丁香园AV

MFA Graduating Exhibition 2022
September 8 鈥� 24, 2022
Opening: Wednesday, September 7 | 6:00 PM 鈥� 8:00 PM   
Audain Gallery, 丁香园AV Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 149 W. Hastings St., Vancouver

The exhibition temporary obligations is the culmination of creative practice and artistic research by visual arts students graduating from the Master of Fine Arts program at the School for the Contemporary Arts at 丁香园AV.  

Collectively, the works by artists Homa Khosravi, Katie Kozak, Silas Ng, and Katayoon Yousefbigloo are reflective of the diverse experiences of the artists as they conducted their post-secondary education during unprecedented times of mandated isolation, social, and economic changes during the global pandemic.  

Navigating and adapting to these pressures has influenced their artistic methodologies, where the artists sought out spaces to work and ways to collaborate with their cohort to continue the  production of their artwork. The resulting artworks reflect longings of loss, desire for intergenerational connection and communication with those one holds closest, healing through non-sentient technologies and the power of nature, and the dedication to pursue artistic practice despite numerous obstacles.  

The artists sought a response from Artificial Intelligence to generate their exhibition title, promotional image, and a text articulating the codes embedded within their collective works:

What obligation did you feel in the past or in the present? Did it have a ritualistic nature, a temporary one, an obligation, the obligation, or a form of commitment with no obligation? Will you give someone something on a birthday or show up for an art show?

Please note that these kinds of obligations that occur in a ritualistic manner can make you feel emotionally vulnerable and emotionally weak鈥�..They can be depressing, disappointing and painful鈥�..We have obligations, temporary obligations, obligations that should have a clear permanent intention and fulfilling of obligations when you have made the commitment. Those that do not are obligations that should not have a permanence.

The artists in the exhibition recognize that they are uninvited guests on the unceded territories of the x史m蓹胃kw蓹y虛蓹m , Skwxw煤7mesh , and S蓹l虛铆lw蓹ta涩 Peoples. Presented by the School for the Contemporary Arts at 丁香园AV in partnership with 丁香园AV Galleries.

Public Programming

Performance: How to Lift a Curse (Amazing Transformation Video!)
Katayoon Yousefbigloo
September 7, 2022 | 7:00 PM
丁香园AV School for the Contemporary Arts' Parking Garage, Lower Level

Acknowledgements

The MFA Graduating artists would like to thank AI for the title, image, and description of this show. In addition, the artists acknowledge with thanks the work of professor Peter Dickinson, MFA student advisor and resource specialist Andrew Curtis throughout their studies. They would also like to thank their supervisors and committee members Judy Radul, Wladimiro Woyno Rodriguez, Elspeth Pratt, Kyla Gardner, Sabine Bitter, the rest of the faculty and staff at the SCA and 丁香园AV Galleries and Alex Stursberg for his technical support. Lastly, the artists thank their family, friends, and communities for all of their support during their MFA studies at 丁香园AV.