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Something More Than a Succession of Notes

Black paint pooling on gallery floor

Works by:

Ada Magazine, William Anastasi, AMAR Foundation for Arab Music Archiving and Research, Willem Boshoff, Ian Carr-Harris, Alice De Mont, Ruy Guerra, Johnny Kit Elswa, Shirley, Douglas and Tam Krenak, Caiçara and Guarani Community, Violaine Lochu, Ignazio Macchiarella, Pénélope Patrix, Taller Leñateros, Andrew Norman Wilson

Something More Than a Succession of Notes

November 8–December 20, 2013

Curated by Mélanie Bouteloup

Produced by Bétonsalon – Centre for art and research, Université de Paris Diderot—Paris 7.

Presented in partnership with the Consulate General of France in Toronto

Justina M. Barnicke Gallery

Ten years ago, UNESCO instituted a Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, offering unprecedented recognition to practices in the order of orality, ritual, and know-how. Yet, how can we envisage the preservation of immaterial aspects of culture, in such a way that does not freeze them into an inventory, and reduce them to a transcription or reactivation inevitably partial and subjective? The exhibition Something More Than a Succession of Notes interrogates the paradoxes that arise with the patrimonialization of practices that are by definition variable and evolving. Facing the impossibility of objectively representing and interpreting that which has a life of its own, this project intends to reveal the flaws of any recording process. At the intersection of anthropology, history, art, and museology, the exhibition brings together contributions from researchers, activists, and artists whose works transform the limits of transcription into a subject of inquiry and creation.

Opening Reception

Thursday November 7, 2013, 6–8pm

Media Coverage

Our Supporters

Presented in partnership with the Consulate General of France in Toronto with support from the Institut français as part of Paris-Toronto. We gratefully acknowledge the operating support from the Canada Council with additional project support from the Ontario Arts Council.

Title Image: Installation view of Something More Than a Succession of Notes, 2013. Image credit: Toni Hafkenscheid.

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