Column

Writer

Translation

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Publishing

Technology

The article discusses several noteworthy items, including the books _ScanOps_ by Andrew Norman Wilson and _Post-Digital Print— The Mutation of Publishing Since 1894_ by Alessandro Ludovico, as well as the website _ArtStack_, located at theartstack.com co-founded by Ezra Konvitz.

Noteworthy: Translation

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Casey House 1

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Walter Phillips

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NSCAD

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Editorial

For this issue, we chose several of the most compelling unsolicited proposals received over the past few months and allowed an issue theme to emerge from them, rather than commissioning articles on a pre-established topic. The result is a series of articles and artist projects that — in various ways — deal with the translation of forms (images, language, objects and histories), and which sometimes puts them back into circulation in innovative and critical ways. 

For example, in _When Platitudes Become Form_, which is part of an ongoing project by Christopher Kulendran Thomas, the artist purchases artworks from commercial galleries in Sri Lanka, incorporates the pieces into his own compositions and then repositions them in a European contemporary art exhibition context. Profits from the works’ sales are then used to support resistance in the former Tamil occupied territories in the North and East of Sri Lanka. In this case, the artwork is not just simply the material art object but also the enactment and subversion of the economic and cultural systems through which it circulates and accrues meaning and value. 

Also in this issue, Hito Steyerl and Patricia Reed consider the role of objects and images as mediums – and also the notion that we might transform their place within relations of production as part of activist practices. Most interestingly, they draw attention to the fact that being _implicated_ in such relations or systems – not unlike Kulendran Thomas’ project – is also a form of agency, creating what Steyerl describes as a shift from “condemnation or complicity” to “involvement or situational presence.” This gestures towards an important ethical role for artists – which Steyerl compares to that of Jackie Chan – in engaging objects, images, ideas and the systems through which they circulate in ways that are critical and dynamic.

Further exploring the idea of material translation, but this time as a poetic device, Jacquelyn Ross and Tiziana La Melia discuss La Melia’s work incorporating poetry, painting, sculpture and theatre. Translated between different media, words and gestures become abstracted to the point of becoming simply a pattern or a rhythm. Similarly, Kristin Campbell writes about the work of Kristiina Lahde, who transforms discarded newspapers and flyers, business reply envelopes, and other source material into beautiful abstract collages that reference the idea of chance and systems of measurement. In both of these artists’ work, their approaches to translation create new visual forms from other kinds of media or discarded materials. 

This issue also deals with the framing, presentation and discursive translation of the history of feminism within the exhibition _elles@centrepompidou_ at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, which was recently re-mounted at the Seattle Art Museum. Writer Ania Wroblewski looks at how the curators of this exhibition avoided the discourses, debates and demands of feminism, presenting it simply as a show of work by women artists, while also examining initiatives that specifically counter this gesture. And discussing much less mainstream institutions than the Pompidou, Diana Sherlock reports on the conference _Institutions by Artists_, recently held at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, highlighting a number of projects that provide important sites for critical discourse and alternative community-building. Bridging these two articles is an artist project by Toronto’s Feminist Art Gallery (FAG), where the artists present documentation of a wall of nametags, displayed following their collection from gallerygoers asked to write alongside their own names that of a “feminist/queer/politicized artist, poet, rock star, writer, friend, inspiration, mentor, matron or lover.” Through this gesture, the artists explain, the nametag wearers implicate themselves within a broader set of strategies aimed at bringing particular histories and communities into visibility. 

What is at stake in all of these acts of translation, reframing and strategic circulation discussed in this issue, is nothing less than the transformation of objects and processes, how we relate to them and, together, what we are able to accomplish.

Amish Morrell is Assistant Professor at OCAD University, where he teaches Criticism & Curatorial Practice, and Visual and Critical Studies.

Editor

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An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including Christopher Kulendran Thomas, the artist Tiziana La Melia and the work of Hito Steyerl.

Editorial: Translation

Feature

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Language

Feminism

The article focuses on the presence of feminism in contemporary art. The article discusses the work of French filmmaker Virginie Despentes, the work of Jen Kennedy and Liz Linden, who conducted an experiment at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City about feminist language and the introduction to the catalog that accompanied the exhibition _Elles@centrepomidou_ at Centre Pompidou in Paris, France that was written by curator Camille Morineau and museum director Alfred Pacquement.

Le baiser de l'institution: Feminism After Elles

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Artist-run centres

Canadian

Information about programs attended at a convention called Institutions by Artists (IBA) held October 12-14, 2012 sponsored by the Pacific Association of the Artist Run Centers (PAARC), Artist Run Centres and Collectives (ARCA) and the periodical _Fillip_ at Simon Fraser University’s Goldcorp Centre for the Arts in Vancouver, British Columbia on the the future of art and IBA. Program themes included Institutional Time: Facts & Fictions, Intimate Institutions and States and Markets.

Institutions by Artists: Resistance or Retreat?

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Sculpture

Conceptual

Readymade

The article focuses on the art of Canadian conceptual artist Kristiina Lahde. The article discusses her combination of readymade art and lacemaking or textile creation techniques and her use of ephemeral materials such as newspapers as well as systems of order and measurement. The article goes on to discusses Lahde’s participation in the 2011 Montreal Biennale in Montreal, Quebec which had the theme “Elements of Chance.”

Beyond Measure: Systems of Chance in the Art of Kristiina Lahde

Interview

Patricia Reed is an artist and writer based in Berlin. She has exhibited and lectured internationally at venues including Artists Space, Archive Kabinett, The House of World Cultures, Württembergischer Kunstverein and Witte de With (forthcoming). Texts have appeared with Fillip, Sternberg Press, 010 Publishing, Shifter Magazine and Art Papers, amongst others.

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Work

Film

Politics

An interview with artist and writer Hito Steyerl is presented. When asked about the concept of “the middle” in her work, Steyerl discusses her film _The Empty Centre_, the meaning of the concept of “the middle” as a place of consensus and common sense, and the difference between “the middle” and “medium.” She goes on to discuss the state of being implicated and uses Jackie Chan as an example of someone who handles implication appropriately.

Dancing in the Face of Danger

Jacquelyn Ross is a writer based in Toronto.

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Installation

An interview with artist Tiziana La Melia is presented. When asked about the relationship between art and writing, La Melia describes a project she completed at Emily Carr University of Art + Design which combined a cartographic legend drawing and research she had conducted in gardens and parks. She goes on to discuss how her work relates to concrete poetry, her play _The Hands of V&U_ and her exhibition _Neck of Thirsty Flower_ at Exercise in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Rehearsal for a Poem: Tiziana La Melia in Conversation with Jacquelyn Ross

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Chris Lee is a graphic designer and educator based in Buffalo, New York and Toronto. His research explores graphic design’s entanglement with power, standards and legitimacy. Chris is an Assistant Professor at the University at Buffalo SUNY.

Designer

Publisher

Artist Project

Artist

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Gender

This artist project features the Feminist Art Gallery (FAG), which was founded by artists Deirdre Logue and Allyson Mitchell in Toronto, Ontario. Logue and Mitchell discuss the process of “FAGing It Forward,” in which visitors to the FAG leave a nametag with their name and the name of a feminist/queer/politicized individual who they would like to make visible.

FAGing It Forward

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Art movements

Exhibitions

The artist project is drawn from the traveling exhibition _When Platitudes Become Form_ by Christopher Kulendran Thomas which travels to Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler in Berlin, Germany, the Centre for Contemporary Art in Tel Aviv, Israel and Mercer Union in Toronto, Ontario.

From the ongoing work WHEN PLATITUDES BECOME FORM.

Review

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Portrait

Performance

The article reviews the exhibition _Xtravaganza: Staging Leigh Bowery_ at Kunsthalle Wien in Vienna, Austria from October 19, 2012 – February 3, 2013.

XTRAVAGANZA: Staging Leigh Bowery

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Printmaking

Painting

Video

Economy

The article reviews the exhibition _Roman Liška: Nu Balance_ at the Rod Barton Gallery in London, England from September 13 – October 20, 2012.

Roman Liška: Nu Balance

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Cities

The article reviews the exhibition _Sean Alward: A Vertical City Goes Both Ways_ at Access Gallery in Vancouver, British Columbia from October 26 – December 22, 2012.

Sean Alward: A Vertical City Goes Both Ways

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Built environment

Nature

Environment

The article reviews the exhibition _Kika Thorne: The WILDcraft_ at the Art Gallery of Windsor in Windsor, Ontario from October 12, 2012 – January 6, 2013.

Kika Thorne: The WILDcraft

Heather White is a writer, and a psychotherapist-in-training, in Toronto.

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Photography

Memory

The article reviews the exhibition _Archival Dialogues: Reading the Black Star Collection_ at the Ryerson Image Centre in Toronto, Ontario from September 29 – December 16, 2012, curated by Doina Popescu and Peggy Gale.

Archival Dialogues: Reading the Black Star Collection

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The article reviews the exhibition _Vanessa Maltese: Two-fold Tally_ at Erin Stump Projects, Toronto, Ontario from October 4-28, 2012.

Vanessa Maltese: Two-fold Tally

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Social

The article reviews the exhibition _Nicolas Grenier: Proximities_ at Galérie Art Mûr in Montréal, Quebec from November 10 – December 22, 2012.

Nicolas Grenier: Proximities

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Museums

The article reviews the exhibition _Michèle Provost: Rebranding Bytown_ at the Bytown Museum in Ottawa, Ontario from October 24, 2012 – March 31, 2013.

Michèle Provost: Rebranding Bytown

Jane Affleck is a PhD candidate in the Cultural Studies program at Trent University, a part-time instructor at NSCAD University and a freelance writer.

Animals

The article reviews the exhibition _Rick Leong: The Sublimation of Self_ at the Anna Leonowens Gallery in Halifax, Nova Scotia from November 13 – 24, 2012.

Rick Leong: The Sublimation of Self

Craig Francis Power is an artist and writer from St. John’s.

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Body

The article reviews the exhibition _Hazel Meyer: Walls to the Ball_ at Eastern Edge in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador from September 15 – October 27, 2012.

Hazel Meyer: Walls to the Ball

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Pop culture

The article reviews the exhibition _A New Novel by Bjarne Melgaard_ at Luxembourg & Dayan in New York City from November 9, 2012 – January 19, 2013.

A New Novel by Bjarne Melgaard

David Senior is Senior Bibliographer at the Museum of Modern Art Library in New York.

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Multiples

Artists Books

The article reviews the book _One for Me and One to Share: Artists’ Multiples and Editions_ edited by Dave Dyment and Gregory Elgstrand.

One for Me and One to Share: Artists' Multiples and Editions, Edited by Dave Dyment and Gregory Elgstrand

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The article reviews the book _Open! Key Texts, 2004-2012: Art, Culture and the Public Domain_ edited by Jorinde Seijdel and Liesbeth Melis.

Open! Key Texts, 2004-2012: Art, Culture and the Public Domain, Edited by Jorinde Seijdel and Liesbeth Melis

Relational art

Participation

The article reviews the book _Disturbances_ by Critical Art Ensemble.

Disturbances, by Critical Art Ensemble

Tess Edmonson is a writer and editor based in Toronto. She is the recipient of a 2019 Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant.

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Cultural Studies

The article reviews the book _Summer of Hate_ by Chris Kraus.

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Issue 117