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Cant get a ticket to the AGO’s Massive Party, HOTBED?

If you want to have a cool party, invite cool people. This tried and tested rule, true since high school, has been adopted by the AGOs annual Massive Party fundraiser, and this year’s edition, HOTBED, is no different.

Massive in size, name and price tag (tickets sold out at $160 a pop), the 11th edition of the party has courted a handful of performances and installations by Torontos brightest and boldest through the guidance of creative director Curtis Santiago. Even if youre not attending, heres a party hack to experience a handful of the talent on display in less-than-massive settings this year:

Here in Toronto-via-Paris-via New York-via-the Annex, the painter and installation artist brings his hallucinogenic collaboration with dancer Ben Kamino, YOUCANTSEEUSBUTWESEEYOU to the AGO. Having performed it at the Gladstone hotel, Hub 14 and Montreals Cultureport presentation, the performance layers oscillations of lights, movement, sound and layers upon layers of colourfully painted flowers to create a heady waking dream reminiscent of an absinthe-fuelled evening with Williams Burroughs and Brion Gysins DreamMachine.

Baruchel’s next series of work can be seen when his solo show launches at Huntclub studio in June, and keep your senses open for another rendition YOUCANTSEEUSBUTWESEEYOU in the future.

Instagram: @VirgilBaruchel

The result of blending sculpture, internet exposure and a dose of Jerky Boys pranks, Wises reflective reappropriations of cultural iconography perplexes viewers as to where the line between art and fashion is drawn. But the joke’s on them: When fashion blogs picked up her bagel bag as the new must-have Chanel piece, it was Wise who was laughing at the absurd attention her plastic sculptures were getting.

Her work fantastically subverts the duality and vapidness of online culture, forcing viewers to determine whether they should fall for anything they see online. Wise also recently curated the first edition of the Feelings film festival alongside Adam Levett that focuses on digital shorts from around the web and revels in the nets idiosyncratic oddities. Watch here.

Wise’s current exhibition is under way in Montreal at Galerie Division until May 2nd.

Instagram: @chloewise_

Fuhr’s photos seem to travel on an endless road trip, navigating some odd world where the first week of unemployment is inexplicably fun. It’s all beautiful, wishy-washy colours, like tie-dye right before all the different shades hooked up. Her documentation of the minutiae of hanging out has led her to shoot editorials for VICE and Nylon, and seeing as she seems like she’s really good at hanging out, shell be hosting her own Studio 54 party room within the Massive Party. Follow her on instagram or pick up her first book and experience eternal youth for yourself.

Mavens of everything in and around the word disco, John Joseph McCloud and Dylan Thomas Childs are like a two-man flash mob, spreading their contagious energy through one-off loft parties and their hugely successful Beam Me Up party at The Piston. Now the boys are going from being the best wedding guests a dance floor could ever hope for, to hosting their own Wedding Night theme parties, complete with live wedding singers. Tune in when the lads appear on TRP radio for a monthly show at wearetrp.com.

With crisp production that recalls early hip-hop flirting with minimalism, this two-piece comprised of Josh McIntyre and Talvi Faustmann has already garnered a considerable reputation as Toronto’s favourite icily cool synth pop band. Dominating stages with even more austerity than local audiences can muster, and reinterpreting new wave, no wave, and chillwave faster than music journalists can keep up with, the duo will expand on their excellent discography when their latest EP Easy Life is released next month. Expect a release party then.

More here.

art@nowtoronto.com | @nowtoronto

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