arts reviews

Submitted by amelia does on September 18, 2007 - 3:47pm.

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I'd like to start a group for review blogs. When the new londoncommons.net goes up I can start the group officially, but I thought I'd put the idea out early. I wrote reviews on local plays for theatrenemesis.com over the past few years but I am turning my focus to art and film/video. If anyone wants to contribute reviews or comments they are welcome. Music, art, speakers, festivals, performances of any kind.

We need to form/strengthen a critical base that supports and engages with work that is produced locally (as well as what comes to town), as there is a noticeable lack of criticism of the Arts in London (a city boasting over 3 major public music festivals yearly). If anyone wants to challenge me on that note, many writers have offered to do reviews free for the London Free Press and almost never receive a reply. Much of that paper's content comes from Canadian Press. We have Artscape and Scene mags but most artists and intellectuals don't like or respect them all that much. I will be posting reviews of films etc. and please feel free to do the same at your leisure!

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Testing comments. Admin.

Submitted by amelia does on October 20, 2007 - 6:35am.

Testing comments. Admin.

?

Submitted by Rachel Ayres on October 20, 2007 - 7:30pm.

???

-r.

error

Submitted by amelia does on October 21, 2007 - 8:22am.

hi rachel thomas was trying to delete my miss chief eagle testicle review from here and post it as a blog.

LFpress and a blind eye

Submitted by Scott Edward Ma... on October 9, 2007 - 9:42am.

You have to understand the pattern of output of a newspaper such as London Free press. It is not in the game for promoting hard to define expression, ideas that are not cookie cutter will be deemed too far reaching and underground for their departments to hande. It's a big political franchise of selected media with share holder interconnects. . It's all about monetary networking and gain for them. Your Idea to do it yourself is probably the only way to do it the way you want it. I am rather confused about what you say, " We have Artscape and Scene mags but most artists and intellectuals don't like or respect them all that much."...
So, who are these artists and intellectuals, and can you really honestly speak for such a broad range of people? What or who are specifically speaking for? I create art and think daily, and have enjoyed some articles in Scene, have been informed about some 'happenings' and 'showings' which i think is a huge benefit regardless of what Objective on the Subject a reviewer may have..it's a paradox... Is artscape free? Never seen that one. As long as we keep our own truth flowing in our expressions, that's what will continue to be important to the artisitc progression. •Living •Still •Dreaming

Hey-hey... it's been too long.

Submitted by Matti Paquiz on October 22, 2007 - 2:37pm.

good to hear from you scott. welcome to the 'commons.

PEACEonTHEstreetsOFoldEAST... -mp

local mags

Submitted by amelia does on October 9, 2007 - 10:26am.

Thanks for your reply.
I would be happy to set up a poll to ask people's opinions of scene and artscape. I understand that the LFP is what it is, but the citizens of this city sometimes do not realize that this is our city, our culture, and we don't have to support the LFP or any other corpration. That paper is everywhere: they make money off of adversitzing and so they can distribute it in public places and businesses for free. It would be great to have another paper or magazine with a non-corporate agenda.

weekend of festivals

Submitted by amelia does on September 26, 2007 - 7:29am.

The fall equinox weekend was warm and beautiful. In addition to the London Ontario Live Arts Festival there were several other festivals and events happening all over town. The Gathering of the Good Minds took place at Museum London and the Ontario Museum of Archaeology. There was also India Fest at the downtown Market, a Shriner parade with dozens of bagpipes, and Doors Open London.

I was pretty grateful for the opportunity to sit in the park and watch bands I have never seen before for free, especially in the nice weather. Although I appreciate Home County and Sunfest, it was great to have a festival with a more contemporary, if trendy, theme. The live artworks and performances accented the music well and added an interesting dimension to the weekend. My pick for the best of LOLA for music is Final Fantasy. I was taken aback momentarily by the one-man act, which had an aura of Toronto pretension that I hadn’t seen in a while being in London for 2 years. But soon after I changed my mind and started to enjoy the skills of the young man, his violin and his visual accompaniment. Ok I can’t really review this properly cuz I don’t write about music (someone else can do that).

The best of the artworks is Brian Eno’s 77 Million Paintings, which played continually in the Wolf Performance Hall in Galleria Mall. As a former film scholar I hated sitting in silence for sometimes hours watching the pretentious works of Bruce Elder, Micheal Snow and even my hero Bruce Conner. Eno’s piece however succeeded in drawing me in not immediately, but repeatedly over the weekend. At first I wanted to giggle for some unknown reason, like some other viewers did before a speedy exit. I returned 3 times to enjoy the soothing yet almost disturbing, ineffable experience of the piece. As the images on 3 large screens changed slowly the subtle sounds literally hypnotized the usually impatient me.

I caught only an hour of the Gathering of the Good Minds. The schedule was very similar to the last gathering which took place in 2005, so I skipped the presentations at Museum London to enjoy the weather outdoors. Alanis Obomsawin was there with her latest film. This is the amazing woman who made the historic documentary about the Oka crisis, “Khanestake: 270 Years of Resistance”. There were other fine people, teachers and medicine men and women there, and I urge you to look out for next year’s gathering. I finally found myself trudging up and down that damn hill on Wonderland Road on the last day of the Gathering. I met a beader who talked about and showed her work, and that was worth the trip.