25sec.-Toronto (2006-7)

The idea for 25sec.-Toronto emerged after our earlier project 25sec.-Berlin was exhibited at the Toronto International Art Fair as part of the Berlin Constructions booth, curated by Rhonda Corvese in 2004.

25sec.Toronto Poster / 57 x 25sec.-statements

Rhonda Corvese invited us to initiate a second 25sec.­project, to research and contextualize the present and future art situation in Toronto. In collaboration with the curator we invited a cross-section of local arts & cultural mediators, to give a 25 second statement on the following question: "What are your professional goals and thoughts in relation to Toronto and the art world in general?"

Media Data: 25sec.-Toronto results in fifty-seven time based portraits x 25sec.-statements.
Tec-Data: single-/ duo-channel digital video, 34min. loop, color, sound, PAL system presentation: site-specific multi-screen installation and/or single channel screening.

Participants: Siobhan Anto / Makesi Arthur / Jessica Bradley / Jubal Brown / Diane Borsato / Daniel Borins / Stephen Bulger / Andrea Carson / Suzanne Carte-Blanchenot / Ian Carr-Harris / Ulysses Castellanos / Demetra Christakos / Rhonda Corvese / Jane Corkin / Nicole Collins / Benjamin Diaz / Sara Diamond / Terence Dick / Craig Desson / Rosemary Donegan / Daniel Faria / Barbara Fischer / Vera Frenkel / Olivier Fuller / Peggy Gale / Corinna Ghaznavi / Marc Gotlieb / Heather Haynes / Marla Hlady / Kristan Horton / Luis Jacob / Istvan Kantor / Lisa Klapstock / Wil Kucey / David Liss / Jillian Locke / Lucia de Los Angeles de las Cuevas / Powell MacDougall / Pamila Matharu / Dyan Marie / John Massey / Scott McLeod / Philip Monk / David Moos / Kenneth Montague / Katharine Mulherin / Simone Naomi Richmond Charles / Matthew Nye / Tasman Richardson / Clint Roenisch / Eric Shinn / Dr. Arpad Sölter / Derek Sullivan / Joanne Tod / Kim Tomczak and Lisa Steele / Dot Tuer / 640 480 Video Collective (Shannon Kurtz, Philip Lee, Gareth Long, Patrick Borjal, Jillian Locke, Jeremy Bailey)

The filming unit was realized in a temporary 25sec.-studio as part of our DRAKE A.I.R in June 2006.
In the 25sec.-Toronto premiere exhibition all fifty-seven video-portraits were presented in a 2-channel screening, alternating between two facing walls. A sitting platform was placed inbetween the projection fields, to view the shift from statement to statement like a ping-pong match across the gallery space. In the office area a project archive was set up, including 25sec.-Berlin.
25sec.-Toronto was commissioned and curated by Rhonda Corvese, Toronto (2006-2007). Premiere exhibition at PREFIX ICA – Institute of Contemporary Art, Toronto, June 21 - Jully 28, 2007.
Many thanks to Rhonda Corvese, independent curator, for commissioning this project and for her generous support and enthusiasm in facilitating 25sec.-Toronto. The 25sec.-Toronto filming unit would not be possible without the collaborative and financial support of Prefix ICA, the Drake Hotel, the Goethe-Institut Toronto, and the Ontario College of Art and Design.