Ahzhekewada (Let us look back)

16 Mar 2012, Posted in Art Reviews, Current, 0 Comments

The 2011 colloquium, Revisioning the Indians of Canada Pavilion: Ahzhekewada (Let us look back), co-produced by the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective and OCAD University’s Aboriginal Visual Culture Program, traced a history of decisive moments for Aboriginal art and curatorial practice.

Walla Walla Bing Bang: Michael Dudeck’s Amygdala

14 Jul 2011, Posted in Art Reviews, 0 Comments

It’s difficult to know how to best find meaning or coherence in the work of an artist who, in all apparent seriousness, refers to himself as “Michael Dudeck WITCHDOCTOR.” In the case of Amygdala, Dudeck’s exhibition and “ritual” performance at Winnipeg’s Aceartinc., the second work in what is ominously described as “a 10-year project,” any attempt to do so raises only further doubt.

Dirty deeds: PopSex!

25 May 2011, Posted in Art Reviews, 0 Comments

Inspired by Rainer Herrn’s 2008 group exhibition Sex brennt/Sex Burns at The Charité Hospital in Berlin, PopSex! showcases 12 artists from Berlin and Calgary. Pauline Boudry and Renate Lorenz, David Folk, Jean-René Leblanc, Kurtis Lesick, Wednesday Lupypciw, Anthea Black and Mr. and Mrs. Keith Murray, Mireille Perron and Heather Stump, Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay and RICHard SMOLinski were brought together by the curators to respond to the remnants of Magnus Hirshfield’s archive from the Institute for Sexual Science.

Bridging Contexts

20 May 2011, Posted in Art Reviews, 0 Comments

Curated by Christine Conley, Crossings covered a program of performance art and discussion, which included a workshop component in Ottawa. The program sought to bring artists from Belfast together with First Nations artists. The core artists were Bbeyond members Alastair MacLennan, Sandra Johnston and Sinéad Bhreathnach-Cashell, representing three generations of artists based in Belfast, and Aboriginal artists Jackson 2bears (Kanien’kehaka (Mohawk)), Maria Hupfield (Anishnaabe (Ojibway)) and Skeena Reece (Tsimshian/Gitksan and Cree).

Double Feature: Darryl Nepinak and Jackie Traverse

15 May 2011, Posted in Art Reviews, 0 Comments

*** Image caption: Darryl Nepinak, I-N-D-I-A-N(Still), 2008. Courtesy: Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba***

Double

Contamination and Reclamation: Robert Houle’s Paris/Ojibwa

29 Dec 2010, Posted in Art Reviews, 1 Comments

Paris/Ojibwa is the latest multimedia installation by world-renowned Anishinabeg (Ojibwa) [1] artist Robert Houle. The installation is a time portal to 1845, when a troupe of Ojibwa dancers lead by a man named Maungwudaus travelled to Paris to dance for King Louis-Phillipe of France and a public of 4,000 French ladies and gentlemen. They were part of American painter George Catlin’s “Indian Museum,” [2] presented as living exhibits of an ancient culture.

The Migrating Sound Scape: Dipna Horra’s Avaaz

29 Dec 2010, Posted in Art Reviews, 0 Comments

Sound artist Dipna Horra uses field and voice recordings to create aural environments that simultaneously present a sense of location and dislocation. With Avaaz, Horra recounts a narrative of migration from India to Africa and then Canada, a narrative that undergoes translation and transposition. Horra’s sound installation consists of a central table set for tea, a wheeled tea trolley in the corner, a suspended window pane on the left of the gallery space and an unobtrusive air vent at our feet. Simple furniture, understated architectural features and fine china are the conduits through which the sound artefacts, that tell the artist’s story are emitted. Horra’s kitchen installation is a theatrical space in which the continuity of ancestral memory both reassures and unsettles.

In the Face of a National Myth

29 Dec 2010, Posted in Art Reviews, 1 Comments

The Turtle/Television Island Project features the work of two contemporary aboriginal artists: James Luna, of the Puyoukitchum (Luiseño) nation, who is based in La Jolla, California; and ssipsis, of the Penobscot nation of Indian Island, Maine. Both of these artists use contemporary media to critically reflect on and repair the often static ways in which Native Americans are portrayed by the white/Western world.

The Present Nature of Things: Suzanne Lacy’s Leaving Art

29 Dec 2010, Posted in Art Reviews, 0 Comments

In a conversation with Lucy Lippard in 1985, Suzanne Lacy spoke of the history of women’s labor unions making use of communal activities such as pageants, dinner parties, gift exchanges and birthday celebrations as a means to build solidarity amongst women. Art and activism have a longstanding overlapping history. In the mid-80s, Suzanne Lacy began retroactively framing the large-scale performances she had been undertaking since the early 70s within the tradition of pageantry. Pageants in the early part of the 20th century were a deeply community-oriented and non-commercial form of entertainment: they were often massive productions involving a cast of hundreds of volunteers in performances of theatre, dance and music.

Disrupting Currents: Catch + Release

27 Sep 2010, Posted in Art Reviews, 0 Comments

Catch + Release is an exhibition that gives us valuable glimpses into the communities that rely on salmon along the Pacific coast. Ruth Beer, in collaboration with Kit Grauer and Jim Budd, has created a space to contemplate the importance of salmon and the ocean in our everyday lives. Incorporating sculpture, video interviews and interactive sensor technology, the show creates an immersive experience that juxtaposes the history of Steveston, a fishing village on the West Coast, with contemporary data from NEPTUNE, Canada’s underwater ocean observatory.