A Modest Proposal
The Sudbury Burlington Exchange project should explore an emergence into the "Public Realm" beyond the museum/gallery.
I have two main reasons for putting this suggestion forward, first, it offers the institutions greater flexibility in presenting the exhibition. The different characteristics of the exhibition spaces make two identical exhibitions logistically difficult. Second, as an artist engaged in this project I have not been subject to the standard curatorial visit and selection through the exercise of connoisseurship by the curators. This may be planned for the future of course, but the whole atmosphere of exploration seems to me to already have pointed us in a different direction. The experiences of visiting the "other" community and "hosting" in my own community have opened me to seeing both in new ways. The obvious connection of two of Canada's most notorious heavy/industrial planet changing installations has become parsed, examined in more nuanced units. Public Art fits into these nuanced appreciations of both communities.
In 1779 the museum Fridericianum was opened in Kassell. "It was the first museum on the continent of Europe that was open to the public." It reflected the new social reality of the wunderkammer a connoisseur's private collection influenced by the expanding banks of information about a newly unstable Baroque world. With the ascendancy of the public museum/gallery with a mandate for our edification, public art fell off its plinth. "The logic of the monument collapses with the ascendancy of the collecting museum". Over the years the public gallery has become a home, a safe haven, a bubble? for the anarchist artist who is ironically often accepted by the institution through a passive aggressive strategy of thumbing his/her nose at the museum's claims to gatekeeping. The frustrations of taxpayers and politicians and the institutions complicated love/hate, public/private, elite/antielite relationships with Marcel Duchamp, Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst all come to mind.
"Without the beating heart of resident living artists the body of culture will never be animated, without the seeing eye and listening ear of a community artists speak silently and grieve for their loss of voice" If I begin to parse the locations for the two exhibitions these are my first observations. The Art Gallery of Sudbury has a connection to a University "a collectivity embodying important branches of learning", The Burlington Art Centre over looks one of the world's greatest inland seas, Lake Ontario. My second observation is the Art Gallery of Sudbury is across a bridge from a depressed downtown neighbourhood, The Burlington Art Centre sits on Lakeshore Rd which blends into North Shore Blvd and a river of the well to do in cars pass it by everyday. The third, fourth etc observations can come from readers to the blog. As soon as these specifics of site are written down they suggest approaches to "public art strategies". For instance: partnerships with researchers at the University of Sudbury, shipwrecks in Lake Ontario, documents of the street, driving by and advertising message boards. And on and on "But so what? How does all this become new work or public art and who cares and why should we?"
We live in a world a lot like Baroque Europe: Explosions of available information, a vision of the world destabilized by a daily bombardment of discovery, frequent disaster,
Imminent financial ruin, new habits that change our world on an intimate scale, "the shallow recession of our homes and domestic scenarios, is moving and being constantly transformed." Pubic art today is not "the Monument" it is interventionist, playful, Baroque scenarios expand narratives infinitely creating complex multiple possibilities. This Public art carries an inherent process of audience engagement and does not fear interpretation but relies on interpretive drift. There is no longer a separation between the cultural bombardment of the mass media and the art of the avant garde, we are in an infinite polydimensional "matrix" of contemporary culture.
Here is one concrete suggestion for the group as a whole at the Burlington Art Centre. As part of the international "Inquiry Projects" I have done we always finish the project with a "public visual presentation". This is a relatively simple thing. We edit inquiry work daily and create or extract or perform documentation in digital form. All the documentation is edited to a manageable size by the participants and mentor. This material which, may also include images of completed projects, is put on a CD and projected in or to the outdoors at the Inquiry location. At The Burlington Art centre we could project more than one CD of images to fill the glass wall of the Shoreline Room. We would just have to line the glass with mylar film on the inside and the images would appear on that film from the outside to the people in cars driving by. This suggestion happens to include the whole group as well as interacting with a specific observation of "site".
As with most public projects it may also involve permission. This is another Baroque area of public art. But that would be another essay.
N.B. I have not given any citations for quotations in this piece... partly because I made them up, but not all of them, but it's a blog anyway. I would recommend the book, Neo-Baroque Esthetics and Contemporary Entertainment, by Angela Ndalianis, MIT Press 2004.
Vjane
Waterdown March 25
SO BSersWHAT DO YOU ALL THINK?
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8 comments:
vJane, I very much like your modest proposal. Bringing the exhibition to the outside to our driving public will certainly catch the viewer's attention and makes a lot of sense! I would like to see a similar thing happen in Sudbury, especially along a major route. Perhaps we can get permission to install something similar as well.
Some questions & observations:
What common denominators do we have? (Please add to this list.) You know me, I like to quantify and qualify....
- industrial areas
- both cities are on lakes; water is important
- nickel is used in the production of steel
– basic elements of sky, land, water, rock
– migration of people to and from area
- people living in our communities
- highways connect us
- we are all artists, ideas connect us
– ravens & crows
"Our relationship with the landscape needs to be continually renewed. The development of a sense of place is an ongoing process"
"Until we experience landscape as a state of mind rather than a capital resource, we will continue to be "On the Edge" of destroying the exuberent creativity inherent in the natural world." (from the book, "On the Edge", a collaboration of artists & writers that was published to raise awareness of the environment in the Hamilton area)
Will your work be about a sense of place or rather more intimate and personal? We should all be doing our "own thing" but there needs to be something that connects our work.
I see Vjane’s proposal as multi faceted and more than one concept to be discussed. I read a proposal to take the exhibition outside of the gallery walls as one aspect. Are the artists interested? I also see a discussion as to our perceptions of community/place as another topic. I will be posting more than one post and first offer my thoughts on the public art beyond the gallery walls.
First and foremost, I wish to recognize each of the eleven artists as unique individuals whose art practices explore a range of perspectives. Each of us comes with history of developed approaches to media and what our messages are about. I do not expect us to wander too far away from our existing art practice. Some of us may want to enter into the realm of collaborations. Some may be open to doing art beyond the gallery walls while others will not have an art practice that is suitable for either. There are challenges of placing your art beyond the gallery walls while remaining within the real geo-physical communities of Burlington and Sudbury.
PUBLIC ART: beyond the gallery walls
Would the purpose of this reaching out beyond the gallery walls be a sampling of what is inside the gallery wall or would actual sections of the exhibition be outside of the building? I believe that Vjane is offering both as a rationale to explore this concept? If some of the artists wish to have their part of the exhibition to happen beyond the walls of the galleries that would make it more in the public realm.
Who in our group has experience with public installations? I have some and I know that VJane has experience. Let’s hear from you.
In my own particular case, my media is video. I’ve projected video in a more public venue of a store front window on the main street of Guelph for five nights. All artists created video installations and not promotional in nature for an exhibition elsewhere. Both individuals and vehicular traffic saw my work. It had good impact for people in vehicles due to the location of being at the top of a hill where many cars passed. They could see it all the time that they were driving up the hill. Stills of the installation can be seen on my website (www.jimriley.ca) under the video button and then click (Edifying Edifices).
Let me share some of my experience with you. I used mylar as well and it works. How the mylar sheets are hung can be a challenge depending upon the surface around the window. Such projections require darkness for part of the set up or at least checking of the projection at night is an important installation factor. We tried to install the mylar in the daytime but it was hard to determine where to put it due to the sunlight coming in through the window washed out the projection. This is a big factor in installing the projector as well.
You need to factor in how much outdoor night street light/vehicular lights will shine on the projection when determining the location. In my case, I liked the street lights reflecting on to the projection. You can not tell how these external lights are going to interact until you actually install it. The inside lighting needs to be turned off during the projection. The time of year (May-June?)of the exhibition in Burlington makes it difficult to use outdoor video projections until probably past 9 p.m. The projector may have to play all night as we did in Guelph. It can not be on a timer as in normal shut down the projector does a cool down to save the expensive bulb after it is turned off.
Projecting on to building walls or even shrubs etc. can be really effective and exciting but the logistics can be complicated to make this realistic for more than a few nights (need to set up every night and take the equipment away, rain is a no go night usually). I do not see it as realistic for an outdoor video projection to happen beyond an opening or maximum a week due to the logistics. Artists working in other media may want to discuss whether their artwork will work beyond the gallery walls.
I checked out the windows at BAC that face Lakeshore as a possibility. The two best possibilities have limitations. The best location from my perspective would be the windows of the Shoreline Room that faces Lakeshore. The traffic is not approaching the window directly but traveling beside it. Evening walking traffic along Lakeshore at the time of year of the exhibit is good due to the usually good weather. It is possible that more than one projection may be done from this room but it may interfere with the concept of installation art. It is remotely possible that no mylar will be needed due to the glazing on the window but that would have to be tested in the evening far in advance. A few challenges are: a/ installing the mylar as the sections creating this very large window has metal frames. I can tell you from experience that this may be a challenge but it may work. b/ the primary use of the room is for events and rental income (?). In the exhibition time slot, there probably will be many weddings in the room. That will prevent screenings on those evenings. The mylar may not be to the “bride’s wishes”. The entire window wouldn’t need mylar though. I also noticed glass containers for candles sitting on ledges of window sections. Candles may be a problem near mylar.
The second possibility that faces Lakeshore is the actual Lakeshore entrance. It might work but I suspect that the ceiling suspended green-blue ceramic sculpture will make a projection impossible. I may be wrong. A third possibility is to use windows in the gift shop but they are smaller and not that visible to Lakeshore traffic.
Other smaller windows facing Lakeshore are probably guild rooms and there will be activity in there at night? I’m not sure if one area is weaving or something more difficult such as pottery room.
As far as Vjane’s suggestion of projecting a CD is concerned, I’d like to make a few suggestions. It is possible to make a looping dvd of individual stills as well as moving images for video artists like Mercedes and myself. From my perspective, that suggests a sampling of what is inside rather than an artist making their own statement or contribution to the exhibition. Does this make it public art or a promotional commercial?
However, I’m not sure that as a video installation artist, if it may be compromising my integrity to have a video screened to be followed by stills of other artists’ work. I’d have to think about it. My usual intent is to create an installation and looping is part of the concept. Another thought would be whether it is just a segment of my video art or the full length? I probably require a separate space for my own projection whether inside the gallery walls or outside the gallery walls.
BILLBOARDS are a possibility for two dimensional work if public realm interaction is to become a prime reason for the exhibition.
INTERNET: Other possibilities are to utilize the internet itself. The public interaction would be with the world rather than just Burlington and Sudbury citizens.
1/This blog may be perceived as such a public intervention? If we each placed our images of the work from the physical exhibition on this blog would we not be going beyond the gallery walls? There would be no concern about a projector or turning off the lights inside the space where the projection is coming from. Etc. Each institution’s website may be used to create a permanent link to this blog. An alternative might be an extension of each gallery’s website dedicated in perpetuity to the images of the exhibition. Linking to a separate website may be more appropriate.
2/ The sampling dvd may be placed on youtube and linked to each gallery as well. These ideas do not deal with the issue of physical limitations of the gallery if that is a reason why we wish to go beyond the gallery walls.
exchange - act or process of giving one thing and receiving another...
I do like the idea of being outside. It would be nice if we could all connect to a separate work outside of the gallery. I like the idea of hooking up with a group...What about building a work as a group, a temporary work made from nature?
Sonja
Here are some observations about the location of the Art Gallery of Sudbury - at one time a rickety wooden bridge not much better than a bailey bridge connected the downtown to the gallery. The bridge was torn down and only a pedestrian walkway remains.
-the Art Gallery was once the home of a rich lumber baron. The sister mansion not far from the gallery houses the President of Laurentian University.
-the gallery is certainly on the right "side of the tracks" (the CPR tracks dissect the downtown and the largely upper class residential area where the gallery is situated.
There have been several group and individual exhibits at the AGS where Gallery One displays the paintings and sculptures and Gallery Two is used for New Media work. I am not sure if the September 18 to November 14 exhibition includes both galleries. I think a combination of outdoor venues in conjunction with displaying the work inside in both of the galleries should be considered. I think posting of the videos on the internet, You Tube etc. is a possibility.
The outdoor venues with high visability are:
-the abandoned flour mill silos on Notre Dame street.
-"The Pit", an abandoned building site downtown across from the YMCA and temporary site years ago to Fringe Theatre activities. High foot traffic area for post secondary students (Sep - Nov) downtown and relatively close to AGS.
-the official off-site venue at the Laughing Budda/Townhouse, a major gathering place downtown.
There would be logistical problems at these venues that would have to be investigated.
Another observation is that the community of Elliot Lake where Linda Finn resides :
was once a major industrial area
is situated on a lake
has had many lives
a unique highway connects it to the outside world
it is part of our "Northern" community (fraternity of artists)
I like the idea of the "static" images of paintings, photographs, and scultures being edited by partipants and a mentor and included on a CD which would be projected as part of the exhibit.
I think the video artists should have their work shown seperately.
Ron
I think exhibiting our art outside of the gallery can be beneficial and more informative for the general public who may not have considered visiting the gallery.
Because of the multitude of medias we all work in that might pose some problems - vandalism, exposure to nature's elements...
Ron's concept of using a CD of our work and projecting the images outside is a great consideration.
I plead ignorance when it comes to
outside public installations but with some guidance, I am willing and excited to try something new.
The thought of a collaborated work
made from nature suggested by Sonja appeals to me. However as Jim has stated, so many of us are coming from our own range of perspective, can we agree on a common denominator without deviating from our prime purpose we have in this Exchange Program?
Another consideration for the outside exhibition is just to let our imagination fly and have no collective theme and allow the viewer to establish their own interpretation.
If we elect to do a outside display we need to agree and move ahead with this project as soon as possible because it is a timely endevour.
Just a clarification for "Sculptress" the idea of putting images of artist's work on a CD is part of VJane's "Modest Proposal" and an integral part of her "Inquiry Method".
What about playing a game?
Action - Reaction
Connecting Sudbury to Bulrington!
The Public could play too :)
It doesn't have to be permanent.
Chalk, Tape, Rocks, Sticks,
Photo's, Film...
Let's Keep it Simple and have some fun. Who wants to Play?
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