New exhibitions open today at the Ryerson Image Centre

This winter, the Ryerson Image Centre will present A Handful of Dust: From the Cosmic to the Domestic (external link) , an exhibition focused on the visual representation of dust in photography, both as an element of the everyday and as poetic allegory. The exhibition opens with a public reception on January 22, 6–8 p.m.  

Conceived by David Campany, an acclaimed independent curator and critic based in New York, A Handful of Dust covers a wide range of subjects, including aerial reconnaissance, the American dust bowl, Mussolini’s final car journey, and the wars in Iraq. Featuring modern and contemporary works by over 30 international artists, including Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp, Walker Evans, Gerhard Richter, Sophie Ristelhueber, and Jeff Wall, the exhibition also showcases anonymous press photographs, postcards, magazine spreads, and films.

A Handful of Dust challenges the notion that photographs are evidential, emphasizing instead their ambiguous nature and the way that meaning is derived from the context in which they are viewed. The exhibition takes as its starting point an iconic photograph by American avant-garde artist Man Ray of Marcel Duchamp’s The Large Glass (1915–1923), a work in progress that had been left to gather dust in his studio. First reproduced in October 1922 in the Surrealist French journal Littérature, Man Ray’s image was given the misleading title View From an Aeroplane. Republished over the years with various captions and titles, the photograph was formally named Dust Breeding in 1964. 

“Over time I came to realize that looking at this photograph and all the different ways it was published and all the resonances it had with other photographs, you could come to quite a sophisticated understanding of photography and an interesting understanding of the 20th century,” says Campany. 

Also published in October 1922 was the influential poem by American writer T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land, which reflected on the devastation of the First World War. The poem includes the line “I will show you fear in a handful of dust,” from which the title of the exhibition is drawn. 

Contemporary highlights include Kirk Palmer’s video, Murmur (2006), which explores the natural beauty of Japan’s landscapes, still haunted by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Canadian photographer and School of Image Arts professor Robert Burley’s work Implosions of Buildings 65 and 69, Kodak Park, Rochester, NY [#1], October 6, 2007 (2007) shows the destruction of the headquarters of the once-preeminent film manufacturer, reflecting the abrupt and dramatic demise of a century-old industry. 

Xavier Ribas’ installation Nomads (2008) documents an empty industrial plot in Barcelona where 60 Roma families were displaced after diggers were hired to break up the concrete surface to make it uninhabitable. In Per Pulverem Ad Astra (2007), Eva Stenram produced negatives from NASA’s digital Mars images, then allowed them to gather dust and hair in her apartment before printing them, creating landscapes that combine the otherworldly and the familiar. 

"David Campany's innovative perspectives on the history of photography have profoundly impacted our current thinking about the uses, public reception, and social force of the medium,” says RIC Director Paul Roth. “We’re very pleased to bring this fascinating exhibition to Toronto audiences."

On view from January 22 to April 5, 2020, A Handful of Dust is guest curated by David Campany. The exhibition is generously supported by media sponsors the Toronto Star and The Walrus and is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue published by MACK.  

Below are three additional exhibitions also opening on January 22:

Nir Evron: A Free Moment

Israeli artist Nir Evron’s film A Free Moment (external link)  (2011) draws together political history and formal exploration. Shot in the abandoned shell of the never-completed Jordanian Summer Palace in East Jerusalem, this four-minute film reveals a dizzying perspective on the structure’s concrete bulk and the city sprawling beneath it.

Extending the Frame: 40 Years of Gallery TPW

Extending the Frame: 40 Years of Gallery TPW (external link)  celebrates 40 years of exhibitions and programs at Gallery TPW, the artist-run centre founded in 1977 as a platform for contemporary photography in Toronto.

Clea Christakos-Gee: A piece A seed A spread

A piece A seed A spread (external link)  interprets the conceptual poetry of Yoko Ono through photography. The images are prompted by a selection of instructional texts sourced from Ono’s 1964 book and artwork Grapefruit. These “pieces” or “happenings” are a signature format of Ono’s longstanding and continued engagement with public participation and imagination.

For a complete schedule of events, please visit the Ryerson Image Centre website (external link) .