Following are the two exciting upcoming SAVAC projects for the month of August.

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Hail a Peace Taxi!

In August 2003

Call 416-745-5100 and ask for a Peace Taxi to pick you up!

Look for the Peace Taxi logo on Toronto Taxis and hail a taxi on the street.

Come to our opening: date, time and location (will get to you as soon as finalized)

Come to our panel discussion: date , time and location (will get to you as soon as finalized)

Peace Taxi was conceived by Rashmi Varma with Rachel Kalpana James and is curated by Cyrus Irani. SAVAC’s programming committee: Cyrus Irani, Rachel Kalpana James, Riaz Mehmood, Amin Rehman, and Rashmi Varma invited cross cultural artists to join them in creating site-specific artwork inside taxis during the month of August 2003.

The participating artists are: Judy Cheung (Toronto), Shilpa Gupta (Mumbai, India), Hawra Harianawala (Toronto), Joanne Hui & Jan Schotte (Montreal), Anita James (Toronto), Rachel Kalpana James (Toronto), Arshad Khan (Toronto), Nas Khan (Toronto), Jennifer Matotek (Toronto), Riaz Mehmood (Toronto), Amin Rehman (Toronto), MSC Satya Sai (Noida, India), SPURSE (Austin, Texas), Darshana Vora (London, UK), Rashmi Varma (Toronto) collaborative artists: Alia Toor(New York), Nitin Mukul (New York), and Farjad Nabi (Lahore, Pakistan).

Peace Taxi is an art project that brings cross-cultural artists, taxi drivers and the general public together in response to globalization and the threat to civil liberties around the world. In part, this project examines the reaction of taxi drivers to the events of September 11.Taxi drivers are workers who occupy a private/public space with their customers and are more vulnerable to racism and hate crimes. Taxi drivers are predominantly from immigrant communities. Regardless of professional training and due to systemic barriers, taxi driving is one of the more accessible forms of available employment, despite the growing dangers.

Peace Taxi aims to bring attention to the situation of these "frontline" workers.

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BOLLY>LOLLY >HOLLY >TOLLY

SAVAC Member Exhibition, part of the Masala! Mehndi! Masti! Festival

August 8-10, 2003 at Marilyn Brewer Community Space, Harbourfront Centre,

235 Queens Quay West, Toronto

Hours are from 7pm to 11pm Friday, Noon to 11pm Saturday and Noon to 6pm on Sunday.

Background

The excitement and glamour of Bollywood has always captivated its audiences. In fact, Bollywood has inspired a copycat genre of filmmaking in Lahore, Hollywood, Toronto and beyond…and so we have BOLLY>LOLLY>HOLLY>TOLLY.

The Lahore film industry a.k.a. Lollywood has had an intimate relationship with Bollywood from the earliest years of filmmaking in South Asia. More recently, western audiences have been bedazzled by Hollywood-Bollywoodesque films like Moulin Rouge and The Guru. Toronto filmmaker Deepa Mehta brought us Bollywood-Hollywood – a cinematic tribute to both Bollywood and Toronto. And New York-based, Mira Nair gave us her Bollywood-inspired film Monsoon Wedding.

The Bollywood trend has also caught on with art exhibitions such as “Bollywood has arrived” 2001 – in the Passenger Terminal, Amsterdam and "Cinema India: The Art of Bollywood", currently at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. And on the stage, there’s Andrew Lloyd Webber’s blockbuster musical Bollywood Dreams.

BOLLY>LOLLY>HOLLY>TOLLY presents artworks by SAVAC members which seek to critique, celebrate, reflect upon, undermine, and re-interpret Bollywood, Lollywood, Hollywood and Tollywood in all its many dazzling facets.

The participating artists are: Bani Abidi (Lahore, Pakistan), Anita Agrawal (Toronto), Faisal Anwar (Toronto), Gayathiri Ganeshan (Toronto), Asma Arshad Mahmood (Toronto), Annu Palakunnathu Matthew (Rhode Island), Carol Pereira (New York),Andrée Pouliot (Ottawa),Tazeen Qayyum (Toronto),Nep Sidhu (Ajax),Vanita Varma (Toronto)

A number of Bollywood posters from the collection of www.indiaartmart.com will be featured in the exhibition.