Pick of the Day: My Evil Twin

If you pick up the Oct. 22 edition of prairie dog you'll find my review of this exhibition in the AfterHours section. It's the final instalment in a three-part series on the theme of the double or doppleganger curated by the MacKenzie Gallery's Timothy Long.

In pop culture, as I note in the review, the evil twin is a narrative staple. Here's video excerpts from two famous examples to show what I mean -- the classic Star Trek episode Mirror, Mirror where Kirk, Scotty, Bones and Uhuru get switched with their counterparts in a parallel universe when an ion storm causes a transporter glitch; and a Hallowe'en-themed episode of South Park called Spooky Fish where the boys face danger when a portal opens into an alternative universe due to a pet store owner's desecration of an old Indian burial ground. (YouTube)

That tradition is alluded to in this show, particularly in the work of Toronto artist Kristan Horton who's created a photo-montage replicating select scenes from Stanley Kubrick's 1964 Cold War satire Dr. Strangelove. But at its core the show, which also includes work by Janieta Eyre (Toronto, and whose work is pictured above), Maria Hupfield (Vancouver) and Julian Rosefeldt (Berlin), affords viewers a fascinating opportunity to explore complex issues like individual identity, the vagaries of human behaviour, cloning and even ethnic stereotyping.

My Evil Twin runs until Jan. 4. Oct. 30, the gallery is hosting a screening of David Cronenberg's twin-themed thriller Dead Ringers. Then on Nov. 5 Robin Poitras and Benoit Lachambre will present a dance performance tied to the exhibition.