Toni Hafkenscheid is a Toronto based photographer originally from Amsterdam, the Netherlands. In 1989, he graduated from the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and shortly thereafter moved to Toronto. He has exhibited in solo and group shows throughout Canada, the U.S., Japan and Europe. 

 

Toni Hafkenscheid was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 14 years after World War 2. During the war the city centre was completely destroyed. Instead of rebuilding the city to make it look like it did before the war, it was decided that the city should look like a North American city with modern architecture. As Germany, the motor of the European economy, underwent an enormous economic recovery, so did Rotterdam. (During that time Rotterdam was considered the biggest port in the world). The city flourished and there was a sense of hope and a belief in a better future.

 

In this series Relics of the Future, Toni Hafkenscheid explores our erstwhile visions of an American future as seen from a 1950’s- 60’s point of view. He is looking at structures built in that era that represent an idealized view of a future with its belief in technology, a sense of optimism, and a promise of better days ahead. 

 

EDUCATION:

1984-1989  Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

 

SOLO/2-PERSON EXHIBITIONS (selection):
2010 Iconic America, Pearson Airport, Terminal 1
Relics of the Future, Birch Libralato Gallery, Toronto
Life Models, Hamilton Printmakers Association, Hamilton
Gallery Jones, Vancouver
2009 RCA Visual, St. John’s, NFLD
Forest City Gallery, London, ON
2008 Gallery Jones, Vancouver, BC
George Billis Gallery, LA
Confabulation, Birch Libralato Gallery, Toronto (CONTACT 2008)
Drake Hotel, Toronto
Klondike Institute of Art and Culture, Dawson City, YU
In The Mind’s Eye, Niagara Arts Centre, Niagara Falls, ON
2007 Handheld Landscape, AKA Gallery, Saskatoon, SK
HO, Hartcourt House, Edmonton, AB
Not to scale, Packer Schopf Gallery, Chicago, IL    
2006 AXENEO7, Gatineau, QC
Artspace, Peterborough, ON
Birch Libralato Gallery, Toronto (CONTACT 2006)
Galerie VU, Quebec City
Skew gallery, Calgary, AB       
2005 Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Aron Packer Gallery, Chicago, IL
Richmond Art Gallery, Richmond, BC
Alternator Gallery, Kelowna , BC
PLATFORM, Winnipeg, MB
Eye Level, Halifax, NS
Artcite, Windsor, ON
2004 Robert Birch gallery, Toronto (CONTACT 2004)
2002 VIA Rail station, Montreal
Lee Ka-Sing  Gallery, Toronto
Dazibao Gallery, Montreal
2001 Robert Birch  Gallery, Toronto
2000 2 from Canada, CEPA, Buffalo, N.Y.
1999 Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto
1997 Robert Birch  Gallery, Toronto
1996 Art Cite, Windsor, Canada
Birganart  Gallery, Toronto       
1995 Napier University, Edinburgh (Fotofeis ‘95)
La Chambre Blanche, Quebec City      
1994 Desmet, Amsterdam
 

GROUP EXHIBITIONS (selection):
2010 9 establishing shots on TTC subway monitors in Toronto
2007 Denver International Airport, Denver, CO
2006 Super models, Open Space, Victoria, BC
Art with Heart, Toronto
Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO
2005 Focused, PCN, Seattle, WA
Renaissance Society, Chicago, IL
Beyond/in Western NY, CEPA, Buffalo, NY
Neverlands,  Montreal (Le Mois de la photo)
Recent acquisitions,  Doris McCarthy Gallery, Toronto
Escaping: Fugitive Geography , Drake Hotel, Toronto
Part/Object, St. Francis College, Chicago,IL
Art with Heart, Bau-Xi Gallery, Toronto
2004 Drive, Skew Gallery, Calgary
Connect the dots, CBC Radio 3 tour, across Canada
2002 the Home Show, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg
2001 Argument, Spin Gallery, Toronto
2000 Documenting Eye, Art Cite, Detroit Focus 2000
Intersections, Toronto, Montreal       
1999 Persistent Documents, Canadian Embassy, Tokyo
1998 Persistent Documents, The Photographers Gallery, Saskatoon, SK
  Urban  Spaces, Berlage Instituut, Amsterdam
1997 Plastic Fantastic, E3 Gallery, New York     
Contact ‘97,  Robert Birch  Gallery, Toronto
CEPA, Buffalo, N.Y.
1996 Eastern Edge, St. Johns, NFLD
1996 Floating Gallery, Winnipeg      
1995 Beauty #2, The Power Plant, Toronto
Le Mois de la Photo, Montreal
Beauty #2, The Power Plant, Toronto
Feeding the Fire, White Water Gallery, North Bay, ON
1994 The Family, Canadian Museum for Contemporary Photography, Ottawa 
CEPA, Buffalo, NY
  Fifth  Anniversary ,  Robert Birch  Gallery, Toronto
Toronto after dark, Market Gallery of the City of Toronto Archives, Toronto
Feeding the Fire,  Floating Gallery, Winnipeg
Feeding the Fire , Modern Fuel, Kingston, Ontario
1993 Birganart  Gallery, Toronto  
1992 Round-Up '92, Toronto
1991 Gallery 44, Latent Images, Toronto
Round-Up '91, Toronto
1989 Amsterdam Foto '89: Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam
Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie, Arles, France

GRANTS/AWARDS (selection)    
2010 Ontario Arts Council, Project Grant
2008 Canada Arts Council Project Grant
Ontario Arts Council, Project Grant
Ontario Arts Council, Exhibition Assistance Grant
2007  Ontario Arts Council, Exhibition Assistance Grant
2006 Ontario Arts Council, Project Grant
Ontario Arts Council, Exhibition Assistance Grant
Canada Arts Council Project Grant
2005  Ontario Arts Council, Exhibition Assistance Grant
2004 Toronto Arts council, Project Grant
Ontario Arts Council, Project Grant 
2002 The Netherlands Council for the Arts, Project Grant
1995 The Banff Centre for the Arts Photography program
Canada Council B Grant
Ontario Arts Council B Grant
1994 Canada Council Short Term Grant
1993 Ontario Arts Council B Grant  
1992 Canada Council B Grant
1989 The Netherlands Council for the Arts, Early Career Award
Kodak Award, Netherlands

​

PUBLICATIONS/REVIEWS (selection):    
2010 National Post: Tiny Happy People by Leah Sandals
Mass Art Guide: Future Past by Monika Burman
Blackflash Magazine: Too Good to be True by David LaRiviere
Toronto Star: Last Chances…  by Murray Whyte
Flight + Hotel: a Tiny View by Rhonda Olson
2009 Blackflash Magazine: Too Good to be True: Toni Hafkenscheid’s Confabulations
2008 Globe and Mail: An Epic view of our Everyday World
Now Magazine: Is Analog Photography Dead?
2007 See Magazine, Edmonton: Keeping it unreal
The Edmonton Journal: Photographer challenges reality in newest exhibit
Time Out Chicago, Not to Scale
Galleries West: Handheld Landscape
Galleries West Magazine: First Impressions
2006 Ciel Variable Magazine, review by Sylvain Campeau
Seesaw Magazine: ModelWorld
PHOTOGRAPHY NOW 100 Portfolios on DVD, Wright University
SuperModels, catalogue by Open Space
Not To scale: catalogue by AXENEO7
Calgary Herald: Lilliput, Canada
Globe and Mail: Real Life rendered make believe
2005 Image and Imagination: catalogue Mois de la Photo, Montreal
Atlanta Review: Take me back
Winnipeg Free Press: Mysterious photos….
Chicago Reader: Ceci n’est pas un Truckstop
Albright Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY Beyond/in Western NY
Beyond Magazine: Small
Photo Pictorial: HO
2004 Canadian Art Magazine: National Capital
Subject Matters: new photographic realism  by Blake Fitzpatrick  
Macleans’s  Magazine: Master of Illusion
the Globe and Mail:  Contact 2004
2003 Home Show (catalogue by James Patten, WAG)
2002 the Globe and Mail:  Home is where the art is
Prefix Photo Magazine
Now Magazine, Toronto: Guns and Toys: Rineke Dijkstra and Toni Hafkenscheid
2001 Argument (catalogue by P. Elaine Sharpe)
2000 Canadian Art Magazine
1998 FOTO, Holland
1996 Border Crossings, Canada
1995 Beauty #2, Toronto (catalogue by Philip Monk)
Le Mois de la Photographie a Montreal (catalogue)
Fotofeis 95, Edinburgh
1994 Black flash: Burning Desires, Saskatoon
Alliances: The family, CMCP, Ottawa
Parallelogramme: La Fabrication des sexes.

COLLECTIONS (selection):
Canadian Museum for Contemporary Photography (CMCP), Ottawa
Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa
Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) Art Rental Program, Toronto
Kodak France
Kodak Netherlands
University of Toronto
CEPA, Buffalo, N.Y.
Foreign Affairs Canada
Royal Bank Canada.
Bank of Montreal

Representation in USA:
Packer Schopf Gallery, Chicago
George Billis Gallery, LA, NY
Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta

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TEACHING EXPERIENCE:   
2005 - Teacher of Photography, Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD), Toronto
2008 - Teacher of Photography, Ryerson University, Toronto
2007 -2008 Teacher of Photography, York University, Toronto
2007 - Teacher of Photography, Haliburton School of the Arts, Haliburton, ON
2005 - Teacher of Portraiture Workshops at Toronto Image Works (TIW)
1993-  Teacher of various Photography Workshops at Gallery 44, Toronto
1996-2002  Teacher of Photography, Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam