Of why conceptual art is actually amazing.
Ok, so short post here - I recently attended Tehching Hsieh’s pretty unbelievable artist talk at Concordia, and it was fairly life-altering on so many levels. His work is absolutely of-the-stuff you should check out and his perspective on it, even more so.
But what I wanted to point out here, now, was that during the final public one-year performance that found Tehching and Linda Montano tied together for the entirety of 1983, they documented all of their conversations by taping them. They then presented these tapes to the public, but not as audio recordings, as objects.
Some tapes show remnants of long conversations, others short. He mentioned that presenting them this way was a conceptual manner of being able to open up the possibilities of the audiences imagination, to be able to picture the dialogues and what they could have, might have, should have been saying.
It reminds me of when I first moved to Quebec and didn’t understand all the french that much. It was equal parts frustrating and amazing, because although I felt a little isolated, on the Metro I could make up what everyone was discussing. It somehow seemed that death, love, italian politics, ponies and the poetry of the universe seemed to come up a lot in those conversations at the time. Then slowly, over the years as my ears adjusted and I started dating a francophone, the talking around me morphed into concerns over getting winter tires and how many kids to have and doctors and boring stuff related to filing. everything. away.
All this to say that suddenly I think I’ve realized that conceptual art is actually about allowing for a space with which to play, unbridled imagination architecture and room to breath on top. Why did I think it was so clinical for so long? Conceptual art is only as sterile as my mind chooses to be when encountering it.
And I am far from sterile, in fact like most of us, I am a dirty, dirty farm-yard animal. Yeah. So there.
Filed under art talk, artists | Tags: artist talk, conceptual art, DHC fondation, Tehching Hsieh | Comments (3)The sequel is always better.
Today, tomorrow and Sunday, brace yourself for brisk walks outside, amazing sights and adventures untold. In the spirit of the fall harvest comes Centre Clark’s 2nd annual A.P.O. megafest, where if you dare, you will be treated to over 100 local artists’ works that can be engaged with while the artist themselves are present, in their studios.
Ateliers Portes Ouvertes was one of the most interesting art-happenings of last fall, and this year it’s going to be even more awesome, because sequels, despite what folks usually say, always are. Think of the Brady Bunch II: Marcie Leaves Home, for instance. Best movie of 2001, I still argue.
And sequels are also great because they are reliable in some aspects, and present new situations in others. A.P.O. 2009 still has its heart and soul in the same buildings they were found beating within last year - primarily the 2 huge buildings on de Gaspé, (5455 and 5445) and a smattering of over 20 spots within walking distance from this central hub.
One of the places I am most curious to check out is Atelier Punkt, a mere stone’s throw away from de Gaspé at 5333 Casgrain. They most recently had a group show that included talent such as Alexis Bellevance (whose studio you can visit in room 1009 of the 5455 de Gaspé building) and Patrick Bernatchez, to name 2 of many. I feel like many adventures await behind these doors.
I am also delighted that Steve Topping will be opening up his home for visiting hours, as he usually never lets me come over. His work, a fusion of science, design and sculptural questioning, is perhaps best seen in his home as he truly is an artist that works with functional viability at the core. Go take a look at 80 Rue St Viateur East, Apartment 306A.
Also, if you’re interested at all in taking a look at that hilarious CUIR building on the corner of Van Horne and Parc, go this weekend, as you’ll be able to see Osvaldo Ramirez Castillo’s work alongside that of Karen Trask (6201 Avenue du Parc, 4th floor). Their hallway and corridor alone deserve going to document as they will give you plenty of juice for ideas for this hallowe’en. Bring a friend.
On the way between the de Gaspé buildings and the scary Parc Avenue haunt, drop in at the Red Bird to see what the En Masse @ Art POP crew are cooking up. 135 Rue Van Horne, up the stairs.
Basically, bring mulled wine in a flask and get roving around the neighbourhood you may know oh-so-well or not-at-all. The whole circuit would take a day and a half or so, maybe 2, so set your sites on that goal and rock it out.
A few things to note for this year: There are guided tours that leave from Centre Clark Saturday and Sunday that you need to RSVP to but could be really fun. One is a tour on bike, and the other is just a one-and-a-half hour introduction to all things A.P.O. They leave in the early and mid-afternoon (12 and 13h30)
Reserve by emailing: lara@evoy.com OR apo.visites@gmail.com
Also, don’t forget about the artist talk with Michelle Lacombe and Sheena Hoszko happening at Agence Topo (5455 rue de Gaspé, 1001B) at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
And A.P.O. extends into St Henri this year, so if you live in the southwest, or are even more adventurous than Link, (which you should be, St Henri is awesome) make sure you check this info out.
Finally, I would suggest starting at Centre Clark, at 5455 rue de Gaspé, studio 114. They organized the whole thing and have great brochures with easy-to-read-maps you can get and then sleep next to for the upcoming days. Also, the shows up right now there are worth checking out too, particularly Dominique Sirois’ U Can’t Touch This, which includes lots of gold and a few more owl heads.
You can also download the guide from their website directly in case you’re lazy. Which is what I am going to go do right now.
Filed under artists, local | Tags: A.P.O. 2009, Alexis Bellevance, Centre Clark, Osvaldo Ramirez Castillo, Patrick Bernatchez, St Henri Circuit, Steve Topping | Comments (3)101 reasons to stay online…
For Art POP 2009, Michelle Lacombe and Sheena Hoszko, two dynamic Montréalers with a plethora of interesting relationships with the visual arts (as coordinators, outreach workers, educators, conceptual artists in their own rights and much more) came together to do a visually incredible, conceptually witty, poignant and wise piece for the first time as a collaborative pair.
Entitled 101 Song Scores, this interview with them about their project and process speaks enough for itself that my introduction can hererby be sent straight to the guillotines like so many other overly flowerly representations that the Jacques Louis Davids’ of the past have spout forth.
But! Just to highlight that as part of this years’ Atelier Portes Ouvertes, this fascinating duo will be giving an artist talk at Agence Topo at 2 p.m. this Sunday the 18th. More info to follow.
1. Could you explain a little about this project?
Sheena: 101 Song Scores is a project that stems from the 2009 Art Pop call for submissions, which really got us thinking about our art practices in relation to music. We decided to base our proposal on lyrics, and pull scores/text-based performance directions from songs.
The results of this ended up taking two specific forms: The first was a series of images or “ads” that list the score, song title, year, and length of the song (we did not include the band name to avoid any immediate associations with genres).
Pop Montréal graciously gave us access to the festival design files, so the scores themselves look like Pop content, despite the vague/oblique text. These scores were placed within the Art Pop and Pop Montreal websites/publications, in spaces usually reserved for advertising. We then began working with Agence TOPO, a Montreal-based new media artist-run-centre, and together created an amazing online database of all the 101 Song Scores content from our scrappy (but effective) google docs spreadsheet.
2. How did it come to light?
Michelle: Having followed each others’ practices since university, we had an interest in working together but lacked a context. Art Pop, an initiative we both wanted to submit work to, provided that context. Over yucca fries and beer we brainstormed areas in which music and art overlapped. We wanted to work within the content of the festival but in an indirect or conceptual fashion. Performance scores, text-based instructions developed through experimental music compositions but quickly adopted by visual artists, were selected as the starting point of our project.
Engaging with song lyrics as instructions seemed like a simple proposal to work with, but one that could shift away from the music towards larger issues such as the subjective interpretation of meaning, collective memory, and the role of music in social action/identity. There was also a playful “can-you-guess-that-song” element to the work that we felt would suit the diverse public of the festival.
3. Have you worked collaboratively before? What has the process been like?
Sheena: We’ve worked together on art-related coordination before, but this is our first time collaborating on a work. It went really well, especially for a process-based project that required many fast and on-the-fly decisions - always the ultimate test! I think it solidified the fact that certain elements of our practices - mainly the conceptual framing of our individual performance and intervention work, which often deals with the body, language, and emotion - overlap in ways that make collaboration quite seamless.
4. What are some of the thematics you are touching on the most with 101 song scores?
Michelle: The project is primarily about the subjective way in which we engage with “popular” western music. It is only through experience that we develop a relationship both individually and collectively with music, its lyrics and its meaning. Think of the way music often creates a brief intimate moment of connection to something also simultaneously being proposed to countless other anonymous listeners. The project however also became about how those experiences are mediated by language, action and time.
5. What do you think poses challenges for participants? I mean specifically around issues of engagement. If you could discuss this decision to make the website durational and what it represents for you that would be great.
Sheena: As we don’t have tons of experience in web-based work, we agreed keeping the site simple would be key. One thing we kept going back to was ensuring the site would highlight the, “I want all the info, and I want it all now” culture of the web. Thus the database was setup in a way that would provide access to only one score at a time, and each score would stay visible for the entire duration of the song. At the beginning the song title, artist, album, and year appears, and that info fades out about 10 seconds later. Besides that moment of contextual framing, there is no way to find more info, skip ahead, refresh, or see the database content as a whole.
Thus it sets up a decision making process for the viewer: to choose if they are going to engage, wait for the next score, or move to another site altogether. Some people have let us know that they access the work by keeping 101 Song Scores open in another tab and continuously checking back.
This is an unexpected but really interesting way of negotiating the idea of duration, as the project then exists in relation to all the other content being viewed at that moment. So the project asks if the audience will to give over their time in a way that is generally avoided online, and accept a certain lack of interactivity. I find this poignant if in relation to the minutes and hours spent tirelessly checking email, viewing status updates, searching for torrents online, etc.
6. Is this your first web-based project? What considerations did you have when constructing concepts and aesthetics within this site specific space and time?
Michelle: Yes this is the first web-based project for both of us. Sheena however, has integrated social media sites (myspace, email, etc) into previous projects.
The durational quality of the internet was something we wanted the web page to consider as it was the only space of the numerous sites 101 Song Scores occupied offering the possibility to play with time. Up until that point, the duration of the scores was proposed but never imposed. Because of the possibility of linking action to duration in a direct way, it was decided that the web page would host our database in its entirety (over 170 scores).
To keep with the conceptual concerns of the work, we wanted the database to be accessed only one action at a time, requiring that the visitor wait the time it takes to experience the proposed action before seeing the next one. To highlight this, the design was chosen to make the time-lapse or duration of each score a prominent element of the site. It was also a sort of shout out to the culture of webtime such as “death clocks”.
It was a logistical challenge to create a web space that required waiting, (ie. no refresh possibilities, no scrolling forward, no opening numerous pages to access more scores) as it goes against what the internet strives to be (interactive, immediate, controlled, etc.) We worked with Vincent Archambault who found a way to program a database of actions that are continually counting down, whether there is a public present or not.
Similar to how one might experience a video installation, the viewer comes in at a specific time but has no control (aside from waiting) as to what content they are accessing. If someone else comes in, they see the same thing and are also faced with the choice to wait and see the content or leave. Although this element of the project can be overlooked, it is to us the most successful and exciting part of the work.
7. What are the plans for the website once Pop Montréal is over?
Michelle: The project will be presented as part of Agence Topo’s open studio on Sunday, October 18th at 2 p.m. There we will be giving an artist talk and discussing 101 Song Scores. Vincent, the programmer, will also be present to answer the more technical questions.
Although the web page will remain online forever, a very generous act on the part of Agence Topo, we have yet to decided if we will continue to promote it or further develop the databases’ content. We are giving ourselves the time to get some distance and get back to our respective practices before making any final decisions.
8. What next?
Sheena: I would suggest to anyone reading this to try out creating some song scores of their own, be it by listening to their music collection, via youtube, via the radio. The whole process has really changed how I engage with lyrics, and has setup an ongoing space where I reflect on what actions I focus on, and why.
Law can be sexy. I swear.
So there’s this awesome new law clinic in Montreal that’s still fledgling. It is completely FREE and just for ARTISTS.
Which equals HOT. Free stuff for artists is almost always sexy.
Yeah. The link to their website is right here. It’s called CJAM, which is cool not only because of the much-needed services they’re going to be offering artistic folks surrounding a plethora of issues, but also because CJAM sounds like WKRP in Cincinnati’s spin-off show starring Loni Anderson and a bunch of the extra muppet characters that were never really memorable.
We need more people in the world who are willing to work on sustainability needs such as education and promotion of strong business and law practices for people who macramé giant cats during the time they are not at their job at Quatre Freres to pay for said art-making.
Especially when the Harper governement is rubbing its hands together over talk around majority this and here-goes-the-last-little-dregs-of-funding-for-everything-remotely-creative that.
So take a look around the website and get informed, spread the word and think about volunteering your expertise if you’ve got it. A truly worthy cause. Unlike my plea for editing skills for the long digressions I have gone on in this post. Less sympathy for that dilemna…
Filed under Uncategorized | Tags: CJAM | Comment (0)In secret places the art lies.
In the Notman House, an historically significant and pretty amazing space (architecturally as well as culturally) lots of things don’t happen. It is for the most part, unloved, neglected and unused. It is also for sale, and I am terrified of the people I don’t know yet who might buy it, demolish it, or change its inherent character and energy. For despite all of its loneliness and peeling walls, it is perhaps one of my favourite buildings in Montreal, if not of all time.
Which is why it is so amazing to see art in all of its rooms and secret places during the Pop Montreal Festival for the Art POP segment. I will go into each project here in more detail, but these are some of the fabulous artists and their works that graced the spaces the Notman House offers to us all.
There is something that I used to never understand about site specific work (years ago, when I was much, much younger and things were firmly in place on many levels) as I was a pencil-and-paper kind, and could do so anywhere. So for me the idea of people creating work in relation seemed odd somehow. Now, years and years later, with lots firmly not-in-place, I feel that even paper and pencil respond to their environments and that site specific work is inevitable in some ways, so to be conscious of it and consider its meanings is the least one can do.
The Notman House is a gorgeous example of how the smell + feeling + peeling + stains + stories + damp all change and amplify whatever it is that you do there, and most definitely the art that was growing from its walls the past week.
Here’s to the folks who did the work that carefully and thoughtfully contemplated their processes in relation to the house. That some of what they did will stay for the next folks to feel through the paint.
Below find some amazing photos of 2 of the artworks that inhabited Notman for Pop Montreal this year…more to follow…
Dominique Sirois, Ring My Alarm, Art POP/Notman House 2009
Bridget Moser & Jessica Campbell, Art POP Notman House 2009
Filed under artists, festival, installation, local, video | Tags: art pop, Bridget Moser & Jessica Campbell, Dominique Sirois, the notman house | Comment (0)
