A short while ago, I wrote a lead article for the latest issue of the electronic magazine of the Centre international d’art contemporain de Montréal (CIAC). CIAC was created in 1983 and since 1998, it has been producing the Biennale de Montréal.

In the article I wrote, Creating Spaces: Net Art in the “Real World”, I look back on Canadian net art history, filtered through the lens of projects that have strong links to occurrences and objects in the offline world. As I mention in the article, “These links between online and offline, net art and other forms, has proven to be one of net art’s most consistent strengths in recent history, underpinning the critical complexity of the works and adding to the durability of these works over time.” I discuss the work of Wayne Dunkley, Michelle Teran & Isabelle Jenniches, Willy Le Maitre & Eric Rosenzveig, and Risa Horowitz.

Image: AFK by Michelle Teran & Isabelle Jenniches

 

I’m very pleased to announce that this Friday, November 7th, Schematic: New Media Art from Canada will be opening at [ s p a c e ] media arts in London, UK. I co-curated this exhibition and wrote the curatorial essay.

This show is the second part of a two part exhibition. The first part, Schematic: Eric Raymond was a solo exhibition of Montreal-based artist Eric Raymond at Canada House in Trafalgar Square. This second exhibition is a group show featuring work by Peter Flemming (his work, Canoe, is pictured above), Germaine Koh, Joe Mckay, Nicholas Stedman, and Norman White. This group of artists represents a wide range of practice: emerging and established, from cities across Canada, and treating technology as both a driver of the work and simply another tool.

This exhibition showcases the creativity and technological innovation of artists who also act as inventors and engineers, sometimes intentionally, and sometimes incidentally. The works explore our relationships with technology and also highlight the shifts in direction taking place across international new media practices.

Schematic is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, and the Canadian government (Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade).

The exhibition runs from 8 November – 20 December 2008. For information on how to get to the show and its opening hours, please visit the [ s p a c e ] website. Once the show has opened, I will post my curatorial essay here and post more information about the upcoming catalogue.

 

It’s going to be a genuine pleasure (and build yet another interesting connection between my old home and my new home) to be at Canada House in London, UK this Thursday taking part in the opening of a solo exhibition of work by Eric Raymond, a Montreal-based new media artist. I co-curated this exhibition, that is the first part of Schematic: New Media Art from Canada, a group exhibition opening in London later this year. Here are the details on the show:

Schematic: Eric Raymond
Canada House
Trafalgar Square, Cockspur Street
London SW1Y 5BJ
April 25 – June 6, 2008

A solo show presenting the work of the Montreal-based media artist, featuring his most striking robotic and electronic installations. Curated by Heather Corcoran, Michelle Kasprzak and Gillian McIver. Co-presented by Kinetica Museum. Eric Raymond has been active in the field of electronic arts for over a decade, having exhibited widely in Canada and internationally, including the Absolut LA International Biennial Art Invitational (US) and Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria). Schematic: Eric Raymond is part of Québec 400 celebrations in London, and is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.

Stay tuned for photos of the exhibition and further details on the second part of this exhibition series.

 

If I was in Montreal tomorrow, I would certainly be going to this launch! It’s an event to celebrate the release of xxxboîte, a collection of critical writing and a DVD compilation of works celebrating the last 10 years of Montreal’s own new media and network arts centre for women – Studio XX.

First, the details:
Date: Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Time: 5:00pm – 7:00pm
Location: Gallery Yergeau, 2060 Joly, (one block west of St. Denis, just up from Ontario) Montreal, QC

Kick off the 2007 HTMlles festival with a toast to the community that made it all happen. New texts from one of the four founding mothers, Kim Sawchuk, as well as extraordinary artists, Anna Friz, J.R. Carpenter, Michelle Kasprzak, and Marie-Christine Mathieu, and a DVD compilation that is part humourous, part touching, and all guerilla girl action – a true portrait of Studio XX!

Next, the reminiscing: I knew of XX for a long time, but my first real interaction with it was being invited to participate in one of their excellent Femmes Branchées events in 2003. That particular event was themed “Home“, and I presented my interactive piece Scrub, which explores eroticism and domesticity. Dr Perla Serfaty-Garzon was a perfect foil to my comedic performance (complete with featherduster and rubber gloves) in a housewife persona. Shortly thereafter I moved to Montreal, and became the Studio’s technician for a while, as well as being involved in several projects and participating on the programming committee. I have so many happy memories around the Studio and all the people that make up the XX community, which makes it a real honour to take part in xxxboîte and the 10th anniversary. Bonne fête et félicitations, Studio XX!