WOO Spring 2018 by WOO Publication

[woo publication]

shift [spring 2018]

woo spring 2018

inside cover

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shi t f [woo spring 2018]

woo spring 2018

Andrew James Mckay / Neil / 41 Anna Luth / Out of Mind / 51 Candice Yee / Tell Me Something About Your Future / 31 Chloe Kwok / clouded loss / 26 Christine Wei / Evident Passages / 53 Colin Porato / Framed bag of Sweet Chili Heat / 33 Dennis Valouiski / Mug-splorations / 34

[submitted works]

Elias Crespo Molato / Tender Ethics / 25 Esther Martens / tiger / 45 Eva Dominelli / Circuit / 19 Gloria Wong / Form / 8 Jordan Utting / Faces / 15 Joy Kim / Close / 21 Julia Pepler / 365 / 14 Kaitlin Wiebe / Snagger’s Ode to Wegman / 35 Lula Christman / Ida The Bird / 30 Mallory Amirault / Yolk / 10 Marcus Dénommé / Moooth / 40 Maria Margaretta / Mass-produced Culture / 36 Mathew Fierke / Colour Study #3, Texture Study #1 / 13 Melina Querel / Subversive Training Videos / 50 Michella Wong / False Creek / 12 Miriam Levine / Toy Ocean / 52 Monique Germain / The Similarity of Difference / 20 Sabrina Lam / Think Twice for Mice Movement / 39 Salome Leon / Year of Dog / 32 Sawyer Anderson / knotty boy / 24 Simon Bermeo-Ehmann / God’s Plan / 57 Sophia Middleton / Protrusion / 18 Stephanie Talic / Omnipresence; The Land from Above; I Document the Dismissal and my Organism Thrives; Network, New Language / 46 Terra Poirier / How much do we value art education? / 16 Una Gil / Kalabaw at Pag Asa / 38 Yuriy Kyrzov & Griffin Reichl / Styles / 44 Zoe Boudreau / Detroit Arcadia / 56

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[woo editorial] SCUFF Monique Germain / 22

THE NIGHT SHIFT Sanya Arora / 28

HOLD SHFT June Tang / 42

THE INDIGESTIBLE Chelsea Bell Eady / 48

CONFETTI Shannon Pot / 54

woo spring 2018

letters from the directors As a student-run publication with very few guidelines, the WOO provides an innovative space for exploring possibilities within the realm of publication design. It has been a very rewarding journey working with the various teams over the course of my time with WOO, and I am excited to pass on the responsibilities and excitement to a new group. Each year the WOO takes on a new form, with fresh perspectives bleeding into each issue in different ways. In our last issue issue of the 2017-18 school year, we consider the idea of Shift - to move or cause to move from one place to another, especially over a small distance. With many shifts of perspectives we have seen across the student body in the last semester and over the course of the year, we want to consider a refreshing visual; change, looking at spreads and pages from a new perspective. This year we have seen an exciting potential for visual exploration as we complete one issue and begin to put together a new one. In many ways, this issue stands out from our past publications, in an attempt to always be trying something new. We hope you enjoy our latest creation, the Spring 2018 issue of WOO.

Lula Christman Editor-In-Chief, WOO Publication

A SHIFT can be a subtle or a rapid change. A shift can be noticed immediately or fade away into the back of someoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mind. This issue focuses on how we interpret and analyze change, how it guides us or how we guide it. Shifting into gear - holding down the shift key and dragging an object across your Indesign spread - shifting into a new understanding and state of meaning. This is the last issue of WOO that I will be Art-Directing before graduating ECUAD and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve gotten to work with and learn from on the WOO team. Leaving on the note of change is melancholy and bittersweet but to see the benefits of change despite the moments of fear and uncertainty is something beneficial for us to embrace. I hope that you appreciate SHIFT and embrace the nuances that continue to shape our stories everyday.

Yuriy Kyrzov Art Director, WOO Publication

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lula christman

yuriy kyrzov

editor-in-chief

art director

Ester TothOva

jenna burgess

media director

editorial director

celia pankhurst

griffin reichl

una gil

zoe boudreau

design

mp sp

triet pham

christine fwu

Maddy Phillips

shannon pot

design

editorial

chelsea bell eady

june tang

sanya arora

monique germain

editorial

gw cy gloria wong

candice yee

media

social media

sb simon bermeoehmann media

[Gloria Wong / Photography / 2018]

woo spring 2018

Form

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[Mallory Amirault]

woo spring 2018

Our distance

Taking up the role of fire-keeper,

has become entrenched,

stoking our wood-stove in the high moon of night,

falling short in the mouth of too many words—

I see his trembling knees

words that linger

like a young pup, caged by a young-love

in phrases that have accumulated in small-talk.

that was once our own.

Yet, even in the passing of “How was your day?”

How could we have foreseen -

“Tiring,” he answers

his eyes held the the strength of an unknown world

the horizon line simmering at the window.

while my heart drummed rampant with desire to see it,

His brow and the crooked resistance at his shoulder

for this we fell,

tells me his exhaustion doesn’t come from his work,

fast and hard,

but from unrealized dreams,

my womb carrying the nature of our indulgence.

like my own. For nineteen years we held a hands worth Those dreams unfold

of mistakes made in love,

in our restless nights

and that strength

shared in the same bed

kicks himself with his shaking in the mid-night

that has lost its warmth

at the back of his knee.

despite our two bodies filling the sheets— I remember when it would have appeared like one body

Stoking the fire

filling the quilt of our love,

conjuring a warmth that does not reach deep enough,

now his wrinkled skin

it will have to do,

tells of too much time that has passed in silence

because time tells us that

and like time, the space between us has wrinkled, too.

this is what we know, who we know. For this reason, my love remains, despite not being able to touch the life that has accumulated beneath his reddened cheekbone.

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Perhaps it is in the percolating ground coffee beans

“What is the biblical word describing a great love”?

filling my nose each morning,

Him, I write

that keeps me from the truth that quivers

in capital letters, unlike the rest of the questions

at the edge of my lip

that I fail to fill.

and at the tip of his thoughts

It’s always him, and my hand grips the pen

each time we look at one another

losing myself to a thought

in the peripheral of our glance-

that leaves my fist blank upon the page

such a shyly similar act

while his fuzzed brow raises in curiosity.

as that of tentative young lovers, yet our glances exist from all the words

“What’s the question”?

we’ve already said

He asks, and I stagger.

and have died in our decayed actions

“You”,

to do anything to change it.

I answer,

For this I crumble

“The answer is you”.

as poorly as bread without yeast, and so does he.

“Oh”, he says, dipping his piece of toast in

His nimble fingers thumbing the pages of the paper

one of two yolks that sit between us

quietly passing me the puzzle

looking down to the page two article,

of cross-words demanding me to answer

clutching all the more firmly to the corner,

questions that I never thought to ask.

myself, the pen and the seam at my side.

woo spring 2018

False Creek

[Michella Wong / ceramics / 2017]

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[Mathew Fierke / inkjet print / 2017]

Colour Study #3

The images function as abstract prints or paintings. For this group of pieces, I chose to work in the tradition of artists who use tools incorrectly or find beauty in mistakes; I used two different methods to create the works. The first is called pixel sorting, which utilizes an â&#x20AC;&#x153;open-source computer programming languageâ&#x20AC;? called Processing. A digital artist named Kim Asendorf developed a source code which manipulates the pixels of an image file based on values that are entered into the program. The second is called databending, which uses HxD, a hex editor. This program displays the hexadecimal code of an image and allows the user to edit its values. These value changes can cause unexpected changes to how the image is displayed. While affecting the code of an image, display errors occur and the file gets smaller as some data is lost. Simultaneously, new visual elements emerge; the finished works strike a balance between what is lost and what is gained along the way. This method also allows me to understand processes from different disciplines and bridge a gap between artists and programmers.

Texture Study #1

woo spring 2018

365 Every day in 2017, I captured a short video and compiled the clips into just under 7 minutes. The effort of taking a video every day became habitual and a way of archiving people, places, events, and ordinary moments I experienced throughout the year. I hope that it serves as a time-capsule to look back upon. Presented here are a series of stills from that video.

[Julia Pepler / VIDEO / 2017]

faces

[jordan utting / Personal Illustration / 2017]

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[terra poirier]

woo spring 2018

Why students should fight for fair labour at ECU What do students need from an art education? For my part, I need mentorship. Direct instruction is part of that, but it also means getting support and guidance from experienced artists and theorists. Unfortunately, Emily Carr University’s current labour practices increasingly make genuine mentorship unavailable for students. Not for lack of skilled mentors—our university employs hundreds of experienced and accomplished artists as instructors. But the majority are “non-regular” faculty; sessional instructors or lecturers temporarily contracted to teach for lower pay. Not only are most of my instructors under-compensated, but some of them have also taught—even developed—their courses for years without job security. Our instructors’ collective agreement even goes so far as to use, multiple times, the phrase “shall have no job security” as a descriptor for non-regular teaching appointments. Sessional instructors also do not receive health benefits, and nearly half of non-regular faculty members have reported incomes near the poverty line. I come to art first as an activist with the belief that art is inseparable from our lives and struggles, so it is unacceptable to me—and should be to all students who care about social justice—that my mentors are dealing with so much precarity. Maybe you weren’t even aware of this situation. That could be because the non-regular faculty are, in practice, absorbing their pay disparities—they work just as hard as regular faculty, so we aren’t going to see a difference there. Or perhaps it’s because our teachers, like anyone without job security, are not in a position to speak out about their working conditions. Whether we are aware or not, these conditions, which are increasingly prevalent under the reality of neoliberal education models, affect our learning in several ways, which returns us to

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the question of mentorship. In addition to direct instruction, we need meaningful feedback and engagement from our mentors, both of which require their time and continued presence. We also need them to do curriculum development, directed studies supervision, research, and to be able to maintain their art practices so our learning from them is relevant. We need to have access to our mentors—to be able to ask them for advice outside the scope of a specific course or to write recommendations for us. Such activities are not bonuses. They are essential to our education, but under the current model they are not happening in the majority. That’s because sessional instructors are not paid to do any of them. If they do, it’s on volunteer time. That’s if they’re still around—some of them move on to more secure work and who can blame them? And with sessionals not compensated for these essential educational activities, regular faculty have to do all the service the university requires. Students and faculty both suffer in this equation. Overreliance on sessional labour also impacts us at registration time. With sessionals often not hired until the last minute, students are forced to enroll in courses without instructors or descriptions, while instructors have to put together classes on the run and without additional compensation. Not only does this create stress and insecurity for our mentors, but it also makes it difficult for us to plan our lives or ensure our courses are suitable for our programs. By exploiting artist-educators as cheap labour, Emily Carr is not modeling that it values art learning, artists, or at its very core, art itself. If we students believe that art education is about more than profit, then we need to start addressing the working conditions of our mentors. We, along with tenured faculty, are in the best position to speak out and demand change. I would like us to imagine what it would be like if instead of treating artists like commodities, this system valued artists and their labour. Who else might be able to participate, and what might we— and art itself—be capable of achieving?

woo spring 2018

[Sophia Middleton / 2018]

Protrusion

/ TEXTILES Experimenting with a soft, traditionally feminine color palette and traditionally domestic materials, I wanted to bring a wearable sculpture into the public eye, demanding space and attention while playing with ideas of what people think of me at first glance, versus who I truly am.

[Eva Dominelli / 2017]

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Circuit / ACRYLIC INK, DIGITAL ART & RISOGRAPH This is a series of illustrations created for an 18-page risograph book which was released alongside the album “Circuit” by the Berlin-based musician Rowan Coupland. In response to the rise of digital downloads, we wanted to create a visual, interactive and tactile experience for listeners.

woo spring 2018

the similarity of difference / PHOTOGRAPHY No matter how far we have torn our family apart, my mother, father and I will always be connected through being the people photographed together that early August morning. We will never stop trying to destroy the ideal future those pictured people had hoped for, and we will never succeed in erasing the happiness we did find together during that brief moment in time.

[Monique Germain / 2017]

[joy kim / 2017]

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Close / COLOURED PENCIL ON STONEHENGE

woo spring 2018

scu f â&#x20AC;&#x201D;f 22

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monique germain

Scuff, scuff, scuff.

The surface flat, the stage set- the lecturer began the class on a new, smooth, concrete floor.

The ticking of the clock and the scratch of paper

Halfway through the semester now- just nearing

on pencil, (paper on pen, marker on paper) moves

March- and all you can see is the top of his head

through you in lecture like the growth of bone as its

flow by as he passes his way through

preads, breaks, fractures, and fuses.

the carved maze of rock. Over and over. Day after day. Path after path.

Ink flows from your pen as it always does, marking lines of words and sinking through, through,

His route now: three steps forward- three steps

through,

back. Gesture, gesture- any questions?

Onto the table and

It’s a familiar dance- step, step, gesture, gesture,

Down to the floor

scuff, scuff.

Through the soles of your feet To scuff the floor

The notes are familiar too, the same lines he offers

every week. You could recite them by heart as you

low

carve his lesson into the desk (remember it)shucking through pools of dried ink from months

The confines of the classroom

previous, layers of text cracking under your scalpel

As it carves the air around you in arches

revealing deep grooves in the table. Scuff, scuff,

and curves that shape around words falling from

scuff.

the lecturer’s mouth as sighs upon student’s mounds and flesh- shapeless

Scuff, scuff, of the clock on the wall

in chaired confines, held up (like liquid)- held in

Scuff, scuff, a minute more

place-

Scuff, scuff, a breath more

this place.

Scuff,

The patterns of the teacher’s heels scuff the

S c uff surface of his mind. He hallowed the ground he walked upon, dragging his heels against intricacies

Your eyes follow the familiar words he raises from

of stone, rubbing fingers over ridges in the floor;

the ground, follow his hair as it stalks across the

the transfer of skin and oil to board and rock.

room-

Every year before fall they flood the stage with

“The moon never goes out in Vancouver.” he declared, like he did every class.

concrete, filling the ruts the last year’s lecturer

Every day.

carved into the floor after walking the same lines

Every month.

(Same lines)

“The moon never goes out. It never goes out.”

across the ground day after day, lecture after

Class ended then- as it always did- and

lecture.

all of the students fell to their feet.

Like he does now

[Sawyer Anderson / ink & digital / 2019]

woo spring 2018

knotty boy 1 Self portraits as collapsed, uncertain, unwieldy, too clever ape.

[Elias Crespo Molato / OIL ON CANvAS / 2016] issue / shift

tender ethics

woo spring 2018

[Chloe Kwok / 2017] / INCANDESCENT LIGHTBULBS, MORTAR MIX CONCRETE, WATER, FASTCRETE, ASHES FROM BURNT PAGES OF THE LOVELY BONES.

clouded loss

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“Clouded Loss” represents my interpretation of the core themes in the book, “The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold. The book revolves around the death of a young girl, that stains the entire narrative. I found the idea of a concrete lightbulb fitting, as it sends a message of lifelessness to the viewer. I named the piece “Clouded Loss”, as there is a sense of confusion and disbelief throughout the narrative concerning the girl’s death. It’s a heavy visual and physical representation of a complete loss of light and life.

woo spring 2018

the nig Sanya arora A shift is a slight change in position, direction or tendency. There could be a shift in perspective, and a shift in the way in which we perceive the worldâ&#x20AC;Ś As the sun sets in the horizon, away from sight, the city comes alive. Clocks strike 6:00pm, alarms go off, and people wake up to get ready for the night ahead. Lights are turned on, children woken up, showers taken, breakfast eaten, and people are out of the house by 8:00pm. Just a routine Monday evening with everyone bustling to get to work in time. As the city comes alive, streets chock-a-block with cars, and the public transit stations hum with activity. Trains come and go, swarming with people hoping to get to their places of work in time. By 9:00pm this hustle and bustle of every night comes to a lull as one and all reach their respective destinations. The city cascades into a dull, yet determined silence and mechanics of the nightly tasks take precedence. As the moon reaches overhead at midnight, the silence is perturbed, lunch time! People escape the four walls of their office spaces, families meet for lunch, or go for a walk with their coworkers if the night pleasant; food trucks with their wafting aromas line up along the demanding streets. For an hour or two, the streets get busy again, school children are picked up or depart for home in school

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g h tâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; shift buses. Those lucky enough to have time, indulge in an after-midnight siesta. As lunch hour comes to an end, everyone goes back to the grind knowing that only a few hours are left for the night. Between 5 and 6:00 am, as the night slowly draws to an end, so does the long nightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work. The streets are once again bustling with people trying to get home. Trains and buses crowd with eager commuters, longing for the comfort of their homes. Dinner is prepared as the rigmarole of another night finished; families sit down together to discuss the events of the night. Students catch up on homework, others indulge in late morning studying for an upcoming test. But as the sun starts rising, most people snuggle into the warmth of their beds to catch some sleep before another night of work; the day comes to a staggering end, and the city sleepsâ&#x20AC;Ś

[Lula Christman / ILLUSTRATION / 2018]

woo spring 2018

Ida the Bird

[candice yee / 2018] / JOSS PAPER (GHOST MONEY) I interviewed 36 strangers and asked them to tell me something about their future. Some examples of what people said: “I’m extremely uncertain about it but also feeling brave about it somehow?” “Dead” “Ambitious. Anywhere but Vancouver.” I folded 36 fortunetellers from joss paper, which is Chinese ghost money that is burned on special occasions or funerals to give money to the dead. I set the ‘fortunes’ on top of the fortunetellers in Vancouver’s Chinatown, and let the wind blow them around.

tell me something about your future

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Year of Dog

woo spring 2018

[Salome Leon / INK / 2018]

Framed bag of Sweet Chili Heat / FOUND OBJECT A framed bag of my favorite flavor of Doritos tortilla chips: Sweet Chili Heat.

[colin porato / 2017]

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[dennis valouiski / digital rendering / 2018]

woo spring 2018

Mug-splorations

Snaggerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ode to Wegman

[Kaitlin Wiebe / DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY / 2017]

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mass-produced culture

woo spring 2018

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[Maria Margaretta / 2017] / BEADS & FABRIC “Mass - Produced Culture” was created in response to Canadian Metis artist Christi Belcourt’s and couture designer Valentino’s collaboration of 2016. The partnership utilized traditional Metis patterns with embroidered bead like florals on a variety of fabrics. Following the release of these designs, they were immediately mass produced by mainstream clothing brands and widely circulated amongst dominant culture. In response, I began to purchase these fabrics from retailers such as Urban Outfitters, Forever 21, and H&M,and bead over them. I wanted to question what it meant to be a Metis person beading over a piece inspired by a Metis artist, produced in China, sold in western markets, purchased and worn by consumers who were unaware of the clothing’s original intent and then re-appropriated by a Metis artist. Through this investigation, my intent is to explore the intersections of globalization on consumerist culture and traditional culture. I examine ideas of cultural appropriation and authenticity, while questioning how cultural skills can be utilized as a tool for Indigenous resurgence and practices of decolonization.

Kalabaw at Pag Asa

woo spring 2018

[Una Gil / watercolour & coloured pencil / 2017]

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Think Twice for Mice Movement [Sabrina Lam / 2017]

/ DIGITAL PRINT Think Twice for Mice was a protest project that urges consumers to be conscious of the horrific consequences that results from the production of botox. The protest campaign encourages shoppers to sign the petition to end botox mice testing. The movement was deeply rooted from the desire of bringing mice testing to light and exposing the reality of what really happens behind the scenes. Mice are usually neglected, seen as an invisible animal and are negatively viewed in comparison to other household animals such as rabbits and dogs. Their rights and lives aren’t protected and fought for compared to other animals. Think Twice for Mice’s mission was to provide and design campaign merchandise to spread awareness of botox mice testing. The movement’s visual identity and approach was minimal, raw and realistic as it results in conveying an element of shock. The protest’s manifesto was listed as below:

1. Foster kindness, respect and compassion for the well being of mice. 2. Treat mice as our friends and/or family who we should protect. 3. Boycott mice cruelty products and ban botox mice testing. 4. Mice deserve to hold the same rights as humans and be protected by the law against animal testing. 5. Mice are as equally important as other common household animals.

woo spring 2018

Moooth

[Marcus Dénommé / 2017]

/ LITHOGRAPH ON MULBERRY PAPER & PAPER TOWEL A series of lithograph prints varying from rag paper, mulberry paper, and paper towel. The two prints shown are the first and final states of the image. They illustrate the feeling of uncertainty in one’s artistic practice, or even in everyday life. What happens during those moments of nervousness when preparing a litho stone is that you might have made a very serious mistake, and the possibility of restarting from the beginning looms over your thoughts, and essentially what you make. This series of prints both lack and is about lacking confidence.

[andrew james mckay / 2017]

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Neil / ACRYLIC, INK+GRAPHITE ON PANEL.

A portrait of a school colleague. One in Wa series of works of colleagues consisting of paintings, drawings, lithographs and etchings. In their process these portraits consider what it means to depict those who also depict themselves; what influences exist between artist and model, and model and sitter. They also consider what implications there may be or will become apparent as time passes and concerns change in recording images of artists early on in their practice.

woo spring 2018

holdâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; shft june tang

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Hold shift, don’t breathe I pressed the button, holding my breath nother page, another spread Did you remember to hold shift? “Don’t stretch the type,” they said The illustration, the photograph Until there was, no more you You should hold shift, And do not breathe. I was told not to trail off From the way they taught From the way they came off I was supposed to do Whatever I was told to do.

Hold shift, don’t breathe Because when you do, you start trailing off Your text falls apart Your image stretched Your AI file is thus a mess So you should hold shift, and don’t breathe.

I held the key, and I did not breathe I stayed still when they threw at me All the words that were not kind They told me to follow the rules To stay in shape To stay “shifted” To stay this way, and hold shift. But what does it mean, to hold shift? To be this way, to act this way? What you made is all but your own A stroke you’ve grown to hate A trait you want to erase

Hold shift, So when you change, you stay within the rules The boundaries, the systems. Nobody likes their fonts stretched, An image too tall, a stroke too big. Hold Shift.

woo spring 2018

styles

[Yuriy Kyrzov & Griffin Reichl EXHIBITION DESIGN / 2018]

An exhibit examining different street typography styles of writing and tags. Styles looks into tag culture and examines some of the different styles that exist within it. Styles was featured in the 2017 Pop Up Type Museum with a participatory graffiti wall and a zine featureing submitted and fround tags from around Vancouver.

[Esther Martens / digital art / 2017]

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tiger

woo spring 2018

Omnipresence; The Land from Above; I Document the Dismissal and my Organism Thrives; Network, New Language

My mixed-media work originates and develops naturallyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;

from a distance I do not feel any painâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;I am humbled and

experiences, contemplations, and materials act as

joyous as the microcosm within me vibrates with the

starting points from which a serendipitous flow of creation

macrocosm beneath me. This experience of omnipresence

ensues. My work ranges from classical subjects rendered in

has led me to create works that express an internal universe

conventional materials to contemporary topics defined by

which unintentionally but logically bears resemblance to

unusual materials such as discarded plastics and escaped

physical landscapes.

container cargo. I quench the thirst to know exactly who I am and to understand my world by facing and using reality to

I feel a connection and an inseparability between my body and

create poetic visual reactions.

the Earth, both who are suffering.

In the process of creating I have been dealing with physical

Most recently I have begun to bring the world of longshoring

injury and have come to use my art practice as a means to

into my practice as I investigate blurring between what is natural

generate a philosophy regarding healing. When I view the Earth

and artificial within parallel inner and outer worlds. Our planet,

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the land that contains all of which is inside us, is altered and increasingly unnatural. I see similarities between an injured body and the abused planet, between the reaction of both to their traumas, and I find the beauty that materializes from those most despairing situations. Materials from my job, such as potash, sugar, wheat, and pulpâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;mined exports which are assumed to be of natural shape and color but which are often notâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;are transformed into poetic and dynamic expressions suggestive of microscopic visuals of the human body and/or aerial views of the Earth. I metaphorically return these materials to their places of origin in order to unearth hidden or disregarded truths. Though I make reference to human life, there are feelings of absence and unnaturalness in my work that can lead one to consider the future of our world. Although my work reveals the joy that can exist within suffering, it contains the underlying dark reality that our species may not be present in actual landscapes of the future. This planet will likely heal, but perhaps it will no longer include those who inflicted the most suffering, us. Conceptually and compositionally my work is considered. I most often work on wood as it can withstand aggressive acts and can accommodate heavy texture, but I also work on canvas and paper. I love using found materials and I especially enjoy mixing media from the disciplines of drawing, painting, printmaking, and sound and video art.

[Stephanie Talic 2016-2018] / MIXED MEDIA ON PANEL; MIXED MEDIA ON PANEL; MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS; MIXED MEDIA ON PANEL, 1;2;3;4

woo spring 2018

The Chelsea Bell Eady I am rereading the same sentence again; possibly

different world, that we wake from a dream of altruism and ardent

for the hundredth time. It is hard to take

plans to ‘be the change’ to the bleak realization that the loans must

meaning from something so vast in the context of this curtained room, with the noise of strangers close and the permeating smell of rubbing

be paid, the taxes must be filed, and the gas tank must be filled. Perhaps we thought we could change the contract from within, and now find our soft bits digested, with only the metal of irony left. Critical Design Criticism - now there’s a phrase that rolls off the

alcohol: “... the “real” expanded and swallowed

tongue. “Function is a dynamic, immaterial, and social property.”

up whole continents of social imagination

(Malpass, 2011). If this is the case, how might we incorporate

marginalizing as fantasy whatever was left.”

critical design into our commercial practices? What happens if

(Dunne, Anthony, et al, 2013). I am living in the stomach of this impossible whale of a task, an academic interpretation that has become deeply personal. I am afraid that I do not understand, or that by understanding, I am complicit with this narrowing of our collective destinies. If I reject this understanding, can I somehow still leave a foothold for alternate courses? Is something other than this Thatcher-esk, unforgiving, and ultimately, unsupportive world still possible? May 2018 will mark a milestone for myself and many of classmates, as we try to contort our understanding of design into the service of a capitalist necessity. Our student loans spill into lines of credit, and we feel the uncomfortable tightening of the noose. We know that it is a trap, but it is the trap that was designed to capture us specifically, turning us out altered, more competent to engage as creators of billions upon billions of ideas in physical form, but also so deeply inured to ‘the Real’, and so far past any hope for a

our designs are adopted? Will we be successful at making money, but cause more harm than good? Or will we go the way of so many trained designers, and get a job where we don’t have to accept the responsibility for the destruction left in our wake? When bottled water first began to become mainstream, I thought it was ludacris. Who would purchase such a thing, when there is uncontaminated tap water available in the sink? I remember my father laughing at people who bought water, when you could fill your glass for free. Perhaps it was a critical design piece gone wrong. We are taught as communication designers that it is our job to create need for the products and ideas that we are supplying design for. Little sippy food pouches for babies? Of course, so long as the plastic and aluminum packaging is filled with the appropriate organically grown strained beets and sweet potato. Another real estate website? (‘Affordable*’ ‘Luxurious’ ‘You deserve this’ ‘Treat yourself like royalty’ (*if you have an income 57% higher than the median income in Vancouver). I open the tiny bottle of water that came with my lunch and ignore the plastic taste.

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In— Digest —Ible My husband tells me I am making up terms when I try to explain

Works Cited

what I am reading, and that ‘modernist functionalism’ isn’t a real

Malpass, M. (2015). Criticism and function in critical design practice.

thing. I try to find where I read the phrase in the article, to no avail.

Design Issues, 31(2), 59-71. doi:10.1162/desi_a_00322

I suppose it might inform the properties of function, and then I lose

Raby, F. (2014). Beyond radical design. In A. Dunne (Author),

my train of thought. The water in the bottle is unpleasantly warm.

Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming.

The cold water tap of the sink is close by, but there are no cups.

S.l.: MIT Press.

woo spring 2018

[Melina Querel / 2018]

Subversive Training videos

/ EDITED VIDEO STILLS The Identities of the body, oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gender, nationality, culture, race, social class and so on, leads one to navigate and move in the world in a distinct way. From the day we are born, our identities are produced and constructed by the social and cultural structures which surround each of us. Growing up we are encouraged to conform to convention and default behaviors. Through learning and

repetition of expectations others have of their given identities, our movements and the way we present ourselves, is constructed. The bodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s movements and behaviours are then confined to the limitations placed on us. As a result, there is a loss of agency to freely move and present ourselves in an intuitive way that supports improvisational gestures and ways of being.

OUT of mind

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[ANNA LUTH / 2017] / CERAMICS Out of Mind is a ceramic representational sculpture of cardboard boxes. With this piece I was reflecting on time and materials. Ceramic is archival and will last many years with good care, but this quality is challenged by the unconventional form of a cardboard box - an object that signifies transition and momentary use.

woo spring 2018

[Miriam Levine / Acrylic and Ink on Canvas / 2017]

toy ocean

evident passages

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[Christine wei / MIXED MEDIA / 2017-18]

woo spring 2018

c o n f e t— shannon pot

My toes are tapping

in search of new disbelief.

echoes – multiplying in curious farce.

like Christmas carolers

This is incredible.

Lunacy! Novel, young, and new,

bickering lightheartedly,

Once balloon, now an aircraft

but also molding.

singing like characters,

Gushing silly loveliness

smiling nervously.

Contentment spilling from it’s

“You can’t even see me!” Earth shouts.

Breath. Up. Up. Up.

“You are a synthetic bubble with a message

I hold a birthday balloon

of meaning pasted to your skin.

and a doorbell rings

Now picture this:

No eyes to see your own celebration!”

and when the door opens

A birthday balloon

“But what are you?” calls out the balloon

I let go.

swaying in void outer space

Another balloon gone.

grinning at our afternoon

A dog in a space suit floats by

staring earth in it’s face.

shouting, “Who cares!” and it laughs

Up, up, above

Cackling – a kind of infectious laughter

my eager friend floats away

“You are so handsome!” the balloon

that bumps into space junk passing by

pursuing it’s own consciousness,

claims.

And spouts it into glee

exploring some unfilled clouds,

Earth blushes, not so sure.

The whole galaxy erupts

performing confetti storms.

But it is true: our world is a scenic

into a party.

marble.

Boogying and bopping .

Where is my mind?

So charming, despite the violence.

Is this joy?

Sailing into a sky,

So enticing, despite the pollution.

Caused by a laughing dog in space?

sanity battling helium,

Once balloon - now a galactic observer

But why is a dog in space?

acting like a hero armored by mist,

watches earth’s innocent and putrid

Also: dogs do not usually talk,

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—t i Neither do balloons. Or planets.

with a single toe.

Just as Earth thought,

and maybe this is fiction

How abruptly things become

a balloon is only for occasions

but where is the plot?

so morbid.

And occasions pass by.

Death is perched.

Birthdays appear only once

Zoom!

A year.

The tale of a balloon will end soon

Good thing the sorrows of

But what happened to my toes?

an ant’s death are too trivial

And that seems okay.

They have befriended the ants

for my giant eyes.

I’ll be fine now

wearing microscopic clothes

I am too tall to

I think.

sympathize.

Another ant will be born

“Happy New Year!”

Little do I know that

And there will be more holidays.

my pinky toe squeals and

I too am an ant,

two wholesome ant neighbors

I too am a universe

gush into happy tears.

made by dust,

How precious!

and I too can be crushed. An ego wilts.

The ants talk too! It seems as if

once balloon, now

there is no such thing as

another good thing

inauthenticity!

Coming to an end.

Even the ground has smells!

Goodbye friend.

Even the ants have cells! But I have killed an ant

Detroit Arcadia

woo spring 2018

[Zoe Boudreau / Acrylic & Collage / 2017]

godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plan

[Simon Bermeo-Ehmann / Digital Toner Print / 2018 ]

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woo spring 2018

WOO is available at Emily Carr University and Read Bookstore. The views expressed in this publication do not reflect those of Emily Carr University or the editors and publisher. Inquiries can be addressed to the Directors at woo@ecuad.ca © 2018 including all content by the artists, authors and editors. All images are reproduced with the permission of its artists. Woo assumes all work published here is original and the work is the property of the submitting students. All artwork titles and student names are trademarked or copyrighted by their respective owners. Woo gratefully acknowledges the support of students, alumni, faculty, the Emily Carr Students’ Union, and the Administrative Board at Emily Carr University. WEBSITE woopublication.ca email woo@ecuad.ca FACEBOOK woopublication TWITTER @woopublication BLOG woopublication.tumblr.com INSTAGRAM @woopublication @facesofemilycarr Printed with Hemlock Printers. The typefaces used in this publication are Apercu — designed by Colophon Type Foundry PLAAK - designed by Damien Gautier This issue is limited to 350 copies. WOO PUBLICATION 520 E 1st Ave, Vancouver, BC V5T 0H2 2nd Floor

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