Primary Exhibition

The Brothel Without Walls

Susan Anderson, Evan Baden, Douglas Coupland, Jessica Dimmock, Marina Gadonneix, Clunie Reid, Stefan Ruiz, Joachim Schmid, Christopher Wahl

Previous ←
  • Douglas Coupland, Prows, from the series Colour Correction, 2010
    Douglas Coupland, Prows, from the series Colour Correction, 2010, Courtesy of the artist and Clark & Faria, Toronto
  • Susan Anderson, Danica, Age 5 Santa Ana, California, from the series High Glitz, 2005
    Susan Anderson, Danica, Age 5 Santa Ana, California, from the series High Glitz, 2005, Courtesy of the arist and PATRICK PAINTER INC
  • Christopher Wahl, Prince Charles, 2001
    Christopher Wahl, Prince Charles, 2001, © Christopher Wahl
  • Joachim Schmid, Cyberspace #13, 2004
    Joachim Schmid, Cyberspace #13, 2004, Collection of the artist
  • Clunie Reid, Take No Photographs, Leave Only Ripples (detail), 2009
    Clunie Reid, Take No Photographs, Leave Only Ripples (detail), 2009, Courtesy of MOT International, © Clunie Reid
  • Marina Gadonneix, Mire #8, from the series Remote Control, Paris, 2006-07
    Marina Gadonneix, Mire #8, from the series Remote Control, Paris, 2006-07, Courtesy of the artist and Gallery Esther Woerdehoff, Paris
  • Jessica Dimmock, Madonna, from the series Paparazzi!, 2009
    Jessica Dimmock, Madonna, from the series Paparazzi!, 2009, © Jessica Dimmock/VII Network
  • Stefan Ruiz, Rubble backdrop, ‘Amarte es mi Pecado’ set, from the series The Factory of Dreams, 2003
    Stefan Ruiz, Rubble backdrop, ‘Amarte es mi Pecado’ set, from the series The Factory of Dreams, 2003, Collection of the artist
  • Evan Baden, Jenna, from the series Technically Intimate, 2009
    Evan Baden, Jenna, from the series Technically Intimate, 2009, Courtesy of the artist

University of Toronto Art Centre
May 1–31, 2010
Opening May 1, 7:30–9:30 pm

15 King's College Circle, Main floor of Laidlaw Wing
Toronto, M5S 3H7
Map »
Tue - Fri 12 - 5pm
Sat 12 - 4pm
416 978 1838
www.utac.utoronto.ca

In 1964 Marshall McLuhan wrote of the photograph as “the brothel without walls” just one year after creating a center for culture and technology at the University of Toronto, where he was a professor for over 30 years. McLuhan described photographs as “dreams that money can buy” which could be “hugged and thumbed more easily than public prostitutes.” The exhibition The Brothel Without Walls considers McLuhan’s metaphor within today’s global village, where it appears that the illusions images create are often preferable to reality.

McLuhan famously proclaimed, “the medium is the message”; in other words, the scope of a medium’s effect on human affairs is a result of how it functions as an extension of ourselves, and the change that it provokes. The advent of television and its subsequent domination over printed forms of communication, the shift from analogue to digital photography and the increasing popularity of image repositories on the Internet are all part of the pressures reshaping photography’s influence today.

Curated by Matthew Brower and Bonnie Rubenstein.

Presented in partnership with the University of Toronto Art Centre.

Save To Planner

More Primary Exhibitions