Christof Migone

Blackwood Gallery Director Christof Migone
Professor Christof Migone, the Director and Curator of the Blackwood Gallery, brings his vast expertise to the contemporary art space located at the University of Toronto Mississauga. 

As the course instructor for curatorial practice with the Centre for Visual Media and Culture at U of T Mississauga, Migone has also taught a number of courses at New York University, Concordia University, as well as the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.

One of the exhibitions Migone is curating at the Gallery explores the theme of falling. This theme will be portrayed in a number of unique ways, “both literally and metaphorically,” explains Migone. For example, the Fall of 2009 exhibitions will feature investigations of breathing (the rise and fall of the ribcage), as well as explorations of gravity. Migone is currently curating an exhibition entitled, Awashawave, which explores rhythmic patterns and runs until May 31, 2009. “Awashawave is a heterogeneous mix of works that include photos, video, sculpture and audio, and pays particular attention to notions of inundation and submergence,” says Migone.

With a full roster of course instruction, administrative responsibilites and research, along with being an avid artist in his own right and a number of publications to his credit, Migone is left with little spare time yet still presents his work in several venues, including Mercer Union, an artist-run center devoted to contemporary art in the Greater Toronto Area. And his exhibition Disco Sec, an investigation of his record collection, was featured this past winter at the Axe-Néo 7 gallery in Gatineau, Quebec, located across the river from Ottawa. His two-part curatorial project entitled START and STOP was also featured at the Leonard & Bina Ellen Gallery at Concordia University in Montreal.

Migone is enjoying his new environment at the University of Toronto Mississauga. He describes his current surroundings as one of “great staff and a good crew of work-study students with energy and enthusiasm for new projects.” He expects that the already renowned Blackwood Gallery will grow and enhance as Migone and his colleagues continue to plan for upcoming exhibitions and works for 2010.

The Blackwood Gallery, which is well known for its focus on contemporary art, opened in 1992 in the Kaneff Centre on campus. It was named after Canadian artist David Blackwood who was an artist-in-residence at Erindale College from 1967-1971.

By Lujayn Ali