ARTISTS PROJECTS BY HELMUT SMITS AND MICHAEL MARKOWSKY
FRONT
CONTEMPORARY ART AND IDEAS
PROPERTIES
SINGLE ISSUE PRICE CAN $3.95
www.front.bc.ca
PM 40015809
JA N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 9
+
APPLECARE, PYSANKY, PAPER THEATRE, STUDIO PROFILE: THE OLD ARTILLERY SHED
CONTENTS
FRONT
CONTEMPORARY ART AND IDEAS
FRONT magazine is a journal of contemporary art and ideas, with a focus on interdisciplinary artists projects by emerging and established Canadian artists. Views expressed in FRONT are those of individual editors, writers or artists. Images and text remain the property of their respective copyright holders, and all data is protected according to the terms of Canadian privacy legislation. FRONT would like to work with you. We invite proposals from artists, writers, journalists, photographers, and designers, and we welcome interns. For more information, please contact us by email and include a resume and portfolio. For themes, guidelines, and deadlines, please go to www.front.bc.ca/frontmagazine. E D I TO R / A R T D I R E CT I O N & D E S I G N : A N D R E A S K A H R E A S S O C I AT E P U B L I S H E R : R E A N N A A L D E R C O P Y E D I TO R S : C H R I S T I N E L E C L E R C , D AV I D R AV E N S B E R G E N , S A R A H TA G G A R T. S U B S C R I P T I O N S & M A I L I N G : L I N D S AY D E W DISTRIBUTION: LEAH HOKANSON, MAGAZINES CANADA F RO N T M A G A Z I N E 3 0 3 E A S T 8 T H AV E N U E , VA N C O U V E R , B C , C A N A D A , V 5 T 1 S 1 P H O N E : ( 6 0 4 ) 8 7 6 - 9 3 4 3 , FA X : ( 6 0 4 ) 8 7 6 - 4 0 9 9 VOICEMAIL: (604) 878-7498 E M A I L : F R O N T M A G A Z I N E @ F R O N T. B C . C A W E B : W W W. F R O N T. B C . C A P R I N T E D O N PA C E S E T T E R 7 0 L B F S C C E R T I F I E D S TO C K B Y R H I N O P R I N T S O LU T I O N S
SUBSCRIPTIONS: 1 YEAR $15.90 ($40 INSTITUTIONAL) 2 YEARS $26.50 ($80 INSTITUTIONAL) $40/YEAR WITH WESTERN FRONT MEMBERSHIP SINGLE COPY SALES PRICE: $3.95 CAN V O LU M E X X , N U M B E R 1 , J A N U A R Y | F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 9 ISSN 1187-5267, PM 40015809 FRONT MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED FIVE TIMES A YEAR B Y T H E WE S T E R N FRO N T S O C I E T Y P U B L I C A T I O N S P RO G R A M M E WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE CANADA COUNCIL WRITING AND PUBLISHING SECTION.
Properties PAGE 2, FRONT, JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2009
Western Front Board of Directors
Board Members at Large
Editorial Advisory
President - Erin Bonifero Vice President - Geraldine Parent Secretary - Charo Neville Treasurer - Keith Wallace
Kate Armstrong Alma Corral William Enwright Juan Gaitan Paul de Guzman Carie Helm Rachael Kiyo Iwaasa Scot Keefer
Margot Leigh Butler Alexander Ferguson Juan Gaitan Christine Leclerc Donato Mancini Rob Stone Keith Wallace
Photography by Azin Seraj. Azin is a Persian-Canadian artist whose work explores the realm of self-consciousness through visual mediums. H
r n
PROPERTIES
COVER
Now you see it, now you don’t: as recent adjustments in the financial sector remind us, a drop in the value of imaginary property may in turn cause a considerable drop in the imaginary value of property. The church of Rome recently discovered that it believes excessive amounts of the latter amount to a mortal sin—extending the vicious cycle well into infinity. Commodity traders must still choose among animal, vegetable and mineral, but for the rest us, the old rule holds: neither a lender nor a borrower be. S N A K E F I G H T , B Y M AT T H E W FO R SY T H E Matthew Forsythe is the Montréal author of “Ojingogo,” a mostly-wordless Korean-influenced comic just released by Drawn & Quarterly. Find more of his work online at www.comingupforair.net
ARTISTS PROJECTS
6
G E O R G E AT T H E E N D O F T H E W O R L D , B Y M I C H A E L M A R K O W S K Y
13 BEING AND TIME, ABRIDGED, BY THE XENOGRAPHIC SOCIETY 18 THE REAL THING, BY HELMUT SMITS
FEATURES
5 PA I N T I N G M A P S , B Y B R I T TA N Y M I TC H E L L 8 P H OTO G R A P H E G G E R Y , B Y J O C E LY N B E YA K 1 6 P H OTO G R A P H Y R YA N , B Y L I S A W A L K E R 1 7 F I CT I O N BY AMBER DAWN TRALALA 2 0 F I CT I O N US VS. THEM, BY NIKKI REIMER 22 TRANSCRIPT 108754618, BY AMY MODAHL 2 4 I N S TA L L AT I O N U N T I T L E D , B Y L A U R A C A LV I 2 7 F I CT I O N BETWEEN WARS, BY CHRISTINE LECLERC 28 POETRY THRESH II, BY KIM MINKUS 29
D I G I TA L C O L L A G E ING, BY AMY MODAHL
42
D R AW I N G CONEY ISLAND, BY LEORA MORINIS
44 COLLAGE VIEW FROM ABOVE, BY JESSICA GABRIEL
DEPARTMENTS
10 STUDIO PROFILE THE OLD ARTILLERY SHED, BY REBECCA LAMARRE 40 UQ EVENTS CALENDAR
Western Front Sustaining Members
The Western Front is grateful for the support of these funders and organizations:
Jack & Maryon Adelaar, Robin Blaser, Cath Bray, Coat Cooke, Chris & Sophie Dikeakos, Karen Gelmon & Peter Busby, Martin Gotfrit & Patricia Gruben, Mark King, DD Kugler, Friedel & Martin Maché, Sheila MacPherson & Bill Smith, Gary McFarlane & Paul DeGuzman, Peggy & John McLernon, Bernice & Frank Miller, John & Helen O'Brian, Judy Radul, Abraham Rogatnick, Jayce Salloum, Anna Stauffer
Having always lived with the ebb and flow of old and new, foreign and familiar, she seeks opportunities to re-establish a sense of place, home, and self. She is a graduate student of art in Berkley, California.
Photograph by Amanda Kielley
SUBSCRIBE TO FRONT
One year (Five issues) $15.90 Two years (Ten issues) $26.50 $40 with Western Front Membership
Go to www.front.bc.ca or call 604.876.9343
MAPS
by Brittany Mitchell
Maps Living in Osaka, Japan, I was struck by the lack of green space in this metropolitan environment. I became interested in how humans transform our habitats to contain little evidence of nature, and decided to explore this phenomenon visually. Adapted from a satellite image, this “map” is accurately drawn to scale. I have rendered the green space omitting all roads, overpasses and other architectural structures. This piece communicates the extent to which we have altered our landscapes in urban centers and questions the idea of being “outdoors” in these overwhelmingly constructed spaces.
Above: 3 Maps, Osaka (Namba/Sakuragawa), Acrylic on paper, 22 x 30. Brittany Mitchell graduated with a B.F.A. from the UVic in 2005, where she worked largely in painting and illustration. Her paintings deal with obscuring and removing visual information in order to provide an escape from the over-stimulation experienced in our society. She lives in Vancouver.
Properties FRONT, JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2009, PAGE 5
FOUND & RECENT
by Lars Cuzner
Kool-Aid for Drowning Fish If I had a drunk aunt, Stefani Lee would be her. She would show up on Christmas and embarrass the family with tasteless jokes about artist-charter-exhibition-tourism. Lee is only 29 and has not yet made her mark on the international art scene, but she will. In her first solo exhibition, Lee strives for transcendent heights, not just in her mode of installation, but in her new-agey, defiantly optimistic outlook. She tricks us into believing that she is the 'merry prankster' of the arts, playing with consumer tendencies, breeding a lifeless and one-dimensional marketing, setting up boring binaries like limits vs. boundaries. No, she kicks you in the ass and her foot gets stuck. The centerpiece of the exhibition is the new film KoolAid (2008), featuring Lee and her army friends frolicking in a U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules. They are air-dropping
George at the End of the World by Michael Markowsky
Properties
Above: "George at the end of the world (Drawing the landscape while standing on a speedboat)" 2008, graphite stick on watercolor paper, 11"x15". See also: www.michaelmarkowsky.com/artdrivingvideos3.htm
PAGE 6, FRONT, JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2009
UPCOMING
FRONT
CONTEMPORARY ART AND IDEAS
relief supplies and humanitarian aid over what looks to be an American small town. The camera pans across the field and the fabric of the landscape in alternately smooth, slow and jerky motions. The camera's apparently random mechanical movements are in fact writing, spelling out the phrase “Empty the pond to get the fish.” After filming, Lee drenched the celluloid in various liquids, including liquid LSD and of course, Kool-Aid. Inside the installation, celluloid strips, of the very film you're watching run floor to ceiling, forming a loose enclosure. Maybe the feeling is supposed to be that you are really, physically inside the film. But somehow this effect requires more of a strenuous suspension of disbelief than just simply sitting and watching the film in all its effortlessly immersive wonder. In any case, it does make
Image: Julie Gendron, Living Room Series, 2008, http://www.desiringproductions.com/livingroom.html
you physically ill to watch, and still, I want to see more. This “review” and more like it are available at www.larscuzner.com. Lars Cuzner is a Swedish/Canadian artist, blogger and art critic.
MARCH /APRIL 2009 DISCIPLINES SUBMISSIONS Deadline: January 7 ADVERTISING Deadline: February 12 For the disciplined, it used to be a simple matter of teaching the self how not to do what it wanted, or how not to want what it did. Sportsmen and physicians subdivided into microcultures, to great applause. The arts, meanwhile, convolved: Painting begat performance, music begat media, the live arts merged and by now the amalgams have obscured all but the most strident segregates. Was it worth it?
The drawings are from a series I did in Vancouver in on Thursday, April 24, 2008, while standing on a speedboat as it went around Stanley Park. I was retracing Capt. George Vancouver's path when he first rounded the narrows and entered Burrard Inlet and Vancouver Harbour, back on June 13, 1792.
MAY/JUNE 2009 REFLECTIONS SUBMISSIONS Deadline: April 1 ADVERTISING Deadline: April 15 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2009 PLAY SUBMISSIONS Deadline: July 1 ADVERTISING Deadline: August 15 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2009 TOOLS SUBMISSIONS Deadline: October 1 ADVERTISING Deadline: October 15 For submissions details, visit www.front.bc.ca
Properties FRONT, JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2009, PAGE 7
PYSANKY REMIX
EGGERY by Jocelyn Beyak “Eggery” is an exploration of comtemporarized pysanky, the traditional Ukrainian egg dyeing craft. The series consist of old family photos, transferred onto duck eggs using lazertran, polyurethane, and turpentine. Each egg was broken and placed on a flatbed scanner to articulate the incomplete and fragmented nature of both oral history and family history.
Properties PAGE 8, FRONT, JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2009
Jocelyn Beyak is an emerging Victoria artist exploring place, identity and personal history through lens-based medium. Graduated in 2007 with a BFA in Visual Art from the UVic, her upcoming exhibitions include: XChanges Artist’ Gallery and the Slide Room Gallery in Victoria BC, and Place des Arts in Coquitlam BC. Please see www.jocelynbeyak.com.
Properties FRONT, JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2009, PAGE 9
STUDIO PROFILE
StudioSpace
The Old Artillery Shed Text and Photos by Rebecca LaMarre FRONT presents the second in a series of photo essays that profile artist collectives and collaborative studio spaces in Vancouver. If you know of a space we should feature, write to us at frontmagazine@front.bc.ca.
Here, in room 416 of the Duncan Building (formerly the Old Artillery Shed) at 119 East Pender, we are a collective of individuals renting an office and we are here to win. This statement is not true of all members. We do not have a sign on our door because we cannot afford to pay for the signage. The collective consists of: • 5 designers • 3 artists • an aquabus operator • An instructor at Emily Carr University • a film and video editor • a dj/model • a publisher • a waitress • a “pitch” writer • an insomniac • a secretary • a bike mechanic • a science journalist
Properties PAGE 10, FRONT, JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2009
Top Left: A collectively produced pamphlet of art/design jargon. Bottom Right: Chart of expletives. Centre: View of the collective’s workspace.
Once a month, StudioSpace hosts a brunch to connect people working in the field of cultural production with people working in other professions. The first guest in the series was David Eby, a local politician who came to discuss his ideas about Vancouver housing politics. Other guests have included Eileen Gilette and Irwin Oostindie representing the W2 Community Media Arts Centre, and Tanya Punjabi and Hugh Macaulay, lawyers for the federal Department of Justice.
The studio boasts 12 participants, except when it sometimes has 13, unless there are only 11.
The objective of these meetings is to create a favorable situation for meeting other professionals and discovering other disciplines outside the creative fields. After all we are here to win—that is, to establish financially sustainable artistic practices. We are here to generate discussion and collaboration across disciplines, and contribute to the current discourse in our respective fields.
Some member’s thoughts on the collective: “This is where I like to practice the collapse of Boundary Thinking.” RL “I used to tell myself: yeah man, when I graduate, thatís when I’m really gonna start managing my time. When I get a job, that’s when I’m really really gonna start managing my time. When I have a kid, that’s when I’m really really really gonna start managing my time.” CD “I like to use the space for positive ideation.” KB “What I really want to see happen here is everyone exercising powers of forward thinking and their right to embodied expression.” BH “Leveraging my core competencies has never been so simple and worry-free.” ES
Rebecca LaMarre is a Vancouver artist who works with words and office supplies. She has been published in Woo Magazine, The Tyee, and
Properties
The Toronto Star. Examples of her work (words, objects, images) can be found at www.rebecca-lamarre.com FRONT, JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2009, PAGE 11
Studio Space The Old Artillery Shed
continued
The person who knows the most about how to keep the network & printer running is in charge of the collective. The studio boasts 12 participants, except when it sometimes has 13, unless there are only 11. The “designers” sit in the North Corner of the office while the “artists” occupy the South. The “designers” prefer the laser-jet printer while the “artists” prefer the ink-jet. The printers prefer not to print. The person who knows the most about how to keep the network and printer running is in charge of the collective. Our neighbour plays loud music and can be heard having sex in her office.The janitor can be heard listening to Justin Timberlake and Hall & Oates. The collective was started by a group of design students, led by Abi Huynh and Florence Truong, in January 2008 when Emily Carr was still an Institute. It has since grown to accommodate members with more diverse, but parallel, interests. There is no specific area of interest unifying the members of the collective, but there are some common threads: • art publication / production • information design • social intervention, coordination
Activities of the collective include: throwing things through the window into the alley below • making snide comments • making diet coke and mentos rockets • spying on the occupants of neighbouring buildings with binoculars • collecting broken signage • professional procrastination • going for lunch •
• mapping (social and physical) • the politics of space
Properties PAGE 12, FRONT, JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2009
Top: Transcript of a speech delivered by a Ms. America pageant competitor as circulated on Youtube. Bottom: a typical work station. If you are interested in participating in the monthly forums either by lecturing or attending, please contact: studiospace@alanwoo.ca. Please note that space is limited to 15 participants.
ARTISTS PROJECT | PAPER THEATRE
From the series: Re-enacted Moments in the Philosophies of the Twentieth Century
Being and Time, abridged by the Xenographic Society
Scene I The Philosopher is standing on his porch shortly after dinner, smoking a pipe of tobacco. “Why is there any being at all and not rather Nothing?”
Fig. 2: The Philosopher’s Pipe
Scene II The Philosopher continues to stand on his porch. From time to time a soft, plaintive hooting, as if from a small owl, can be heard from the edge of the nearby forest. “To think Being itself explicitly requires disregarding Being to the extent that it is only grounded and interpreted in terms of beings and for beings as their ground, as in all metaphysics. To think Being explicitly requires us to relinquish Being as the ground of beings in favor of the giving which prevails concealed in unconcealment, that is, in favor of the It gives. As the gift of this It gives, Being belongs to giving. As a gift, Being is not expelled from giving. Being, “pre—sencing” is transmuted. As allowingto-presence, it belongs to unconcealing; as the gift of Fold here
unconcealing it is retained in the giving. Being is not. There is, It gives Being as the unconcealing; as the gift of unconcealing it is retained in the giving. Being is not. There is, It gives Being as the unconcealing of presencing.”
Fig. 1: The Philosopher
Properties FRONT, JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2009, PAGE 13
Scene III
Scene V
The next morning. The philosopher is standing in front of
Having finished breakfast, and the morning post, the philosopher
his mirror and considers the following while shaving:
is sitting in his chair.
“Man alone exists. Rocks are, but they do not exist. Trees
“To think Being itself explicitly requires disregarding Being to the
are, but they do not exist. Horses are, but they do not exist.
extent that it is only grounded and interpreted in terms of beings
Angels are, but they do not exist. God is, but he does not
and for beings as their ground, as in all metaphysics. To think Being
exist. The proposition "man alone exists" does not mean by
explicitly requires us to relinquish Being as the ground of beings
any means that man alone is real being while all other beings
in favor of the giving which prevails concealed in unconcealment,
are unreal and mere appearances or human ideas.
that is, in favor of the It gives. As the gift of this It gives, Being belongs to giving. As a gift, Being is not expelled from giving. Being, presencing is transmuted. As allowing-to-presence, it belongs to unconcealing as the gift of unconcealing it is retained in the giving. Being is not. There is, It gives Being as the unconcealing; as the gift of unconcealing it is retained in the giving. Being is not.”
Fig. 3: The Philosopher’s Shaving mirror
Scene IV The philosopher is about to sit down at the table when he suddenly struck by the following notion: “The proposition "man exists" means: man is that being whose Being is distinguished by the open-standing standingin in the unconcealedness of Being, from Being, in Being.”
Fold here Fold here
Fig. 4: The Philosopher’s Desk
Properties PAGE 14, FRONT, JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2009
Fig. 5: The Philosopher’s Chair
Scene VI
Scene VII
Scene IX
The philosopher looks at his clock.
The philosopher suffers from a bout of
The philosopher‘s dog appears to be
the hiccups
suffering from a tick bite. The philosopher removes the tick while he considers
“But is Being like an actual being in time?
“Whither and whence and in what free
Is Being at all? If it were, then we would
dimension could the intentionality of
incontestably have to recognize it as
consciousness move, if instancy were not
“What remains to be said? Only this:
something which is and consequently
the essence of man in the first instance?
Appropriation appropriates. Saying this,
discover it as such among other beings.
What else could be the meaning if
we say the Same in terms of the Same
Nowhere among things do we find Being.
anybody has ever seriously thought about
about the Same. To all appearances, all
Every thing has its time. But Being is not a
this of the word “ness” in the words
this says nothing. It does indeed say
thing, is not in time. Yet Being as presencing
consciousnessand self-consciousness if
nothing so long as we hear a mere
remains determined as presence by time,
it did not designate the existential nature
sentence in what was said, and expose
by what is temporal. What is in time and is
of that which is in tho mode of existence?
that sentence to the cross-examination
thus determined by time, we call the
To be a self is admittedly one feature of
of logic. But what if we take what was
temporal. When a man dies and is removed
the nature of that being which exists; but
said and adopt it unceasingly as the
from what is here, from beings here and
existence does not consist in being a self,
guide for our thinking, and consider that
there, we say that his time has come. Time
nor can it be defined in such terms.”
this Same is not even anything new, but
and the temporal mean what is perishable,
the oldest of the old in Western thought:
what passes away in the course of time. Our language says with still greater
that ancient something which conceals Scene VIII
itself in “aleteia”? That which is said
precision: what passes away with time. For time itself passes away. But by passing
the following:
before all else by this first source of all The philosopher‘s dog demands attention.
away constantly, time remains as time. To
the leitmotifs of thinking gives voice to a bond that binds all thinking, providing
remain means: not to disappear, thus, to
“Man alone exists. Rocks The existential
that thinking submits to the call of what
presence. Thus time is determined by a kind
nature of man is the reason why man can
must be thought.”
of Being.”
represent beings as such, and why ho can be conscious of them. All consciousness presupposes ecstatically understood existence as the essentia of man - essentia meaning that as which man is present.”
Fold here
Fig. 6: The Philosopher’s Clock
Fig. 7: The Philosopher’s Dog
Established in 2003, the Xenographic Society specializes in projects that foster cross-culturalcommunication.
Fig. 8: The Philosopher’s Dog’s Tick
Properties FRONT, JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2009, PAGE 15
PORTRAIT
Ryan
by Lisa Walker
Properties
Above: this was the time when ryan and I snuck into the empress hotel in victoria.
PAGE 16, FRONT, JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2009
Lisa Walker (www.lisawalker.carbonmade.com) is a recent emily carr grad, majoring in photography. She writes: “My works are in general a form of self portraiture, revolving around family history, self expression, and documentation of my daily life.
FICTION
by Amber Dawn Tralala
What’s My Motherf***ing Name
I am thinking about a client. I don’t know his name; he wasn’t
I mean their heads are as big as the eight immortals of Tao. Wow!
special. He paid $250 for the hour, just like my other clients, and
Workers in China toil up to ninety hours a week to keep up with
that’s all I really cared about. But he did say this one thing at the
manufacturing demands—did you know? When asked about these
end of our sessions. After he had cum and I had washed him off
inhuman labour conditions the spokesman from Wal–mart had “no
with a warm towel and let him sit in silence for a moment of what
comment”—did you know?
I assumed was shame, this client said to me, “Now I feel human again.”
I am thinking about the indigo navy ship tattooed on my grandfather’s arm. As a young man he lied about his age in order to sign up for
I am thinking of how the quest to find the first human is a cutthroat
the US Navy at seventeen and fight in the Second World War. His
business. Scientist in Africa fall ill while hunting humanoid fossils,
family was WOPS, or With Out Papers Italian immigrants who
while other scientists in Africa race to discover unrecorded plants
managed to come to America just in time for anti-immigration
before they become extinct due to climate change, while other
legislation and the Depression. During his coming of age, my
scientists in Africa supervise the rising statistics of AIDS pandemic.
grandfather changed his name from Giovanni to John, converted
Paleontologists found Lucy in Ethiopia, but her three-million-year-
from Catholic to Protestant and became an illiterate Anglophone.
old femur, right fibula and right tibia have toured the USA as frequently
He lives in a trailer park in Florida, filed for bankruptcy last year and
as Metallica. Lucy may be coming soon to a city near you – have you
walks with a crippled gate. A limp he’s had for as long as I can
heard? Her bones neatly labeled in a glass box.
remember. I think he’s finally accepted that I am a homosexual, as long as I continue to look like a lady.
I am thinking of how my community is so keen on labels. I have more ID tags than dollars in my savings account. Queer. Femme.
My client—the human—you know he limped too. I don’t know why.
Third-wave feminist. Daddy’s girl switch mommy dom. Clean and
I thought it would be a turn–off to ask him what had happened to
sober bar star. Pillow queen. PoMo sexual. Homoflexible. Post-gay
his leg. It would have been a turn–off to ask him what he knows
gay snot turned community revivalist. Art fag. Lit nerd. Whore.
about vanishing flora, or worse still vanishing nations. It would have been a turn–off to ask him what will happen to those Chinese workers
I am thinking the absurdist didn’t really believe that nihilism was
when the “Bratz” doll craze is over. What would Samuel Beckett
an appropriate response to life. Rather they were disillusioned
say if he learned that Broadway musicals are all that survived in the
playwrights tired of pimping out plot. I am thinking about lost
theatre world? And what Lucy think if she knew a drunk paleontologist
medicine. I am thinking about burned books. I am thinking about
named her after a Beatles song before she was returned to Ethiopia
starlets with oversized heads: those Power Puff Girls and bratz
in accordance with an international agreement. I never asked myself
dolls that are doing so well in the marketplace. They wear booty
would I pay $250 an hour to feel human again.
shorts and speak in baby voices, but by god are they introspective.
Amber Dawn is a Vancouver writer, filmmaker and performance artist. She is the co-editor of With a Rough Tongue: Femmes Write Porn and the editor of Fist of the Spider Woman: Tales of Fear and Queer Desire, and has toured three times with the infamous Sex Workers' Art Show. She is a front-line support worker in the Downtown Eastside, and is working on a novel.
Properties FRONT, JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2009, PAGE 17
by Helmut Smits
The Real Thing Changing Coca Cola into Potable water
“I believe that every situation, thought or object carries a good work of art in itself. I search for this artwork by going back to the basis and to observe from that point an inner contradiction and to find a simple solution for this contradiction. Subsequently I use the medium most suitable for that concept.�
Coca Cola Supply
Dosing Pump
Storage Tank
Properties PAGE 18, FRONT, JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2009
Above: The Real Thing, Installation, 2006, L 400 cm W 250 cm H 200 cm. An installation to filter Coca-Cola into clean drinking water. photo: Rick Messemaker
ARTISTS PROJECT | FILTRATION
Pressure Indicators
Regulating Valves
Nanofiltration Membrane
Flow Indicators
Regulating Valves
Pre-filters
Switcher Control Unit Potable water tank
High Pressure Pump Particle Measurement
Ball Valves
Properties Helmut Smits is a Dutch visual artist. Born 1974 in Roosendaal, he now lives and works in Rotterdam. FRONT, JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2009, PAGE 19
Us v. Them by Nikki Reimer we stayed up late we watched movies we played video games we weren’t cultural producers we didn’t make art we weren’t subverting the dominant cultural paradigm if anything we lacked access to resources lacked commitment to our projects we had trouble directing our anger we suppressed our mounting frustration in pop culture gossip sites poetry blogs drinking shopping smoking fucking we wanted to disavow our civic responsibilities we didn’t like to think of ourselves as apathetic we just didn’t think our actions would have any effect we found it all a bit pointless we thought ideology had no place in the bedrooms of the nation we weren’t interested in policy we were interested in the sounds of the word-wonks we admitted our thinking was at times disordered we had trouble making plans and decisions we found it difficult to concentrate we became overwhelmed by the volume of content online we couldn’t handle our inboxes we hadn’t had one good idea during the entirety of the Bush administration and we found ourselves here, in a place of our own making and a prison our own thoughts led us to but this time instead of thinking ourselves out, as we had so often in the past, the machinations of our minds wound us tighter and tighter into a kind of maze or spiral the likes of which we’d never experienced before, and each time we tried to rationally, logically work our way out of the selfsame path we created, we plunged deeper and deeper into the spiral essentially we lacked discipline we had trouble focusing we couldn’t stick with one task at one time and rather dispersed our energies willy-nilly this way and that we grew bored and apathetic we weren’t sleeping at night we played video games for hours at a time we racked up our credit card bills on mid-range designer wear the problem was global but the fallout was ours truth be told – and the truth be always told – [sic] once again we had a situation of us vs. them
Properties PAGE 20, FRONT, JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2009
the numbers refused to add up regardless of how we fiddled with the balance sheets. we knew what this meant, always knew this day would come and yet, somehow, there was no management strategy we hadn’t tried. as youths we were “gifted” but as adults—disaffected; we aimlessly shuffled through the boardwalks of our lives. we recycled everything we could think of but still we did not come close to approaching virtue. we emailed the documents to ourselves at home and then emailed the documents back to ourselves at our jobs. we fooled ourselves into thinking this was work. we never opened the documents. just attached them to the messages and hit send: back and forth, forth and back.
FICTION
we were all false bravado and liquid courage. we kept our shirts half-
hello! have you used Pears soap today?
unbuttoned and we drank constantly. we only dated girls named after
what pulchritudinous hell is this?
precious stones or environmental movements. we played that one record so often the grooves wore down and it never played again but we didn’t
hello! what kind of painfully self-aware asshole will you be today?
replace it and instead kept it in the place of honour on the top of the stack and periodically we’d put it on just to listen to the needle fuzz.
pick one:
we got hernias. or we got acid reflux. we grew accustomed to the taste
a)
chin cupping
of sour bile rising in the backs of our mouths and in fact came to prefer
b)
as awkward as grade 7.
it to other flavours. we stopped sugaring our coffees. we didn’t want
the smartest girl in grade 5.
to stop smoking, didn’t want to talk about not smoking, refused to try
fill yer boots. saving up for chin implants.
the gum or the patch or the pills or the book; we just wanted to be left
we, too could make a $15,000 downpayment on a 452 square foot
alone with our oral fixations and the bittersweet nicotine stains on our
condo downtown we’re young so heaven knows we won’t need to
fingertips. we forgot the idealism of our youths. we left the watering
be home anyway outside’s free crammed tight with husband cat
can out in the yard ‘til it rusted. we stopped mowing the lawn. we
saxophone full-priced designer clothes for which we feel appropriately
stopped paying attention to our wives: first in bed, then at breakfast,
guilty books n’ books by the Old Masters carted from basement
then in public, then entirely. we hated The Man. we cursed The Man
suite to basement suite but never cracked this pedestrian language
publicly; at work, on the subway, at the grocery store checkout counter,
won’t get us a 3-book contract anyways we’re just paying somebody
at dinner parties. we blamed Him for all of our economic troubles. we
else’s mortgage think how good we’ll feel to be in our own place
knew He was growing richer off the backs of our labour. we ranted so
those prices will always go up and the figures don’t matter once
frequently about The Man and his Orwellian evils that we started to
we’re in the market
notice our friends backing away from us, slowly, still smiling. or at our
c)
so what?
approach they’d suddenly root around in their bags and briefcases,
d)
so we met with the professor and we listed all
mutter to themselves, check their iPhones and BlackBerries nervously.
the people in the class whom we thought would still be writing in
we didn’t care; we knew we occupied the morally superior, in fact, the
ten years. what? no, you weren’t on the list. well, we think you’ll be
only morally defensible position. if we didn’t stand up for honour and
doing more important things
justice, then who would? we would not stand to have our ethics
e)
ergo, you won’t still be writing by 2011. publish
questioned. we knew we occupied the moral right. though over time,
or perish. by which we mean, still trying to write your way out of
we realized no one was listening to us. and over more time we realized
your own self-hatred. but there’s no rhetoric there, no sense of
we were alone. years went by. we grew old. on the bus, we still turned
formal strategy.
our faces towards the window to sneeze or blow our noses. we became
f)
we held his soft body in that room for almost
more allergic to spring pollens and it seemed that our noses ran and
half an hour. still warm but void of life. the vet said after you leave
ran and ran. we had to keep a constantly rotating selection of hankies
i’ll give one more shot to stop his heart. a spot of blood, and yellow
in our shirt pockets. Burberry and Louis Vuitton, no less. we sold high
fluid where the needle had gone. his fur wet with our tears.
or we sold out; we could never remember which. eventually, frail and
g)
don’t you think it’s time to start exercising?
infirm, with nothing to pass our days but television and canasta and the jello or pudding that arrived after lunch, we were finally able to admit to ourselves that we’d been The Man all along. but it was too late because when we said it softly in our heads, savouring the sound of it, it was no longer true. we had nothing and we were nothing. and every time we woke up shouting, we could never remember the dream.
Nikki Reimer programs the disjunct! performance series (a sporadic literary and music 'happening'), works at CBC, and co-edited the Kootenay School of Writing's W12. Her poetry has appeared in various journals. She has an unhealthy relationship with coffee. This submission is from a manuscript-in-progress titled “us vs. them.”
Properties FRONT, JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2009, PAGE 21
108754618 by Amy Modahl Hello. Welcome to Apple Care. My name is Matthew and I’ll be assisting you. How may we help you today?
Okay, let’s get started.
It seems that your issue is centering
What issue are you calling about today?
around wireless connectivity?
Well, at this point, I’m afraid I can
What we’re going to do here first Amy
only help you with very basic issues,
is attempt to connect to your wireless
because it appears that your Apple
router. Do you know how to do that?
Before we get started here, I wonder
Care service expired 30 days after
Okay, so now what we’ll do is enter
if you might tell me the serial
you purchased your computer. So
your system preferences and choose
you aren’t currently covered for
“network” there toward the bottom
complete service.
on the left.
number for your computer?
Well Amy. It appears that your
Basically you have about three
computer isn’t registered yet, even
options right now: We can get
though I can see here that you
you started and after that you
Apple Care coverage or the one-
purchased it back in November 2007.
can try to troubleshoot the
time technical support?
Are you interested in purchasing
problem on your own. Or
First, we’ll need to follow a simple procedure to register your computer. Basically, it will take about two minutes. Is that all right with you?
What we’re going to need to do now is wait for the computer to detect the network. And what happens after you enter your password?
otherwise, we have an option for one time technical support. That costs in the range of 59
Great, so we’ll be sending you your
dollars. Your other option is to
Apple Care licensing agreement
purchase the complete Apple
and setup disks in the mail. Those
Care package which for 290
will get to you in just about a week.
dollars gives you three years of support as well as many other features, such as I can help you on the phone now.
Okay, that is curious...
Usually the service provider would be responsible for the password and such. Have you tried changing your network name and password with your service provider?
Okay, I see here, by the way, your version is somewhat old now. Well, there were updates issued through the website back in February and then again in May, and then in August, and another update will be released next week.
Properties PAGE 22, FRONT, JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2009
NON-FICTION | TRANSCRIPT
Are you there, Amy? Great. Well,
Alright Amy. I’m going to leave
Hi Amy. As far as it goes here,
basically, I’m just waiting here for the
you again and I’ll be talking with
I was able to talk at length to
product support specialist to look over
the product specialist myself and
the product specialist
this issue here. We’re looking at about
then basically what will happen
regarding the issue here. As
five more minutes or so before your
is that I will come back and tell
far as I can see here, we were
job is reached here. Okay. We’ll go
you the result. If it takes awhile,
able to do about everything
ahead and wait.
I’ll come back on the line to pretty
we could here today. But the
exactly what might be the cause of the
much let you know there’s a
specialist’s suggestion is that
problem. I’ll make notes regarding your
delay and how long much longer
if you are able, to switch the
case here. I’ll note the troubleshooting
things might take.
WPA back to the WEP. That’s
Alright. Um.
So, are you using WPA or WEP?
Well, basically, I’m not sure at this time
his suggestion there.
work you’ve done with your service provider and here today with Apple.
Are you still there Amy? Well, pretty
Hi Amy. I’m sorry for the wait.
much the specialist is looking into the
Basically, the specialist is still
issue and will be back to me in about
going over your issue here. It
2 or 3 minutes. Can you wait that
should be just about another two
much longer? Okay Amy, again thanks
minutes or so. Thanks again for
for your patience.
waiting.
Let’s see here.Okay... Okay Amy, we’re looking at about 10 to 15 minutes, maybe 13 minutes or I certainly appreciate your patience
it might be less. Are you okay to hold
here, um, Amy. I’m just going to be
Essentially, I’m not sure if this
for that long? Okay Amy, thanks for
another minute here or so..
is a problem from your service
your patience in holding there, we’ll
provider, but that certainly
just be a couple of minutes here.
seems the case. Likely they
To be honest, this is a situation where
didn’t troubleshoot all of the
we’ve tried everything and there’s
areas they could. Basically,
still a problem. So it’s fairly
Okay. I’m basically going to pop back
what you should know is, they
straightforward there. Unless there
in about 10 or 15 seconds and let you
don’t often have sufficient
is some nuance we haven’t
know how long this will be.
knowledge and expertise there.
I could definitely set you up with a
Do you have a pen handy? I’ll just give
Thank you for calling Amy and
specialist here to check, but that will
you a product service case number.
for choosing Apple Care.
take about 10 to 15 minutes there. Are
Are you ready? Okay it’s 108754618.
Have a nice day.
considered there.
you interested in that?
Properties FRONT, JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2009, PAGE 23
Properties PAGE 24, FRONT, JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2009
Laura Calvi was born in Rome and educated in Canada, England and France. A writer and interdisciplinary artist, her works have been presented in group and solo exhibitions in Halifax, Istanbul, Barcelona, Toronto and the US. She is inspired by ephemeral work of Fluxus artists and their use of humor and whimsy.
INSTALLATION
Above and on page 26: “Untitled”, by Laura Calvi, Installation, 2008, Glass neon tubing, Aviano sans light font, E-40 Blue/Ne (Rose) Dimensions: 6.5”'D3 h x 34.75”'D3 l (16.5 x 88.3 cm). Installed at the artist’s home.
Properties FRONT, JANUARY | FENRUARY 2009, PAGE 25
by Laura Calvi
Untitled
Properties PAGE 26, FRONT, JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2009
“Just so: two words arriving, erupting naturally, spontaneously through a culmination of events, misgivings, and failed attempts coming to rest finally, decidedly with acceptance. Two words: neither explanation nor argument, at the same time having the practical, if circular appearance of being both.� Laura Calvi.
FICTION
by Christine Leclerc
Between Wars Thomas had somewhere to go after work, but for him home could
Annette was working long hours. No longer at the
barely be said to exist. The room he and Annette lived in was lacking
munitions factory. It was Cadbury this time. She would not be back
in that they had not chosen to live there. It was hard to not think about
for some time. But the heat would come on soon.
the old apartment and how they had been evicted. But it was like that when the soldiers came back. Thomas
If the bubble were not filling the room so completely Thomas could see the walls. Instead he felt them, cold on his skin
had steered clear of fighting, so they had to make room for the soldiers
like a wet towel from outer space. So much bubble puffed out of
when they poured in off the boats that were porting. The soldiers had
him that it pressed through a crack in the wall into a crawl space.
done something that was not easy while Thomas—the vegetarian—
Thomas conjured an image of the couple next door and
had gone to work for a furrier and Annette—the pacifist—had gone
their son who was getting too big to sleep in a drawer. Secretly, he
to work in a munitions factory. The war years were hard, but at least
saw them as neighbours. But it was more correct to call them guests.
they had the apartment.
Still more correct to call them borders. The bubble filled his
It was not so much bigger than the room they lived in now.
neighbour’s crawl space and the room did not get warmer.
But they had managed to imbue the old apartment with the illusion
“It’s not that I don’t own it,” Thomas said into the
that they belonged. The library, and the table by the window in the
whiteness. “Owning is not what makes a home. I did not own the
kitchenette. The houseplants. The soap dish. Thomas pressed his lips
house I grew up in.”
into a line when he thought of what they’d left behind. “We can’t move,” he had said, standing by the door in the slippers he’d received on his twenty third birthday. Annette had just finished pushing the trunk out onto the staircase. “I don’t want any reminders,” she said, ready to circle down
He undid his shoelaces at the faint first rattle of heat. Then louder and louder, the rattle grew, until he could hear a steady rattle from the coils beneath the window. The room grew warm, and Thomas’ breath puffed back in. It rolled back like waves marshmallow, folding into a wisp.
onto the street. And Thomas had to admit that they were leaving.
Bit by bit the room came into view. Thomas saw his
He unbuttoned his coat upon entering the room; let it slide
mittened hands resting in his lap. Then his shortish legs and black
off his shoulders. He hung it on the nail that had been driven into the
shoes. There was the edge of the bed, and—“They can kick us out
back of the door and went to the bed.
anytime”—the dresser. “That’s what I don’t like”—doorknob and
Thomas sat there, pressing his back into the wall.
wall. “I don’t like this living between wars,” he said as the last of
Breath puffed out of him like a speech bubble and gradually
the bubble disappeared into his throat.
filled the room. The clear evening air grew bleary. It grew blearier and blearier until the room faded from sight. A chill filled the bubble and
“Our weapons don’t get worse,” he said to himself, though his teeth chattered.
words crystallized throughout. It was not quiet outside. Then a tram went by, and this gave
“It’s going to take a lot of not practice and no study,” Thomas said as he kicked his shoes off. He laughed a little. “A
the room a shake. “I sit in you. I breathe in you. I bathe in you. I eat
complete lack of discipline.” He wiggled his toes, “to get worse at
in you. I sleep in you. I wake in you. I cry in you. I love in you. I wait
fighting.”
in you. I fight in you. I dream in you. I think of you. Home, I want you. I want to take you to the moon. I want to be with you, alone. I want
Thomas took off his scarf and mittens as another tram passed.
you to want me, to see how I miss you, how well I could make you,
He imagined Annette eating asparagus.
Home,” the words said.
Shadow branches raked the room.
Christine Leclerc is Vancouver writer and visual artist.
Properties FRONT, JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2009, PAGE 27
POETRY | MARK-UP drag down. ¶
¶ ¶
block plan. ¶ ¶
blue bench. ¶
¶
territorial
bundlebind. ¶
¶
rumor absorbs print. ¶ ¶
isolate social. ¶
¶
kink.
¶
¶
¶ ¶ ¶ ¶ Page Break
¶ ¶
habitgirl. ¶ ¶
stilt street
¶
stilt site ¶ stilt sell. ¶
¶ ¶ Page Break
structures. ¶ host process.
¶
hit low. ¶ ¶
zone hole.
hobble house. ¶ ¶ Page Break
off plan?
¶ ¶
rank. ¶
¶
boom cinch. ¶ sprout tower. ¶
¶
grow schemes.
¶ ¶
Page Break
¶ ¶ ¶ ¶ ¶
Thresh ii
by Kim Minkus
Properties PAGE 28, FRONT, JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2009
yolk sector
¶
clog scale.
¶
harness trenchant plot.
¶
¶ ¶ ¶ ¶
Kim Minkus is a Vancouver poet and an instructor at Capilano University. She is a PhD candidate in Simon Fraser University's English Department where she is specializing in contemporary poetry and avant-garde book history. Her first book of poetry 9 Freight, a sensual interrogation of Vancouverís real estate market, was published by LINEbooks in the fall of 2007. She has had reviews and poetry published in Interim, West Coast Line, LOCUSPOINT, ottawater, Memewar, Jacket and The Poetic Front.
DIGITAL COLLAGE
ING
by Amy Modahl
Amy Modahl, on leave from teaching in Vancouver, currently lives in the interior of BC where she is working on written and visual projects.
Properties FRONT, JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2009, PAGE 29
En Masse (All Together Now) Western Front New Music January / February 2009
Western Front New Music continues the concert series examining the ways that musicians perform together, and the ways audiences contribute to the experience. The series offers traditional and nontraditional ensembles that perform their own music, or perhaps, do not perform music at all?
En Masse V 13 Most Beautiful... Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests * Dean and Britta January 30, 9PM (doors/bar 8PM) *$25 Vogue Theatre 918 Granville *presented with PuSh International Performing Arts Festival
Image from “Andy Warhol, Screen Test: Jane Holzer” (1964) 16mm film, black and white, silent, 4 minutes at 16 frames per second ©2008 The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA, a museum of Carnegie Institute. All rights reserved.
Singer/guitarist /composer Dean Wareham (formerly of Galaxy 500 and Luna) was commissioned by The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh to compose music to accompany some of Warholís rarely seen silent-film portraits, which the artist called Screen Tests. These extraordinary documents of the 1960s New York art scene constitute a voluminous portrait gallery of well-
known celebrities, Factory superstars and anonymous teenagers. Warehamís pensive tenor and dreamy songs and Britta Phillipsí wistful harmonies make the perfect live soundtrack for Warholís simple yet transfixing films. 13 Most Beautiful Songs for Andy Warhol’ s Screen Tests is a project jointly commissioned by the Andy Warhol Museum and Pittsburgh Cultural Trust for the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts 2008. Tickets / Push Passes 604 280 3311 Group rates
Stand Alone (Lost Solos and Musical Monologues) is a continued series of solo presentations exploring music as a two-way communication between performer and listener, and music as an activity experienced in solitude, with or without an audience.
Stand Alone III Fake Jazz Fridays - Solos Friday, February 6, 2009, at 8PM, $5 An evening of fearless, underground experimentation by some of the doughtiest musicians in the Lower Mainland. Guest curated by Jeremy Van Wyck and Bill Batt, creators of the dynamic and epic weekly series Fake Jazz Wednesdays. Featuring solo acts: connect_icut, Common Collector, Empty Love.
Stand Alone IV Zbigniew Karkowski (electronics) & Atsuko Nojiri (video) opening set: The Rita (Sam McKinlay) Friday, February 27, 8PM Western Front $14 door / $12 advance / $10 Members/Students Renown Tokyo-based master sound manipulator Zbigniew Karkowski and Japanese video artist Atsuko Nojiri present an evening of audacious multimedia collaboration. Karkowski's relentless attention to detail to the reworking and processing of a collection of original acoustic instrument recordings is integrally and seamlessly paired with Nojiri's visual interpretations. “An argument for the indivisibility of sound and vision, or the emergence of a new aesthetic medium? Quite evidently, the answer is both.” - Asphodel Records
How Does Your Voice Sound Workshop Tuesdays 6 to 7:30 pm Part l - Vocal Mechanics - January 20 to February 10 Part ll - Playing With Sound - March 10 - April 14 $85/$70 WF members, single class $10 Registration Required: 604 878-7448 or newmusic@front.bc.ca Plant your feet, loosen your lips and let it out! Explore relaxation, breathing, alignment, resonance, toning, sound making, listening, laughing and singing. DB Boyko's experiences as an improviser, composer and dancer have contributed to her unique approach to the voice.
Positioning Your Music Workshop Grant Writing and Getting Gigs Workshop DB Boyko ñ Director/Curator ñ Western Front New Music Wednesday, January 21, 7 to 9 pm $15/Free WF members Limited Enrollment: contact newmusic@front.bc.ca This workshop surveys the necessary tools and ingredients for effectively establishing contacts, making a pitch to presenters and articulating artistic ideas for grant applications. Participants are requested to bring along proposals and promotional materials that you are currently developing.
Western Front Media Arts
Perspectives on an Archive
For Perspectives on an Archive, Western Front Media Arts has invited three emerging curators from diverse backgrounds to curate programs of significant works selected from its Media Archive. The project includes a screening series, which took place in November and December 2008, a free catalogue, a virtual exhibit, and inhouse screenings on demand. These programs are available for screening on demand until March 10, 2009. Please make an appointment by contacting mediaresident@gmail.com.
Between Here and There, Now and Then Curated by Liz Park
Ghost Dialogues Curated by cheyanne turions
Resisting the Gaze Curated by Kemi Craig
Chip Lord, YVR: Arrival and Departure, 1979, Mona Hatoum, Bars, Barbs and Borders: The Negotiating Table, 1981 Guillermo Gómez-Peña and Roberto Sifuentes, Dangerous Border Game, 1996, Antonia Hirsch, Empire Line, 1998
Cioni Carpi, Interview for the Birds, 1977, Tom Sherman, Individual Release, 1978, Dalibor Martinis, Dalibor Martinis Talks to Dalibor Martinis, 1978, Kate Craig, Delicate Issue, 1979
Mona Hatoum, Measures of Distance, 1988, Hu Jie Ming, Who?, 1998 Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Initiation Ritual/Sacred Bath, 1991
G.GÛmez-Peña and R. Sifuentes, Dangerous Border Game, 1996, D. Martinis, Dalibor Martinis Talks to Dalibor Martinis, 1978 M. Campos-Pons, Initiation Ritual/Sacred Bath, 1991
The Films of Andy Warhol A lecture by Thomas Sokolowski, Director of the Andy Warhol Museum Jan 29, 7pm, Emily Carr University
This free lecture will explore the film work of Andy Warhol prior to the presentation of 13 Most Beautiful Songs for Andy Warhol's Screentests the following evening. Thomas Sokolowski is the Director of Pittsburgh's Andy Warhol Museum, and has a distinguished career as a curator and educator. Under his leadership, many important exhibitions have been mounted at institutions including the Grey Art Gallery at New York University, where he was Director from 1984 until 1996, and the Warhol Museum. He led the mounting of Success is a Job in New York..: The Early Art and Business of Andy Warhol, which was shown in Paris, London, Turin, Philadelphia, Newport Beach and Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Art.That exhibition marked the first time Warhol had a one-person show in his hometown of Pittsburgh. Mr. Sokolowski served as chief curator for the Chrysler Art Museum, and as curator of European Painting and Sculpture. He has taught at numerous institutions, including New York University and the University of British Columbia. For more information, please contact Western Front Exhibitions Phone 604.876.9343, exhibitions@front.bc.ca
PESKY PEACOCKS
colour texture decadence magic 604-874-1030 221 East 16th Avenue, Vancouver BC
ONGOING Persistence (ArtSpeak) An archive of Feminist Practices in Vancouver November 8, 2008 - January 31, 2009
Action-Camera: Beijing Performance Photography January 16 - April 19, 2009 Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery Curated by Keith Wallace Curator talk: Saturday, January 17 1:30 - 2:30 pm
Reskilling Western Front Opening reception November 28 2008 8pm November 29 2008 January 10th 2009
Helen Pit Gallery Artist Run Centre Square Configuration Study Julian Geoghegan & Simon DeBree Friday, January 9 8-11 pm
Gallery Gachet Moon In The Gutter, Heroes In The Counterculture Inside the Outside December 12 - January 25 2009
Teck Gallery, Vancouver Campus (515 W Hastings St. Nick Danziger: Blair at War November 24, 2008 February 14, 2009
Jeppe Hein January 29 - March 29 2009 Contemporary Art Gallery
VIVO SLAB Workshops Open Sound Exhibition Reception: January 24, 2-4pm
PD Basics Sat Feb 7 4-6pm
Cascadian Liberation Fron Soft Revolution Interurban Gallery January 23, 24, 28-30 Opening Reception: Th January 22 7pm
Simon Fraser University Gallery Liz Magor: The Mouth and other storage facilities January 10 - February 21st 2009 Opening Saturda January 10 3-5 pm Artist talk: Saturday January 10th 2pm Burnaby Campus
Push Performing Arts Festival January 20 - February 8 2009
Surrey Art Gallery Wireframe - John Wynne January 24 - March 22nd 2009 Exhibition Reception: January 24th 2-4 pm
presented by: Battery Opera Lives were Around Me Guided Tour with David McIntosh January 6,13, 20, 27 February 3, 10, 17, 24
PD Sonic Sat Feb 14 & 21 4-7 pm
PD Media Integration & Interfacing Sat & Sun Feb 28 & Mar 1 4-7pm
PD Visual Sun Feb 15 & 2 4-7 pm
Kinetic Media & Electronics Mon Feb 9 & 16 6 - 9:30pm
Circuit Building Tue & Wed jan 27 & 28 6-9 pm
A Little Distillery in Nowg Centre A January 31- February 28 20 Opening and Performance 8 Friday January 30
Danger in Paradise Curated by Dana Claxton January 31- March 7 2009 Or Gallery
To find more Vancouver events,or to post your own events for free visit
UQEVENTS.COM Steve Reich's Drumming with the Music on Main All-Star Band February 3, 4 2009 9 pm Drum and Light Festival February 5-7 2009, 9pm Wise Hall 1862 Adanac St.
Fearless Muses: Making Your Own Media Opening Reception february 6, 7 - 10pm
nt: The
0 2009 ursday,
gong
009 8pm
Guise Curated by Carie Helm February 5th to March 22nd 2009 Richmond Art Gallery
FM Transmitter Workshop Bobbi Kozinuk February 21, 22 2009 604-501-5566
Black Communities in British Columbia 1858 - 2008 February 18 - May 10 2009
Sound Thinking 2009: Conversations on Audio Art February 28 12-5pm
Forum on Contemporary Art Criticism Organized by Artspeak / Fillip February 27 & 28, 2009 Location: Emily Carr University Theatre.
UPCOMING Hard Rubber Orchestra In Concert wiht Cameron Wilson Saturday March 14 2009 8pm The Dance Centre 677 Davie St. Hard Rubber Orchestra Celebrating the Music of Louis Andriessen Sunday April 5 2009 8pm Roundhouse performance Centre 181 Roundhouse Mews (Corner of Davie & Pacific)
UQEVENTS.COM
DRAWING
Properties PAGE 42, FRONT, JANAURY | FEBRUARY 2009
Leora Morinis graduated from Mount Holyoke College in Western Massachusetts with a bachelor's degree in Critical Theory. She has since moved back to Vancouver, where she spends her days making art, taking walks, applying for grad school, combing Craigslist, and trying to outpun her parents.
Coney Island by Leora Morinis
This drawing was made with the beaches of Coney Island, New York in mind. I was responding to the news that the beaches were going to be "rejuvenated"
with
condo
developments. What was once vibrant communal property will now become private. This drawing also attempts to deal with questions about the properties of memory. I've never been to the beaches of Coney Island, so I was trying to paint what I thought to be the platonic form of the place. I think what makes people feel like they have such firm ownership over a geographical spot is that the form of it is so well ingrained, and inthe case of Coney Island, so uniform, in their minds.
Properties FRONT, JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2009, PAGE 43
COLLAGE
Ink and pencil crayon and collage on paper. 2008.
View from Above by Jessica Gabriel
Properties PAGE 44, FRONT, JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2009
Jessica Gabriel is a compost-modern puppeteer, painter, clown, collage artist from the Sunshine Coast. She manipulates life's living collage by daily dilly dallying rather dutifully in the surrounding cultural detritus. She is a BFA graduate from UBC, has her permaculture design certificate and is an avid seed saver/cyclist/musician. Currently she is active as the co-founder of Mind of a Snail Puppet Co. performing shadow shows and hosting shadow jams to keen bunches of Vancouverites.
Welcome All! Please join the Western Front in celebrating Art's Birthday, an annual event first proposed in 1963 by French artist Robert Filliou to mark the presence of art in our lives. According to Filliou, art was born on January 17, a million years ago when someone dropped a dry sponge into a bucket of water. Emerging out of the Fluxus movement, Art's birthday is celebrated each year by a network of artists around the world on the idea of exchange. For this year's event, Western Front presents a Fluxus-style framework for gathering, exchange and jubilation: A screening of selected video works by the legendary Robert Filliou, followed by a live cupcake decorating contest, evaluated by a panel of the local art community’s celebrity judges!
Art's Birthday January 17th, 2009, 2-5pm, Luxe Hall, Western Front, 303 East 8th Avenue, FREE EVENT with cash bar
Western Front staff will bake the cupcakes for the contest. Please bring your own inspired and original supplies for cupcake decoration! Grand prize to be announced. Please check www.front.bc.ca for more information.