother Nature intended; allowing good foods to present themselves. We offer our fare in an earthy yet elegant environment using mainly materials sustainably harvested, reclaimed or upcycled to furnish the dining room. At Böhmer we take the concept of community seriously, cultivating and maintaining relationships with local farmers and artists alike, offering a modestly elegant environment in which to showcase each individual talent.”

Böhmer is located at 93 Ossington Ave. (between Queen and Dundas). The restaurant is open for dinner everyday except Sunday, starting at 5:00 p.m..
Website: www.boehmer.ca
Tel: 416-531-3800

About Circuit Gallery

Circuit Gallery is the shared vision and collaborative product of Susana Reisman and Claire Sykes. The gallery specializes in high-end editions of works by emerging and established contemporary artists with an emphasis on photographic, digital and print-based works on paper.

For more information, visit www.circuitgallery.com or follow the daily conversation at www.twitter.com/circuitgallery.

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For more information, contact:
Claire Sykes, Partner, Circuit Gallery
Tel: 647-477-2487
E-mail: claire@circuitgallery.com

Circuit Gallery is based in Toronto, Canada
www.circuitgallery.com | tel. 647-477-2487 | email: info@circuitgallery.com

Call for Proposals from Toronto-Based Artists and Photographers for Flip-Toronto

Deadline: July 2, 2010

Circuit Gallery, in collaboration with Art for Commuters (Toronto) and Dar Onboz (Beirut, Lebanon), is initiating Flip-City, an exciting new project that combines flip-books, media screens, and story-telling to bring to life the urban secrets, hidden histories, and present preoccupations of the cities we inhabit.

Inspired by Flip-Beirut, the successful flip-book project conceived and realized by the Lebanese publishing house Dar Onboz, Flip-Toronto is slated as the second in what we hope will become a multi-city initiative (under the umbrella title of Flip-City).

Flip-Toronto
For Flip-Toronto we are seeking proposals from Toronto-based artists to create flip books about specific Toronto neighbourhoods. Artists are asked to choose a specific neighbourhood or location in the city to portray or explore in their project. Projects can be created in any medium (drawing, painting, photography, video, film, various digital media or combination thereof) so long as the final product can be reproduced to meet the specifications of the flip-book.

The Flip-City projects are conceived to have both a physical and digital manifestation. The 12-15 commissioned projects for each city will be included in a beautiful printed flip-book set and be screened in a variety of locations (on public screens, on the web, etc.). The goal is for an eventual artistic exchange between participating cities.

Art for Commuters
We are very excited to be collaborating in this first phase of the Flip-Toronto project with Toronto’s Art for Commuters. Working with the Onestop Media Group, Art for Commuters initiates, curates and programs exhibitions, screenings and festivals throughout the year on the Onestop network of TTC subway screens. Art for Commuters will be involved in both the local selection process and will provide an exciting venue for screening the digitized / adapted versions of the flip-books. Selected projects will be screened on the Onestop TTC screens to an audience of 1.3 million daily commuters.

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Flip-Book Specifications
The books are tentatively envisioned to consist of 60 pages, with each page measuring 10.5 cm x 7.5 cm (4¼” x 3″). The 12-15 flip-books will be packaged and available as a set.

Your proposal should include the following:

• a one-page project proposal explaining your choice of neighbourhood or location in Toronto. We are intentionally keeping the call thematically open—with the only stipulation being that you base your project upon an actual physical location as each flip-book project site must be able to be located on a map of the city. In addition to your chosen location or subject, please describe the final project— i.e. what media you plan to employ and its time-based trajectory (e.g. why it makes sense as a “flip-book”).

• 3-5 visuals – please submit digital images that convey something of the look and style of your proposed project (what your flip-book pages will look like). Visuals must be submitted as JPEG files and must not exceed 1200px x 1200px.
• an image list with any relevant information.
• a bio or CV including contact information.
• a link to your website. If you do not have a website you MUST also submit 5-10 images of previous work and an information sheet about this submission.

All materials must be submitted digitally. All text documents must be saved as PDF. All image files must be saved as JPG. Please adhere to the following file naming conventions:

• LASTNAME_proposal.pdf
• LASTNAME_img001.jpg
• LASTNAME_bio.pdf [etc.]

Email your proposal to: flip-city@circuitgallery.com
All proposals must be received by July 2, 2010

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Flip-Toronto is curated by Claire Sykes and Susana Reisman (Circuit Gallery), Sharon Switzer (Art For Commuters), and Nadine Touma (Dar Onboz).

The Curatorial Committee will consider all proposals and respond by July 31, 2010. 

If your proposal is accepted the curator(s) will contact you to discuss the details of your project, including technical considerations for its realization (screening on the Onestop network and for print publication). Deadlines for final projects will be announced when known and are contingent upon funding.

Fees paid for selected artist projects are contingent upon funding. Funding is being sought from a range of sources.

For more Information, please contact:
Claire Sykes (Circuit Gallery)

tel. 644-477-2487

email: claire@circuitgallery.com


Dean Baldwin, Nadia Belerique, Diane Borsato, Cecilia Berkovic, FASTWÜRMS, Micah Lexier, Kelly Lycan, Annie MacDonell, and Lindsay Page

The More is More Collection Launch

March 10, 2010, 7:00 – 9:00 pm
Gallery TPW, 56 Ossington Avenue
Toronto, M6J 2Y7

Join Gallery TPW and Circuit Gallery on March 10th at an informal reception to launch The More Is More Collection – a new opportunity for collecting affordable art on-line. Take advantage of this one night only event to meet the artists and view the entire collection in person and learn more.

The More Is More Collection is a must-have selection of witty and conceptual prints by celebrated Canadian artists. Both intelligent and visually compelling The More Is More Collection is a whimsical assortment of constructed images documenting fake rocks, obsessive collections, spontaneous photographs and a cat implicated in a conceptual art crime.

All of the photographs in The More Is More Collection are exclusively available for purchase online through the Circuit Gallery website and are available as 16″ x 20″ prints at a very wallet friendly $120. Proceeds from this collection will help support Gallery TPW’s programming.

“We are really excited to be partnering with Gallery TPW and supporting their programming mission,” says Susana Reisman, Circuit Gallery co-director. “We have a solid infrastructure that can both help in raising funds for Gallery TPW and in making available, indeed accessible, some great artwork.”

According to Gary Hall, Gallery TPW Executive Director, “Artist-Run Centres have been at the forefront of democratizing art since the 1970’s. The partnership with Circuit Gallery makes sense – their system is convenient and affordable and I think it has great potential to introduce the pleasures of art collecting to a much larger segment of the population. We’re pleased to have such an impressive selection of artists participating in this new venture. Most of them had exhibitions at Gallery TPW at important stages of their careers and many of them have created unique works available only in The More is More Collection.”

View The More Is More Collection.
Simply order online and prints will be delivered directly to your door within a few days.

Artwork available includes special editions by Dean Baldwin, Nadia Belerique, Cecilia Berkovic, Diane Borsato, FASTWÜRMS, Micah Lexier, Kelly Lycan, Annie MacDonell, and Lindsay Page.

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About Gallery TPW

Gallery TPW is a leading artist-run centre that presents innovative and challenging exhibitions of contemporary lens and screen-based art featuring local, national and international artists. For 30 years Gallery TPW has consistently supported professional artists and developed audiences through its gallery exhibitions, online programming, publications and special events.
For more information, visit them online at www.gallerytpw.ca.

About Circuit Gallery

Circuit Gallery specializes in high-end editions of works by emerging and established contemporary artists with an emphasis on photographic, digital and print-based works on paper. Our mission and model are simple. We want to make interesting, significant, quality, contemporary art more accessible by making it more affordable. We are able to achieve this by offering the work that we sell online and in relatively large editions.

While internationally oriented, Circuit Gallery is based in Toronto, Canada.

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Media Contact:
Gary Hall, Executive Director, Gallery TPW
Tel: 416-645-1066

Sponsor: Mill Street Brewery

NEWS RELEASE

The More Is More Collection, Gallery TPW And Circuit Gallery Partner To Offer Affordable Art

Toronto, ON – December 17, 2009 — Circuit Gallery and Gallery TPW are pleased to announce the launch of The More Is More Collection, an innovative fundraising enterprise for the artist-run centre.

Toronto’s Gallery TPW is an artist-run center that has played a significant role for over thirty years in supporting both contemporary Canadian and International artists, working in still and moving images, and developing audiences through its gallery exhibitions, online programming, public events, and promotional activities. Circuit Gallery is an innovative web-based gallery whose mission is to make high-quality contemporary art more accessible by making it more affordable.

The two galleries have joined forces to offer a series of very affordable limited editions drawn from the work of past exhibiting artists, members of the Board, and friends of Gallery TPW.

Artwork currently available includes special editions by Nadia Belerique, the FASTWÜRMS, Micah Lexier, Kelly Lycan, and Annie MacDonell. New additions to this collection by Dean Baldwin, Cecilia Berkovic, Diane Borsato, and Lindsay Page will be added in the near future.

All of the photographs in this collection are exclusively available for purchase online through the Circuit Gallery website – www.circuitgallery.com/tpw – and are available as 16″ x 20″ prints at a very wallet-friendly $120.

“We are really excited to be partnering with Gallery TPW and supporting their programming mission,” says Susana Reisman, Circuit Gallery co-director. “We have an solid infrastructure that can both help in raising funds for Gallery TPW and in making available, indeed accessible, some great artwork.”

According to Gary Hall, Gallery TPW Executive Director, “Circuit Gallery has created a hassle-free system for expanding our affordable art program with year-round on-line sales in aid of our fundraising goals.”

An exhibition and reception to mark the launch of this new collaboration is planned for early 2010 at Gallery TPW.

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About Gallery TPW

Gallery TPW is located at 56 Ossington Avenue. For more information, visit them online at www.gallerytpw.ca.

About Circuit Gallery

Circuit Gallery is the shared vision and collaborative product of Susana Reisman and Claire Sykes. The gallery specializes in high-end editions of works by emerging and established contemporary artists with an emphasis on photographic, digital and print-based works on paper. For more information, visit www.circuitgallery.com or follow the daily conversation at www.twitter.com/circuitgallery.

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For more information, contact:

Claire Sykes, Partner, Circuit Gallery

Tel: 647-477-2487

NEWS RELEASE

Art From The Anthologies, Alphabet City And Circuit Gallery
To Offer Limited Editions

Toronto, ON – October 27, 2009 — Toronto’s internationally acclaimed Alphabet City has found an ideal partner in Circuit Gallery. The two entities have joined forces to offer a series of very affordable limited edition artworks drawn from two decades of Alphabet City’s compelling, and always relevant, publications.

The collaboration, “Art from the Anthologies,” begins with works from Alphabet City’s newest anthology, Water (co-published with The MIT Press), with plans to offer material from previous editions in the near future. The works are exclusively available for purchase online through the Circuit Gallery website – www.circuitgallery.com/overview_ac/.

“Artists have always been central contributors to their thematic volumes,” says Claire Sykes, Circuit Gallery co-director. “We are very excited to be collaborating – both in raising funds for Alphabet City and in making available some very strong artwork.”

Artwork currently available includes special editions by Eamon Mac Mahon, Stefan Petranek, Meredith Carruthers and Susannah Wesley.

To mark the launch of this new collaboration a special event entitled Water, Life and Baths has been organized for Sunday, November 1, starting at 5:00 p.m. at The Department, 1389 Dundas Street West, Toronto, and is part of the larger ALPHABET CITY FESTIVAL 2009: WATER (October 31 – November 6, 2009). (Visit the Alphabet City website for more details).

The evening, moderated by Ian Brown, will convene three literary contributors to Water (all of them recent mothers) – Jowita Bydlowska, Astrida Neimanus, and Christie Pearson – who will read from their essays and reflect together on the life of watery beings. Artworks from the latest anthology, Water, will be on display for the event.

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About Alphabet City

Alphabet City is a series of annual hardcover anthologies originating from Toronto, Canada. Each volume in the series addresses a one-word topic of global concern and draws on the diverse perspectives of writers and artists from many cultures and disciplines. Each book is a graphically rich and textually surprising combination of images and texts that critically and imaginatively reinvents the topic at hand.

About Circuit Gallery

Circuit Gallery specializes in high-end editions of works by emerging and established contemporary artists with an emphasis on photographic, digital and print-based works on paper. The gallery aims to make interesting, significant, quality, contemporary art more accessible by making it more affordable.

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For more information, contact:

Claire Sykes, Partner, Circuit Gallery

Tel: 647-477-2487

E-mail: claire@circuitgallery.com

We want to alert our readers to the launch of Alphabet City’s excellent new publication WATER (now available though MIT Press), and this year’s WATER FESTIVAL (see line-up below) which starts October 31 and continues through November 6, 2009.

Water—chemical matrix of life, transportation conduit, industrial feedstock, agricultural necessity—is coming under new pressures. This year Alphabet City considers the current state of this most vital substance, from the mythic to the infrastructural.”

The WATER festival includes HYDROCity–a panel, exhibition, and symposium series about the future of our cities’ relationship to water.

The festival also launches Water, Alphabet City’s 14th anthology, a hardcover, full-colour artbook co-published with The MIT Press.

Festival Events Quicklist
Click below to visit the Alphabet City website for dates, times and details.

• On Designing Water (book-making talk)
• Kevin Yates (exhibition opening)
• Psychodrama: 13 Variations (installation and festival opening party)
• Beyond the Water’s Edge (river walk and workshop)
• Water, Life and Baths (exhibition, readings and panel discussion)
• HYDROCity panel: Water, Cities, Disaster (panel discussion)
• The Building of “WaterpleinenWatersquare”: Jeroen Bodewit (lunchtime talk)
• The Ladies of the Lakes (opera performance and dinner)
• HYDROCity Exhibition (exhibition opening)
• The Wet Cabaret (performances and festival closing party)
• HYDROCity: A Symposium on Hydrology and Urbanism (symposium)

NYC Events Quicklist

• Water Colloquium and Launch (public colloquium and book launch)
• Infrastructure Slam (24-hour design charette)
• Student Exhibition (exhibition)

Visit the MIT Store
Learn more about Circuit Gallery’s collaboration with AbC: Art from the Anthologies

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About Alphabet City
Alphabet City is a series of annual hardcover anthologies originating from Toronto, Canada. Each volume in the series addresses a one-word topic of global concern and draws on the diverse perspectives of writers and artists from many cultures and disciplines. Each book is a graphically rich and textually surprising combination of images and texts that critically and imaginatively reinvents the topic at hand.