THE NORMAL CONDITION OF ANY COMMUNICATION at Gallery TPW (56 Ossington), to July 30. 416-645-1066. See listing. Rating: NNNN
Cheyanne turions brings together contemporary works that speak across boundaries of nationality and language, fiction and documentary in a show whose title comes from French philosopher Jacques Rancière: “Distance is not an evil to be abolished, but the normal condition of any communication.”
The heart of the show is an office-cubicle-like enclosure where three videos are screened.
Reza Haeri mashes up images from Iran on the loaded issue of clothing in All Restrictions End. Intercutting a tailor at work with miniature paintings, news footage of CIA-ousted PM Mohammad Mossadegh, the last two shahs and the recent election protests, he delivers a wealth of informative detail in a non-linear style. Women were forbidden, then required to wear veils. A cleanly pressed line in a man’s pants could indicate that he didn’t kneel for prayers.
In The Hottest Day Of The Year, Keren Cytter undercuts any attempt at coherent narrative. Weaving together two odd stories – a pseudo-documentary about a French nurse who went to South Africa during the second world war and an Israel Defense Forces office where three women soldiers are at work – she confounds our sense of place and expectations about “helping” or “fighting” women.
Neil Beloufa’s Untitled takes place in a shadowy tropical villa. Though constructed mostly out of paper, the set is remarkably convincing as a house abandoned by terrorists, where characters with their backs to the camera – a French businessman, an African cleaning lady – give contradictory accounts of the cell’s activities in a variety of languages. We’re so conditioned by media representations of terrorism that his cheap set-up is all that’s needed to trigger our fears.
Two non-video installations – notebook collaborations in tiny text about the economic meltdown by Ayreen Anastas and Rene Gabri, and a neon sign in Ojibway by French duo Claire Fontaine, part of a series that translates “Foreigners Everywhere” into non-English languages – round out a show that proves that the space between is a very thought-provoking place to be.
art@nowtoronto.com
