By Staff
March 25th, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
This is the last month to see The Characters: Act III by Erdem Taşdelen at the Art Gallery of Burlington. Closing April 16th, the The Characters: Act III is the final act of a three-part audio installation.
An exercise in dramaturgy and dystopian reflection, the works are based on the narratives of 30 stock characters and performed by voice actors from scripts developed by the artist.
These fictional characters are recognizable archetypes representing a specific set of behaviours or thoughts. Their defining traits are borrowed from the work of Theophrastus, a Greek author of the 4th century BCE, who produced the first known set of character sketches in history, describing types of people such as “The Pennypincher,” “The Faultfinder,” and “The Grouch.”
Peculiarly, all these 30 types, together titled The Characters, depict negative traits.
Some scholars have speculated that a supplementary volume comprising positive types must also have existed, or at least been planned. In the absence of these, however, Taşdelen’s reading takes on a comical and poignant quality through its rather bleak representation of human nature. Curated by Natasha Chaykowski, the first two acts of The Characters were presented in Calgary, Alberta at The Bows (formerly Untitled Art Society) in partnership with EMMEDIA (2019) and in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan at AKA Artist-Run (2020).
Hours:
Tuesday – Friday 12 PM – 5 PM
Saturday 10 AM – 5 PM
Sunday & Monday CLOSED
