PRESS RELEASE:
Once Near Water: Notes from the Scaffolding Archive

Vera Frenkel

September 19 – November 22, 2008

Once Near Water: Notes from the Scaffolding Archive is a work about a city cut off from its lake and in trouble, where scaffolding serves as metaphor for both aspiration and loss.

Following a chance encounter, Vera Frenkel has drawn together documentary and fictional elements to create a work about a stranger she barely knew but still finds compelling – a collector of scaffolding images -- fusing praise and lament into a video ballad for a changing city. The narrative unfolds in an interplay of two voices; a letter from one woman, being read by the other.

A work-in-progress, this video is a first approach to a project commissioned jointly by Continuum Contemporary Music and The Images Festival, and co-produced by Jennifer Waring and Scott Miller Berry for the multidisciplinary festival SHIFT (Amsterdam, November 18-22, 2008).

The completed work, in collaboration with composer/percussionist Rick Sacks, will be premièred at the Muziekgebouw, the magnificent concert hall for contemporary music situated on the IJ River in Amsterdam, followed by its 2009 Images Festival Toronto debut.

"Aside from the allegorical power of scaffolding," says Frenkel, "it seemed fitting and a bit mischievous to make a work about a city divided from its lake, where new music is relegated to temporary church-basement venues, as a counterpoint to Amsterdam's symbiotic relation to water and respect for contemporary music."

"I'm especially pleased to be installing an early version of this work at the Akau Inc. Project Space," says Frenkel. "The West Queen West neighbourhood we share is currently under threat due to what is blithely referred to as 'development'. Living and working in a district under siege has created the context for this work."

For further information:
verafrenkel.com
continuummusic.org
imagesfestival.com

September 19 – November 22, 2008
Tuesdays - Saturdays, 10:00 am - 5:00 pm

akau inc. is situated at 1186 Queen Street West between the Drake and Gladstone Hotels. The entrance is on Northcote Avenue, west side.

For more information:
Fernanda Faria: 416.504.5999 or
Cheryl Sourkes: csourkes@sympatico.ca

^ top