April 15th 2014
Issue 1
MONTREAL SHOWS MUSIC LIFE
By: Michael MClean Creating a parallel between past and present and utilizing Contemporary and photographic qualities, Anothony Vrakota’s “An Instant Used to be Three minutes Long”challenges our notions of beauty and aesthetics as his works fills the void left open by our own principles and definitions. Working With expired Polaroid film, Vrakota’s art and meanings not only explore the depths of his past but demands answers to the ever so present and forgotten definition of “beauty”. Exploring past memories through expired polaroids, Vrakotas ventures into areas from his past and takes a picture which lacks a tangible/visual image with no composition in general. Instead of the photography being the art itself, the meaning and story behind each piece begin to evolve into the art. ”The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.”- Aristotle. Although the exhibit demonstrates its roots to the ever so present contemporary form, Anthony Vrakotas works although seemingly abstract, challenge what we perceive as beautiful, as its underlying meanings conveys a sense of definiteness. As the toxic green and orange Polaroid prints plaster the white walls, its difficult not to judge of first glance. The distorted, cracked and overall ugly photos create a very ambiguous tone and feeling as you make way your way through the selection. However these Polaroids create a function and most definitely aid in demonstrating the difference between Beauty and aesthetics.
Often times, the definition of beauty is confused with aesthetics qualities, these qualities in which follow the guide lines of form, color and a society based standard. Although beauty may in fact be in the eye of the beholder, the ever changing definition of beauty becomes more and more torn apart as new definitions arise as a new wave of art takes over. Anthony Vrakotas “An Instant Used to be Three Minutes” answers the question by simply creating a strong message in which displays a sense of definiteness and Impact. Although beauty maybe objective or subjective to some, the exhibit successfully differentiates aesthetic beauty with beauty in meaning. When nearing the end of the exhibit and very real sense of emotion is felt, the once unprepossessing polaroids suddenly become more and more pleasing to the eyes as the beautiful meaning behind them begin to draw new light. Not only challenging our Perception of photography and how we as a society view photos, the exhibit manages to define beauty from a new perspective. As well as it definiteness the exhibit empowers us to revaluate what beauty is “The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express.”-P.C. Cast. Anothony Vrakota’s art works challenge our notion of beauty and solidifies a strong foundation and gip on the contemporary art world. As its digs into the past and questions the ever so present, the often forgotten past becomes clearer and results in a meaning only the realist of minds will find beautiful.
By: Brandon Rock
The Centaur theatre, is one of the most known and decorated theatre’s here in Montreal Qc. It all started a while back in 1969 where it was founded by a man known as Maurice Podbrey, he had started his own theater company known as Centaur theatre company. Their first ever purchased building previously known as Canada’s first stock exchange building, they renovated it into a theatre house. As the early years passed, new works began to evolve but it was Montreal’s born playwright David Fennario’s plays that where getting national attention with shows playing in Canada, Ireland and England. Over these next 10 years, Centaur went on to produce eighteen world premiere Montreal plays. One of the main goals for this company was to bring back the Montreal life as it had been diminishing over the past few years. In 2006, Centaur theatre company, won the Grand Prix nomination by the Conseil des arts de Montreal for their remarkable contribution to Montreal theatre life. It was an honour for Centaur to finally realize that their goals and dreams where coming true and they finally got rewarded for it as well. Since 2006, Centaur has won 9 different awards which consists of best actress, best make-up, best set design etc. Since opening up in 1969, they have put on hundreds and hundreds of plays from Othello by William Shakespeare to their latest production August in the afternoon. They are located in Vieux Montreal and are still one of the most popular theatre companies here in Montreal Quebec.
INSTITUTIONS MISSION:
Management Structure:
Centaur Theatre Company is a nonprofit organization and they are dedicated to Creating, developing, producing and presenting a bunch of different plays that are Intriguing to audiences everywhere. When they are creating their plays and other Theatrical explorations from the local and international scene, they keep in mind That their main mission is to inspire and relate directly to the modern human Experience. They are a theater company guided in efforts to have a philosophy of Staying current. Their main goal is to remain up to date in the class of innovative World theatre and at the same time, present a dynamic mix of theatrical form and content drawn from the classical and modern Eras of theatre. It is also their mission to participate and foster the spirit of theatrical collaboration with the International, National and Quebecois theatre community, with a high emphasis on Montreal. We mandate on presenting the plays of Montreal playwrights, in addition to other Canadian writers around Canada. Their additional goal is to implement, as well as employ outreach initiatives and programs that will assist in the development of Montreal theatre artists and audiences alike. They have developed a visual identity with their audience around Canada and mostly here in Montreal.
This is a company that is a nonprofit organization. A lot rely on the financial support of donors, in order to continue delivering high-quality theatre to our diverse community. It is recorded that approximately 20% of the Centaur’s operating budget comes from donors and sponsors. Since they are a non-profit organization, Centaur Theatre must diversify its revenue sources by reaching out to individuals as well as the corporate sector, foundations and the three levels of government that support our activities. It is all a long process but in order to remain among the top theatre groups this is what is needed. Do to all of the contribution these donors and supporters have shown, it will help sustain their many programs and ensure that Centaur can continue to provide affordable and accessible English-language theatre to the people of Montreal and to our many out-of-town English-speaking visitors. Most importantly there are two people most important to this operation, Phillip Strachan Chief financial officer and Richard Pan Vice president and head of Corporate finance. These two are the ones that take care of all the revenues and donation money that is coming in as well as finding sponsors and advertising Centaur to the public.
By: Alex Quinton-Brunet After the end of this years Amnesia Rockfest lineup Rocketfest have proved their dominance over all other Rock , Metal and Punk music festivals in Canada. After last years shaky finish due to the payment issues of local bands Rockfest bounced back with a lineup that era of respected bands from the birth of hardcore punk in the 80’s to the modern progressive metal bands.
At the top of the list we have the three piece pop punk band Blink 182 who will be headlining the first day. They will be accompanied by the iconic hair metal band Motley crew the next day. On the punk side we see the likes of Canadian alt punk group Billy Talent joined by ska punk sensation Real Big Fish who will make you want to skank and dance your heart out. We also see two of the greatest 80’s punk band The Misfits and Dead Kennedy’s adding to the long list of timeless punk bands.Looking into the Hardcore side of things we see the founding fathers Black Flag with the return of Henry Rollins their most iconic singer, next to them we see home town heroes Obey the Brave from Montreal and Counterparts from southern Ontario. Getting into Metal the list is quite extensive with Megadeth at the top of most people’s list , Cannibal corpse and progressive metal quartet Veil of Maya. But the most sought after bands are the recently reassembled Montreal boys Despised Icon who have been broken up since 2010 , and Swedish groove metal powerhouse Meshuggah who have not played the Montreal area in what seems like forever ! Beginning in the late 80’s
these Swedish metal heads began a whole new revolution of metal which on caught on in the mid 2000’s. Heavy grooves and big breakdowns , make this band the most unique metal band every to exist contrasting to a complete opposite to the typical thrash metal and Nu metal bands like Lamb of God , Slipknot or Korn.
Rockfest like every year will be renting out camping grounds in order to house those from out of town who don’t have a hotel. Renting camping grounds for the weekend is highly recommended as it gives this festival a communal aspect , much like sleep away camp just with loud music , a punk rock sleep away camp if you will. You can roast hot dogs , marshmallows while singing campfire songs , sharing your mosh pit battles wounds and a have a fews drinks with your neighbors who enjoy Real Big Fish as much as you do ! All in all we highly recommend you trek on over to Montebello for Rockfest as it will be the best Montreal festival of the year! Why you may ask? Well simply because the Osheaga lineup this year is mediocre , along with the lineup of Heavy MTL and let’s face it no one wants to deal with hoards fifty year old scene girls at warped tour. So don’t miss your chance to catch Henry Rollins re unit with Black Flag , Meshuggah who will most likely never be back along with all the other righteous bands , tunes and fun! ..see you in the pit!