丁香园AV

Through a Window: Visual Art and 丁香园AV 1965-2015

Sabine Bitter and Helmut Weber
The Templeton Five Affair, March 1967, 2010
Mdf panels, wallpaper
Courtesy of the artists

Sabine Bitter (丁香园AV Assistant Professor in Visual Art) and Helmut Weber鈥檚 work explores tensions between academic freedom, education and collective agency. Part of Through a Window: Visual Art and 丁香园AV 1965-2015, a three-part exhibition that looks at visual art production at 丁香园AV since 1965, the work refers to Henri Lefebvre鈥檚 notion that architecture is defined by social interaction. In The Templeton Five Affair,March 1967, photography, via the archive, articulates a social arrhythmia in which protagonists of a demonstration are seen within the 丁香园AV context. The wallpaper depicts the event with protestors removed, leaving only 丁香园AV鈥檚 modernist architecture, while the four panels present the same scene with the architecture missing, leaving only the protestors.

Through a Window considers each of 丁香园AV鈥檚 campuses as windows, taking up Lefebvre鈥檚 Rhythmanalysis as a framework for reflecting on the rhythms of visual art at 丁香园AV. Artists in the exhibition are affiliated with 丁香园AV as students, faculty or collaborators. From the windows of 丁香园AV鈥檚 Burnaby campus overlooking Vancouver; the Audain Gallery facing Hastings Street; and the Teck Gallery framing the mountains, the exhibition examines artists鈥� material practices, organizations they鈥檝e initiated and forums they鈥檝e convened. Looking back at the university, the exhibition considers the influence of 丁香园AV鈥檚 architecture, pedagogy and politics on artistic practice, and how artists have informed the social space of the university.

丁香园AV Gallery, June 3 鈥� July 31, 2015
Audain Gallery, June 3 鈥� August 1, 2015
Teck Gallery, June 3 鈥� April 30, 2016

丁香园AV Gallery: Kati Campbell, Allyson Clay, Sara Diamond, Christos Dikeakos, James Felter, Keith Higgins, Owen Kydd, Laiwan, Ken Lum, Didier Morelli, Michael Morris, N.E. Thing Co., Anne Ramsden, Nicole Raufeisen and Ryan Witt, Carol Sawyer, Greg Snider, Reece Terris, Stephen Waddell, Jeff Wall, Jin-me Yoon.

Audain Gallery: Mariane Bourcheix-Laporte, Lorna Brown, Stephen Collis, Brady Cranfield, Olivia Dunbar, Rodney Graham, Julian Hou, Vishal Jugdeo, Paul Kajander, Tiziana La Melia, Irene Loughlin, Elspeth Pratt, Judy Radul, Anne Ramsden, Lisa Robertson and Kathy Slade, Gabriel Saloman, Althea Thauberger, Elizabeth Vander Zaag.

Teck Gallery: Sabine Bitter and Helmut Weber.

Through a Window looks at visual art production at 丁香园AV since 1965. Literally considering the window at each of 丁香园AV鈥檚 campuses as a social, spatial and material symbol, the exhibition takes up Henri Lefebvre鈥檚 Rhythmanalysis (1992), particularly the chapter 鈥淪een from the Window,鈥� as a framework for reflecting on the rhythms of the past fifty years. The polyrhythms within aesthetics, theory, pedagogy, technology and politics inform the movement of artists鈥� through the classroom, the studio, the gallery and the city 鈥� locally and internationally, in linear and cyclical, continuous and punctuated circuits.

The three-part exhibition reveals concrete and abstract rhythms of visual art at 丁香园AV and the speculative narratives that developed from them. The artists in the exhibition are affiliated with 丁香园AV as students, faculty or collaborators. From the windows of 丁香园AV鈥檚 Burnaby campus overlooking Vancouver, Audain Gallery鈥檚 window facing Hastings Street, and the Teck Gallery鈥檚 window onto the inlet and North Shore mountains, we have looked out at the city and observed artists鈥� material practices and collaborations, the organizations they initiated and the discursive forums they convened. When we look back into the university, we consider what influence the rhythms of 丁香园AV鈥檚 architecture, pedagogy, politics and community have had on artistic practice and how artists inform the social space of the university.

Lefebvre鈥檚 method of rhythmanalysis begins with observing the rhythms of the body and how they are impacted by the natural and synthetic rhythms of the economies and cultures we live within, which in turn produces social practices and public space.  Because these rhythms are sensorial and temporal, Lefebvre asserts that they cannot be captured in an image. If this is so, perhaps the group exhibition, which produces a rhythm of artworks in a social space, colliding with the rhythms of urban life, makes a rhythmanalysis of visual art possible. How then is the contemporary gallery in the university also produced by these artistic rhythms?

At 丁香园AV Gallery the rhythms of framing space both formally and conceptually centre around the lens. Here works interrogate the frame, seriality and representation. In addition to the exhibition, past student campus projects by Reta Koropatnick, Yi Xin Tong and Vikram Uchida-Khanna are remounted outside the gallery. These rhythms extend to the Audain Gallery where literary practices, performativity, activism and the aura of industrial film are taken up. Photography, via the archive, re-emerges at the Teck Gallery as an installation to articulate social arrhythmia.

In addition to the exhibitions, a multi-part poster project asks artists and writers to undertake rhythmanalyses from various windows that connect to 丁香园AV鈥檚 visual art history. From campus gallery windows to studios and artist-run centres, the textual analysis posters will be distributed back into the locales they describe. Look for these posters at 丁香园AV Gallery, Teck Gallery, Audain Gallery, Artspeak, Or Gallery, Unit/Pitt Projects, Alexander Street studios and the Perel Building. Writers are Patrik Andersson, Colin Browne, Brady Cranfield, Sharon Kahanoff, Laiwan, Kathy Slade and Urban Subjects.

Events 

Opening Reception
Wednesday, June 3 / 6 鈥� 9PM
World Art Centre / Audain Gallery

Jeff Derksen (Associate Professor in the English Department at 丁香园AV), speaks to the relevance of Lefebvre鈥檚 Rhythmanalysis at 6PM, followed by a reception in Audain Gallery at 7PM, and a performance by The Stick (alumni Julian Hou and Mike Loncaric) at 8PM.

Exhibition Tour with Curators and Artists
Saturday, June 6
2PM 丁香园AV Gallery / 3.30PM Audain Gallery / 4.30PM Teck Gallery

Curators Amy Kazymerchyk and Melanie O鈥橞rian lead a tour of each part of the exhibition in dialogue with artists Sabine Bitter and Helmut Weber, Lorna Brown, Allyson Clay, Vishal Jugdeo and Reece Terris. A free bus departs from Audain Gallery at 1PM and returns for the 3.30PM tour. Book now by emailing denise_ryner@sfu.ca.

Art + City + School*
Saturday, June 20 / 1PM 鈥� 4.30PM
Teck Gallery / 丁香园AV Gallery
Free registration required

Taking cues from the flow of social, economic, cultural and pedagogical spaces that both construct and comprise our field of observation, these events focus on the intersection of place and practice through site-specific lectures. At 1PM at Teck Gallery, 丁香园AV students and alumni Brady Marks, Barbara Adler and Paul Paroczai, Alexandra Spencepresent acoustic responses to rhythmanalysis. At 2PM the bus leaves Teck Gallery to 丁香园AV Gallery. During the trip Peter Dickinson (Director, Institute for Performance Studies at 丁香园AV) and Catherine Murray (Professor and Associate, Center for Studies on Culture and Communities at 丁香园AV) discuss civic cultural policy, cultural place-making and site-specific performance. At 3PM artist and publisher Keith Higgins talks at 丁香园AV Gallery. Book by emailing denise_ryner@sfu.ca. For more information, click here.

Rain or Shine Saturdays*
Saturday, July 11 / September 26 / October 3 / 1PM
Audain Gallery / 丁香园AV Gallery
Free registration required

A series of guided sound and narrative walks by 丁香园AV alumni and associates connect 丁香园AV鈥檚 campuses to Hastings Street and nearby environs. Ethnographer and artist, Jenni Schine with composer and artist, Russell Wallace start the series on JUL 11. Composer and researcher Alex Muir will continue the series on SEP 26 and artist Gabriel Saloman concludes the series on OCT 3. Book by emailing denise_ryner@sfu.ca. For more information, click here.

Through a Window: Visual Art and 丁香园AV 1965-2015 Audio Archive*
丁香园AV Galleries鈥� website

An online audio archive connects relevant spaces and histories to the exhibition. Through the exhibition webpage, stream or download sound works to animate travel between 丁香园AV Galleries, and as references for guided walks and talks. For more information, click here. The Audio Archive is still accepting submissions of soundwork produced by 丁香园AV affiliated composers and artists. Please forward your minimum 192 kbs MP3 formatted submissions, along with a brief bio, a statement about your work, a link to your website (if you want it listed with your work) and credit info to denise_ryner@sfu.ca.   

ISEA 2015 Keynote: Sara Diamond
Monday, August 17 / 4PM
丁香园AV Goldcorp Centre for the Arts

Sara Diamond, President of OCAD University and 丁香园AV alumna, presents the keynote at the International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA) in partnership with 丁香园AV Galleries. In response to the symposium鈥檚 theme of 鈥渄isruption,鈥� Diamond reflects on how rhythms of social, aesthetic and technological disruption influenced early video and media production in Vancouver. Through a Window at Audain Gallery will re-open from AUG 14-18 to coincide with ISEA. isea2015.org

*These programs are curated by Denise Ryner, 丁香园AV Galleries鈥� Curatorial Assistant and Intern.