Koffler.Digital Audio Programs

The past isn't even past – and the present is tense with conflicting desires and untold stories. What brings clarity to this setting is Shani Mootoo's limpid prose, clean and bracing. Polar Vortex is an honest, but also moving, exploration of true intimacy. – author Amitiva Kumar In Giller Prize-nominated writer and visual artist Shani Mootoo’s highly-anticipated new novel Polar Vortex, couple Priya and Alexandra move to a picturesque countryside town, only to have their quiet lives upended by the reappearance of a figure from one of the woman’s pasts. Seductive and tension-filled, Polar Vortex is a story of secrets, deceptions, and revenge. In light of having to postpone the Toronto launch of Polar Vortex and conversation between Shani Mootoo and author Catherine Bush, the Koffler’s Mary Anderson, Manager of Literary & Public Programs, asked Shani to record herself reading the opening pages of her new book from her home in Prince Edward County, Ontario. https://kofflerarts.org/Events/Books-Ideas/Book-Reading-Polar-Vortex-by-Shani-Mootoo

The Koffler’s Books & Ideas series presents the launch of curator Catherine Clement’s book, Chinatown Through a Wide Lens: The Hidden Photographs of Yucho Chow. In conversation with author and Associate Professor at York University, Lily Cho. Chinatown Through a Wide Lens showcases the once-hidden photographs of Vancouver’s first and most prolific Chinese photographer, Yucho Chow. He operated a commercial studio in the heart of Vancouver’s Chinatown from 1907–1949 and chronicled life during a tumultuous and transformative time in Canadian history. https://kofflerarts.org/Events/Books-Ideas/Catherine-Clement

The launch of award-winning fiction writer Joseph Kertes’ Last Impressions, a deeply moving yet comic novel that revels in the energy of its extraordinary characters. At the centre is Zoltan Beck, an aging Jewish-Canadian patriarch who has done his best to hide the trauma of his refugee past from his beloved children. Set in both mid-20th century Hungary and contemporary Toronto, Last Impressions is a story of lost love and newfound connections, of a father and his sons desperately reaching out to bridge an ever-widening gap... even as their time together ebbs away. In conversation with award-winning writer and humourist Terry Fallis, author of The Best Laid Plans, The High Road, and Albatross. https://kofflerarts.org/Events/Books-Ideas/Joseph-Kertes-Terry-Fallis

Dubbed “the rising star of literary Houston” (Literary Hub), Bryan Washington is a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Recipient, the recipient of an Ernest J. Gaines Award, and the recipient of an O. Henry Award. His stories and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, BuzzFeed, Vulture, The Paris Review, Tin House, One Story, GQ, among others. Lot, Washington’s critically-acclaimed first collection of linked short stories, was released in 2019. Set in Houston – a sprawling, diverse microcosm of America – the book traces the coming-of-age of a young man growing up Black, Latino and gay. Lot captures Houston’s culturally-rich yet gritty urban landscape, revealing the vulnerable existence of communities living under the shadow of poverty and violence with raw power and tenderness. Offering rare insight into what makes a community, a family, and a life, Lot explores trust and love in all its unsparing and unsteady forms. Adnan Khan has written for VICE, The Globe and Mail, and Hazlitt. He has been nominated for a National Magazine Award and in 2016 won the RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award. There Has to Be a Knife (2019) is his first novel. https://kofflerarts.org/Events/Books-Ideas/Bryan-Washington

In this first episode of Thresholds, Maria Bangash shares how she made it through her first year of college in Toronto with a physical disability, and how she confronted her fear to advocate for herself on campus and within her able-bodied friend group. Thresholds is a new Koffler.Digital podcast hosted and produced by Maya Bedward in collaboration with members of Holland Bloorview’s Youth Advisory Council. Presented in 5 parts, each episode of Thresholds explores the experiences of these youth with disabilities, as they transition into the adult world. https://kofflerarts.org/Exhibitions/Digital/Digital-Projects/Thresholds

In the fifth and final episode of Thresholds, Lexin Zhang performs a poetic narrative, which is followed by a personal reflection and interpretation by Logan Wong. Thresholds is a new Koffler.Digital podcast hosted and produced by Maya Bedward in collaboration with members of Holland Bloorview’s Youth Advisory Council. Presented in 5 parts, each episode of Thresholds explores the experiences of these youth with disabilities, as they transition into the adult world. https://kofflerarts.org/Exhibitions/Digital/Digital-Projects/Thresholds    

In the fourth episode of Thresholds, Bianca Salvo narrates the story of how Conductive Education Therapy took her to Budapest, where she learned to walk independently in spite of the diagnosis she was given at birth, and brought her back to Toronto—and a public speaking career—many years later. Thresholds is a new Koffler.Digital podcast hosted and produced by Maya Bedward in collaboration with members of Holland Bloorview’s Youth Advisory Council. Presented in 5 parts, each episode of Thresholds explores the experiences of these youth with disabilities, as they transition into the adult world. https://kofflerarts.org/Exhibitions/Digital/Digital-Projects/Thresholds

In the third episode of Thresholds, Samantha Alfaro relays the challenges of Toronto’s public transit system for a person with a disability. Thresholds is a new Koffler.Digital podcast hosted and produced by Maya Bedward in collaboration with members of Holland Bloorview’s Youth Advisory Council. Presented in 5 parts, each episode of Thresholds explores the experiences of these youth with disabilities, as they transition into the adult world. https://kofflerarts.org/Exhibitions/Digital/Digital-Projects/Thresholds

In the second episode of Thresholds, Mika Hjorngaard and Tai Young share snapshots of their everyday lives—dating, going to the fair, drinking—and discuss the ways in which perceptions of disability are often more difficult to navigate than physical barriers. Thresholds is a new Koffler.Digital podcast hosted and produced by Maya Bedward in collaboration with members of Holland Bloorview’s Youth Advisory Council. Presented in 5 parts, each episode of Thresholds explores the experiences of these youth with disabilities, as they transition into the adult world. https://koffler.digital/thresholds/

Erika DeFreitas, Gunilla Josephson, Heather Nicol, Shellie Zhang, Gord Peteran, Iris Häussler, Carmela Laganse, with Curator Mona Filip and Art Director Nicolas Fleming A conversation with seven artists featured in the Koffler Gallery’s fall 2019 exhibition, Undomesticated. Each offer insights into their artistic practice, and how their featured works relate to the theme of domesticity. The artists are joined by curator Mona Filip and art director Nicolas Fleming to discuss how the exhibition considers the psychological, political and emotional layers that shape our sense of home and belonging. https://kofflerarts.org/Exhibitions/Gallery/Gallery-Exhibitions/Undomesticated

Presented in association with Karen Tam's solo exhibition at the Koffler Gallery, the chrysanthemum has opened twelve times, Tam is joined by Toronto-based artist Shellie Zhang for a gallery conversation to discuss the exhibition, Tam's work, and their shared interests as artists.    

The Koffler is thrilled to present the Toronto launch of Abby Stein’s Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman. Abby will be joined in conversation by Rev. Jeff Rock, Senior Pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto, Toronto’s LGBTQ2+ Church. Trans activist Abby Stein was raised in a Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn, isolated in a culture that lives according to the laws and practices of eighteenth-century Eastern Europe. As the first son in a dynastic rabbinical family, Abby was poised to become a leader of the next generation of Hasidic Jews. However, from a young age, Abby felt certain that she was a girl. In her groundbreaking memoir Becoming Eve: My Journey From Ultra- Orthodox Rabbi To Transgender Woman, Abby traces her extraordinary coming-out story, from suppressing her desire for a new body, to looking for answers in forbidden religious texts, to orchestrating her final exodus from ultra-Orthodox manhood to mainstream femininity – a radical choice that forced her to leave home, her family and way of life. Powerful in the truths it reveals about biology, culture, faith, and identity, Becoming Eve poses the enduring question: How far will you go to become the person you were meant to be? kofflerarts.org

The Koffler’s Books & Ideas Series is proud to present the Toronto launch of a powerful debut collection of poetry by Francine Cunningham in conversation with Jennifer Brant, co-editor of Forever Loved: Exposing the Hidden Crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada. Francine Cunningham is constantly reminded that she doesn’t fit the desired expectations of the world as a white-passing, city-raised Indigenous woman with mental illness. In her debut poetry collection On/Me, Cunningham explores, with keen attention and poise, what it means to be forced to exist within the margins.

Jenny Heijun Wills was born in Korea and adopted as an infant into a white family in small-town Canada. In her late twenties, she reconnected with her first family and returned to Seoul. In her breathtaking new memoir, Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related, Wills traces her heartrending journey of reunion with her Korean mother, father, siblings, and extended family. Delving into gender, class, racial and ethnic complexities, the book describes in visceral lyrical prose the painful ripple effects that follow a child’s removal from a family and the rewards that flow from both struggle and forgiveness. Jenny will be in conversation with author Carrianne Leung.

  Complex Weaves: Middle Eastern Stories of Identity and Politics through Textiles Since the earliest periods of Islamic history, textiles have functioned as markers of cultural and regional identity as well as political allegiance and conflict. In modern times, artists and craftspeople across the Middle East and Central Asia and in diaspora communities have continued to express their personal and collective experiences through textiles. In this talk, Dr. Fahmida Suleman will explore a number of historic and contemporary examples in their regional and political contexts. Presented in association with the Koffler Gallery exhibition Nevet Yitzhak: WarCraft.

Since meeting at art school two decades ago, Japanese/British painter Christian Hidaka and French sculptor Raphaël Zarka have sustained an ongoing dialogue around common interests in the connected histories of scientific, philosophic and artistic invention that drive various traditions of understanding and representing reality. In this conversation at the Koffler Gallery, the artists will discuss the ideas and visual vocabularies that inform their work. They will also address their recent collaborations that explore notions of perspective, formal innovation and spatial perception, subverting linear histories and disrupting prescribed canons. Presented in association with the Koffler Gallery Summer Exhibition, Peter’s Proscenium: Christian Hidaka & Raphaël Zarka, June 20 – August 18, 2019.

The Koffler Centre of the Arts is thrilled to present American journalist, film critic and podcast host Wesley Morris, in conversation with Canadian broadcaster and writer Amanda Parris. Wesley Morris is critic-at-large at the The New York Times and a staff writer at the New York Times Magazine, where he writes about film, television, theatre and media, often with a focus on social justice, race, politics, and black and queer representation in American popular culture today. Morris also hosts the Timespodcast Still Processing with Jenna Wortham. For three years, he was a staff writer at Grantland, where he wrote about movies, television, and the role of style in professional sports, and co-hosted the podcast Do You Like Prince Movieswith Alex Pappademas. Before that, he spent 11 years as a film critic at the Boston Globe, where he won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for criticism. He lives in Brooklyn, NY. Amanda Parris writes a weekly column for CBC Arts, hosts three CBC television series (Exhibitionists, The Filmmakers and From the Vaults), and is the radio host of Marvin’s Room on CBC Music. She also writes stories for the stage and screen. Parris is the co-founder of the award-winning alternative education organization Lost Lyrics, and worked with The Remix Project and the Manifesto Festival.

The Koffler Centre of the Arts’ 2019 Books & Ideas Series continues with award-winning author and journalist Amitava Kumar, in conversation with award-winning novelist and visual artist, Shani Mootoo. Award-winning writer and journalist Amitava Kumar is the author of several books of non-fiction, poetry, and his most recent novel, Immigrant, Montana — one of President Obama’s favourite books of 2018. Immigrant, Montana was also selected by the New York Times and the New Yorker as one of the top titles of the past year.  Born in Ara, India, Kumar grew up in the nearby town of Patna, famous for its corruption, crushing poverty, and delicious mangoes. He lives in Poughkeepsie, in upstate New York, where he is Helen D. Lockwood Professor of English at Vassar College. In 2016, Amitava Kumar was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, as well as a Ford Fellowship in Literature from United States Artists.

The Koffler Centre of the Arts is thrilled to present writers Joshua Whitehead and Arielle Twist together in conversation. Joshua Whitehead is a Two-Spirit, Ojibwe-nêhiyaw otâcimow from Peguis First Nation (Treaty 1). He is the author of full-metal indigiqueer (Talonbooks 2017), shortlisted for the Inaugural Indigenous Voices Award in Poetry and the Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry, and Jonny Appleseed (Arsenal Pulp 2018), shortlisted for a Governor General’s Award for Fiction and longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. He is currently a doctoral student in the University of Calgary’s English Department (Treaty 7) where he focuses on Indigenous Lit and Cultures. Arielle Twist is a writer and sex educator from George Gordon First Nation, Saskatchewan, based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She is a Cree, Two-Spirit, trans femme supernova writing to reclaim and harness ancestral magic and memories. Her debut collection of poetry Disintegrate/Dissociate will be released in spring 2019 from Arsenal Pulp Press.

Panel Discussion: Objects of Affection | June 3, 2018 While interviewing museum conservators and historians for her recent project, The Gold Room, artist Esther Shalev-Gerz observed that the framework of their profession seemed to bind them to a strict adherence to factual information when asked to interpret objects from the collection. Imaginative and speculative forms of interpretation are still often disregarded in traditional museum methodologies, even though they are intrinsic to the experience of art. In response, this conversation brings together a visual artist, a museum conservator, a poet and a psychic to explore the potential role of imagination, psychometry and intuitive methods in interpreting museological artifacts and collections. Discussing alternative ways of accessing knowledge, Sameer Farooq, Lisa Ellis, Jared Stanley and Kimberly Rose examine the possibilities offered by new technologies and different ways of thinking in expanding museum practices towards a more inclusive and democratic outlook.

Gwen Benaway & Katherena Vermette | Wednesday, April 18, 2018 The Koffler Centre of the Arts and Ben McNally Books are thrilled to present Anishinaabe and Métis poet Gwen Benaway, in conversation with Métis writer and artist Katherena Vermette. A trans girl poet described as “the spiritual love child of Tomson Highway and Anne Sexton,” Gwen Benaway has published two collections of poetry, Ceremonies for the Dead and Passage. Katherena Vermette is the award-winning, bestselling author of North End Love Songs and The Break. Vermette’s most recent book, Pemmican Wars – a sci-fi graphic novel that follows a 13-year-old girl who discovers her Métis history through time travel – is the first volume in the young adult series A Girl Called Echo. kofflerarts.org | koffler.digital

In association with her solo exhibition at the Koffler Gallery, Esther Shalev-Gerz discusses notions of portraiture, representation and testimonial within the context of her artistic practice based in active dialogue with diverse communities across many decades. In a candid conversation with curator Mona Filip, Shalev-Gerz also shares insights into her conceptual investigations of the ways in which individuals and societies construct ideas of cultural identity, democracy, memory and history.

In conjunction with his solo exhibition at the Koffler Gallery, Over a distance between one and many, Raymond Boisjoly discusses this new body of work in an afternoon conversation with guest curator Sarah Robayo Sheridan. Contextualizing Boisjoly’s artistic practice, the talk will address notions of inter-cultural transmission, Indigeneity and transformation as well as the unsteady role of imaging and communication technologies. For more information, visit koffler.digital

Through their distinctive vision and creative processes, artists can carve out a space to ask the most difficult questions and explore our deepest fears. The anxiety of facing death and the unknown are at the core of human experience, leaving profound marks on the ways in which we construct our reality and shape society, politics and culture. In a conversation moderated by psychoanalyst Dr. David Dorenbaum, visual artists Nicole Collins, Erika DeFreitas and Tim Whiten discuss the role art plays as they grapple with these questions and their psychological weight.

In the words of the great magician Harry Kellar, “the end of all magic is to feed with mystery the human mind, which dearly loves mystery.” The same can be argued to be a fundamental purpose of art, which often seeks to entrance the viewer through surprising encounters that open new perspectives unto reality, life and ideas. In conjunction with the Koffler Gallery exhibition, Architecture Parallax: Through the Looking Glass, visual artist Alexander Pilis and magician David Ben (co-founder and artistic director of Magicana) discuss the role illusion and staging as well as optics and physics play in their respective practices as magic and art entwine. For more information, visit koffler.digital

Author Matti Friedman joins photographer Rita Leistner at the Two Penny Cafe at Artscape Youngplace to discuss their interdisciplinary and socially engaged approaches to conflict journalism. Moderated by the Koffler's producer of public and literary programs, Mary Anderson. For more information, visit koffler.digital

In conversation with Ben McNally, Nathan Englander – Pulitzer Prize-finalist and the best-selling author of For the Relief of Unbearable Urges – will discuss his latest novel, Dinner at the Centre of the Earth. A political thriller that unfolds in the highly charged territory of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the novel pivots on the complex relationship between a secret prisoner and his guard. For more information, visit kofflerarts.org

The Koffler Centre of the Arts and Ben McNally Books present an evening with Nicole Krauss in conversation with Ami Sands Brodoff.  Nicole speaks candidly about the inspiration for and artistic process behind her newest novel, Forest Dark, which interweaves the stories of two disparate individuals--an older lawyer and a young novelist--whose transcendental search leads them to the same Israeli desert.   For more information, visit koffler.digital

Beginning at the Bookmark for Michael Ondaatje’s IN THE SKIN OF A LION, Lazaro’s Dream is an audio walk like none other. History and fiction are artfully assembled into a surreal dream-scape that carries the listener along from the east side of the Bloor Street Viaduct, through part of the Danforth neighbour and down to Riverdale Park. The pieces, written by Jules Lewis, unfolds slowly like a wandering hallucination. Memories of Toronto are fused together with original fiction and archival reimagining, leaving the listener casually drifting through a hundred years of regional history. Scattered throughout the walk, fragments of Ondaatje’s iconic text seem to float up to the surface of perception, guiding the listener through the murky world of Lazaro’s Dream.

The audio walk asks you to begin in Union Station by the VIA Arrival/Departure board in the Grand Hall and end in the St. Lawrence Market neighbourhood. Download the audio to your device, and bring your favourite headphones! Toronto’s streets are a living thing. They change and evolve over time, and each one tells a story of where we’ve been, and where we are going. Passing Through is an audio walk that takes you on a journey of Toronto´s streets, discovering the legacy of their history and innovations for their future. You will walk from Union Station to St. Lawrence Market, gently guided by an artful, imaginative narration that is both beautiful and exciting. Passing Through is presented in partnership by The City of Toronto Transportation Street Art Program, and the Koffler Centre of the Arts. It is produced by Accounts and Records.

The town’s paranoia builds to an explosive climax as the mob turns deadly. Franki and Murphy finally uncover a deep-seated conspiracy and race to save Maisey from Miller’s deadly machinations. Secrets are revealed and lives are lost in the thrilling conclusion to How to Build a Fire.  

Maisey finally reveals her feelings to Ally and asks him to come with her as she leaves Winnisk forever. Franki and Murphy form an uneasy alliance to try to save Maisey as Gwen and her mob set out to prevent history from repeating itself at any cost. Miller confronts Ally with sinister intent.  

Miller finally confronts Maisey about her potential, the nature of Sirus and Ally’s relationship is revealed, and a new fire that consumes the fire station whips the townspeople into a frenzy. As pressure mounts, Maisey is taken into police custody where she begins to plan a desperate escape.  

When Maisey is found unconscious next to a burnt down tree, the townspeople’s fears are confirmed, and bereaved mother Gwen McKinnon decides to take matters into her own hands, whether the mayor agrees or not. Meanwhile, Miller continues to unearth old secrets as he confronts Murphy Goodhand both about Maisey and Murphy’s missing wife.  

A mysterious stranger arrives in town and begins asking dangerous questions as the Goodhands attempt to recover from the tragedy of the fire and the death of Sirus. As the rebuilding process begins, the townspeople still have more questions than answers: both about the nature of the fire and whether or not history will repeat itself.  

When a devastating fire decimates the small Albertan fracking town, Winnisk, suspicion begins to fall on teenager Maisey Goodhand, whose twin brother Sirus was seen running joyfully through the flames before being shot dead by local police chief Franki Rawlins. The Goodhand family has never quite fit in with the small community, and as a witch hunt begins to assemble, it’s up to Maisey, her down-and-out father, and the disgraced former police chief Franki to uncover the deeper conspiracy lurking in their midst.  

Recorded in front of a live audience, and in Koffler.Digital's satellite recording studio, this beautiful conversation sees Nick investigate questions of structure in art, and the "edge of understanding." Special guests include visual artist and architect Phillip Beesley, theatre artist Haley McGee, and musician and graphic designer Arthur Oskan. 

Host Nick Hutcheson chats with author, journalist and songwriter Eric Siblin about music in the age of the live moment. 

K180 is a live event hosted by the Koffler Centre of the Arts in which host Nick Hutcheson talks onstage with artists about art, culture, and the human experience - surrounded by drinks, live music, and interesting people. This is K180: The Podcast in which we continue the conversation. Every episode, host Nick Hutcheson explore a question that interests him about art, culture, and the human experience.  

A digital arts experience that uses literature, podcasting, the streets of Toronto, and mobile technologies for a unique urban experience. The Slow Now is an imaginative audio tour of Little Italy. Produced by Angela Shackel of Lipstick Studios, The Slow Now guides the listener on a narrative journey through the neighbourhood, beginning at the Bookmark for Anne Michaels Fugitive Pieces on the corner of College and Manning. It is an immersive experience that explores the rich history of the neighbourhood and of Michaels' novel. Anne Michaels herself, Toronto's new Poet Laureate, gives voice to passages from Fugitive Pieces. Naomi Skwarna (writer, journalist, actor) voices the original narration written by Mark Mann (Torontoist, Momus, The Walrus). Visual artist Braden Labonte designed and installed a window installation in iconic record store Soundcapes as a piece of public art complementing The Slow Now audio walk.