11/03/2009 - 12/18/2009 | Marshall McLuhan Salon & Nordwest-Passage

FREEDOM ROCKS | Images of the Berlin Wall

The Embassy of Canada, in cooperation with Ryerson University, Toronto and with the generous support of Bombardier Transportation, will be showing for the first time digitalized historical black and white photographs telling the story of the Berlin Wall. These images are taken from the archives of the Black Star photo agency, which was founded in New York by Berlin émigrés in 1936.

The art project "Freedom Rocks" by Blake Fitzpatrick and Vid Ingelevics presents the material and virtual afterlife of the Berlin Wall in the collective space and memory of North America.

Opening times: Mon - Fri 12pm - 5pm

The Black Star Collection, comprising nearly 300,000 photographs, has found its archival home at Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada. An extraordinary number of outstanding photographers, whose influence has shaped photographic practice in the 20th century, produced the work that makes up this collection.

For more information on the Black Star Collection at Ryerson University please see: www.ryerson.ca/collection

11/05/2009 | 17:00 EST | Botschaft von Kanada

Panel discussion: The Metamorphosis of the Berlin Wall

From the Berlin roots of the Black Star Collection to the North American art project "Freedom Rocks"

Artists, historians and photo experts from Berlin and Toronto will introduce us to two very different projects on the history of the Berlin Wall past and present. By juxtaposing the photojournalistic black and white images from the historically significant Black Star Collection at Ryerson University with the art project entitled "Freedom Rocks", the panelists examine the relationships between multiple modes of remembering and retelling history, from the documentary image to the personal and sometimes fictionalized reflections on the past.

The panelists are:

Doina Popescu, Director, Ryerson Gallery and Research Centre
Blake Fitzpatrick, Professor in the Documentary Media Program (MFA), Ryerson University
Vid Ingelevics, Associate Professor, School of Image Arts, Ryerson University
Arne Kislenko, Associate Professor of History at Ryerson University
Prof. Dr. Michael Diers, Institut für Kunst- und Bildgeschichte, Humboldt-Universität Berlin
Hendrik Neubauer, Historian and author on the Black Star Agency, Cologne

Dr. Michal Bodemann, Director of the Office of the University of Toronto in Berlin will be moderating the discussion.

Please register for this event by November 4, 2009:

E-Mail: eva.myrczik@international.gc.ca
Fax: 030/20312-121