Crossing Communities Art Project
From 2007 to 2010 I was facilitating workshops with various communities of marginalized women and youth. As artist in residence at Crossing Communities Art Project in Winnipeg, I facilitated the production of many individual and group artworks and videos. The projects address the interests and personal narratives of the participants while introducing new skills and concepts of art making. Some reoccurring themes in the women’s works were addictions, sexual abuse, overcoming obstacles, being transgendered, aboriginal issues, and violence against women. Through Crossing, I also facilitated video and art workshops with youth from the Nadinawe Centre, Gilbert Park and for The Urban Hip-Hop Project, as well as facilitating the creation of content for the NFB funded web project entitled Looking In Speaking Out. Some of the works I created with the women and youth were later presented in The Aboriginal Film Festival in Winnipeg, Imaginative film festival in Toronto, as well as the National Museum of the American Indian in NY.
To see some samples of videos made with the women and youth:
http://www.lookinginspeakingout.com/
Postcard project
Tonya
Heather
Alexus
DJ
Tonya
Ring the bells
Collaboration with Sam Jones (N. Ireland)
The project ‘ring the bells that still can ring’ is situated in Worpswede in the North of Germany. We were invited as part of an international project to commemorate the death of the painter Paula Moderson Becker. The organization of this event reflected a self-invested interest in the cultural development of Worpswede. The reinforcement of cultural narrative uses the contemporary to enforce the mythology of the past. The film questions the mythology of the artist within this context, a village in which cultural tourism dominates the local economy and identity.
The video challenges the relationship between metanarrative and the subjective human experience by combining setup fictional situations and characters with non-fictional interviews. The historical narrative of PMB forms the structure of the fictional scenes in the film enacted by local participants. Holes were created in the fictional scenes with the intention and hope that the participants would take a constructive role in directing the film. The imaginary roles that the participants invented revealed social structures and the fantasies/illusions of individuals.
On our first arrival in the town, we were instantly taken by the narrative history of “the Worpswede artists” that have been passed down through the generations. We explored what these stories symbolized for contemporary residents. Through the use of recollected narrative and participation from local residents we enacted the story, in present day Worpswede, of Paula Moderson-Becker and Clara Westhoff ringing the church bells. The participants in the re-enactment, which was a process of self-scripted characters and improve took a constructive role in the film’s direction. The project culminated in an event and shoot on the church grounds with the climax of the film, the re-enactment of the towns people gathering in a crowd around the church tower to see there was no fire after all.
Saabumenta Xll
Saabumenta XII, made in collaboration with Thea Miklowski, is a satirical video responding to the often-unnoticed political and social issues surrounding the business of major art exhibitions. The two-day performance on location at documenta 12 resulted in a 13-minute video that addresses art world politics and stardom, representation of the Other, the power of cultural capital, and the often dubious tie between corporations and art institutions. Posing as powerful, esoteric curators, we attempt to lay claim to the artworks and pronounce their meanings.
As the sponsor of documenta 12, Saab attempted to marry the worlds of high art and automobile technology at their Art Lounge, which boasted internet connections, delicious coffee drinks, and a daily featured concept car as the centerpiece. The whitewashed futuristic space was decorated with factory-made airbrushed paintings that extolled the many virtues of Saab: speed, environmentalism, technology and beauty. Documenta 12 curator Roger M. Buergel was the recipient of a white Saab convertible, one of five Saabs given to the event organizers.
In the video we discuss the artistic merits of a screensaver on a computer in the Saab Art Lounge, experience the resonance of silence emanating from Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle’s short-wave radio, test out the Saab concept cars on display, and take time to meditate on two of Ai Wei Wei’s 1001 historic Chinese chairs.
Through placing equal importance on the famous artworks and the blatant marketing tactics, we draw attention to the already blurred borders between sponsorship and artworks, art market and cultural experience. We also highlight in a humorous way how art can easily be stripped of its meaning and imbued with significance that serves the purpose of the interpreter, be that a corporation, art institution, or self-anointed expert.
YouTube Project
In this project I construct a series of internet personas on YouTube. Within the frame of current global internet communities, I aimed to highlight how identity formation, representation and the media on the internet relates to surveillance. These constructed personas interacted with each other and the YouTube community to problematize concepts of visibility/representation as legitimacy and manipulation as safety/security, while simultaneously initiating dialogue and critique of these same processes. Seven channels/personas were created, together uploading a total of 70 videos.
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=privatleben2006 (Jena surveillance cameras)
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=maybechildhood (stop-motion animation grafitti)
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=xenophobia2006 (text based video critical discourse)
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=somanymore (poetic videos)
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=thereisastory (stories from a retired news cameraman)
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=curiousgeorge1983 (a young man critiques popular YouTube personalities and videos)
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=mirrormirror2007 (narcissism?)
