Partners in Art is proud to support Art Gallery of York University’s (AGYU) acquisition of RISE by Bárbara Wagner and Benjamin de Burca. This acquisition is the first film collected by the AGYU for York University’s art collection and co-purchased with the Doris McCarthy Gallery. RISE was commissioned by the AGYU in 2018, and produced by senior curator Emelie Chhangur. The film is a culmination of staged and improvised performances from nearly 30 performers from Toronto’s Jane-Finch and Scarborough neighborhoods, created in conjunction with our Truth be Told Spoken Word mentorship program led by educator Allyson Adley.
In celebration of this ground-breaking production and acquisition, AGYU will present this internationally acclaimed film as an outdoor public screening with live performances from some of the stars of the film who are from one of Toronto’s most influential spoken word and rap scenes. RISE is an exceptional film in all aspects, offering a complex and layered view into Wagner & de Burca’s socially engaged approach to film-making and dedication to capturing how vernacular forms of celebration and performance transform and translate into popular culture. Wagner & de Burca envelop geographic displacement and diasporic movement by capturing the mixing of cultural forms in the documentation and framing of existing scenes and pop genres.
RISE has been presented at FRONT INTERNATIONAL Triennial of American Art, Cleveland (July 2018); Fortes, D’Aloia & Gabriel, São Paulo (September – October 2018); Scarborough Nuit Blanche, Scarborough ON (September 2018); Berlinale, Berlin (February 2019), where it won the prestigious AUDI Award; Toronto Biennial of Art (Sept – Dec 2019); JUMEX, Mexico City (October 2019 – February 2020); and other venues and film festivals internationally, including the Moscow International Film Festival and the Guanajuato Film Festival (Mexico), where it won best experimental short film. In May 2019, AGYU published the first monograph on the films of Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca on the occasion of the 58th Venice Biennial, where they represented Brazil. When RISE screened at the inaugural Toronto Biennial of Art, it was called “the best work ever made about Toronto” by Canadian art critic David Balzer in Frieze Magazine.
RISE Artists
Lead Artists: Bárbara Wagner and Benjamin de Burca
Featuring: Randell Adjei, Nasim Asgari, Nathan Baya, Kareem Bennett, Bidhan Berma, Borelson, Kevin Brathwaite, Kwazzi D. Brown, Daniel Burton, David Delisca, Anthony Gebrehiwot, Timaaj, Hassen, Zenab Hassan, Shahaddah Jack, Jameel3DN, Trevlyn Kennedy, Michie Mee, Abdulkadir “Moose” Nur, Duke Redbird, Linell “ES-EF” Roy, NamedTobias, Laurette Jack-Ogbonna, Paul “ohm” Ohonsi, Terence Penny, Akeem Raphael, Chantal Rose, Thunderclaw Robinson, Gee Soropia, Aliyah Suvannah Suviana, Dynesti Williams
