After a summer break, AGO First Thursdays are back with the launch event of the fall season. Our programming considers notions of landscape, nature and nationhood with the theme Nostalgia Canadiana. The event celebrates the final weeks of the exhibition Picturing the Americas: Landscape Painting from Tierra del Fuego to the Arctic and landmark reunion performances by the Canadian indie legends Rheostatics with Kevin Hearn, which premiere the next night at the AGO.

Headlining the event is a supergroup of sorts, with a program called Music Inspired by Rheostatics. In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Rheostatics’ Music Inspired by the Group of Seven, local musicians celebrate the band’s legacy by performing a Rheos song themselves. Vocalists include Laura Barrett (The Hidden Cameras), Terra Lightfoot, Casey Mecija (Ohbijou), Mike O’Brien (Zeus), Sandro Perri, Marker Starling (Mantler), plus a special performance by Canadian folk legend Mary Margaret O’Hara. Local guitarist and musical mastermind Thom Gill has put together a house band, and the tribute kicks off in Walker Court at 9 pm.

Throughout the evening, visitors are invited to see Toronto artist Ben Oakley create a live drawing installation using tape and get their hands on a map of Canada to work with Toronto artist, activist and musician Maggie MacDonald, addressing the environmental issues embedded within its boundaries. Local artist Felix Kalmenson presents a new video installation dealing with landscape through its migratory borders, and Bonnie Devine speaks about her own installation with AGO Fredrik S. Eaton curator Andrew Hunter. Plus, hear Isla Craig lead a roving choir singing songs pulled from the Canadian collective memory and inspired by works in the AGO’s Canadian collection. And listen to a series of writer and artists like Aisha Sasha John, Keith Cole, Chris Randle and Cathy Gordon reflect on the poetics of landscape and nationhood on a mini stage called ‘myspace’.

Additional programming includes a pop-up talk by Georgina Uhlyarik, AGO Associate Curator of Canadian Art, who has made a special selection of drawings for our monthly Out of the Vaults exhibition. Pick up this month’s artist-designed program, by Sameer Farooq, and hear Justin Peroff of Broken Social Scene and Vanessa Dunn of VAG HALEN DJing the night away.

As always you can also expect delicious food and drinks in our Night Market to complete your experience. Buy your tickets before they sell out!

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