WHAT'S HAPPENING WEDNESDAYS

BY: CAMERON CRAWLEY

Good morning dutiful and faithful readers, and may the blessings of Wedenesday be bestowed upon you! I have quite the list of events happening in the museum and cultural institution world in Toronto this week, so make sure you have an agenda/electronic device/pen and paper/slate to hand and take notes!

Firstly, today is the most important day of the year no matter what calendar you follow. More important than a loved one's anniversary or birthday; it's Museum Selfie Day! If you find yourself in a museum, art gallery, historic house or similar, please feel free to post a picture of yourself grinning like an idiot as an eternal cyberspace monument to human vanity/love for museums.

Johannes Vermeer's slightly less well known work Girl with a Panasonic Camera.
https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/534980029155790848/W-A_TJHa.jpeg

Just make sure you tag whatever institution you are visiting in your tweet, and be sure to use the hashtag #MuseumSelfie. If you are unfamiliar with this concept, or would just like to learn more about it, all of your questions will be answered here.

Secondly, this Friday the 23rd at the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery is the launch party for the upcoming winter group exhibition. The exhibit is titled The Unfinished Conversation: Encoding/Decoding and runs from January 24th-May 18th, and discusses the physical manifestations and the mindset of specific visual dynamics of the post-World War II era.

Just so much mingling happening at the Power Plant. Hone your mingling skills, they are invaluable.
http://www.thepowerplant.org/ProgramsEvents/Events/Opening-Party/Winter-2015-Opening-Party.aspx

Doors open at the Power Plant for the launch party at 8pm and admission is absolutely free! There will also be live music, a cash bar, plenty of interesting contemporary art, and a healthy amount of mingling. Further information on the exhibition and the opening event can be found here.

Next up, we have Come Up To My Room at the Gladstone Hotel. This is an annual alternative design event and exhibition hosted at the hotel, and is the Gladstone's signature, self-produced event; this year the artists and designers have been asked to use the event as a platform to showcase what goes on inside their heads. By that sentence alone, you know it will be entertaining at the very least. The show runs until January 25th and admission is $10. Further information about the event can be found here, and here.

Finally, this Friday the 23rd at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA), between 6-7pm a group of performance artists will be showcasing Bouncy Highrise which involves "a performance event in which a small crew of people will attempt to stack a tower of bouncy castles, one on top of the other" in a critique of the Toronto condo building boom. For editorial objectivity I make no comment on the above statements...however it might be a once in a lifetime opportunity to see a performance artist get maimed by a collapsing multi-level bouncy castle.

This is the actual picture used on the MOCCA website. This event is bound to be entertaining, and a sharp commentary on the hubris of humanity.
http://www.mocca.ca/event/bouncyhighrise/

The event is free, and further information can be found here. I suggest bringing a hard hat and a camera that shoots in slow motion to capture the inevitable demise of Bouncy Highrise.

With that I bid you adieu until next time, and I hope you all enjoy this very diverse group of events!