Image
Sat 13 Oct 2018 1–3:30PM
Caitlin Chaisson (Far Afield), Lexie Owen, and Leah Weinstein, moderated by Joni Low
The Corner Store discussion and events series is a critical component of this project through which community members at-large can come together to discuss pertinent questions of social practice and community engagement in contemporary art, as well as urgent and specific local issues of food commodity and production, gentrification, and the erosion of community under conditions of financial precarity. The three discussion sessions in the series are led by artists, curators, and cultural workers knowledgeable to the respective topics being addressed, and are punctuated by special events such as Andrea Creamer’s Anti-Fascist Karaoke, and Lexie Owen’s walking tour of the Burrardview/Hastings Sunrise neighbourhood. More about the Corner Store project.
In this second session, our speakers examine the reciprocal relationship between art institutions/entities and local communities; and how nomadic, travelling or institutional frameworks can provide alternative forms of public engagement within contemporary art practice.
IMAGE: Courtesy of Caitlin Chaisson
PARTICIPANT BIOS:
CAITLIN CHAISSON is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, and curator based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Her research-based practices intersect around questions pertaining to the body, the environment, and social systems. She is the founder of Far Afield, an artist-led initiative that supports rural and regionally-connected artistic and curatorial practices. Far Afield is a multifaceted artist-led initiative committed to experimental research, publications, exhibitions, community engagement, and emergent practices. Through temporary and long-term projects, Far Afield aims to support regionally-connected artistic and curatorial practices.
LEAH WEINSTEIN is a Vancouver-based artist whose practice investigates connections between material culture and the social ideals of a larger collective. Using everyday objects and materials to create sculpture, textiles and performance, Weinstein examines relationships between individuals and collectives, subjects and objects, action and display. Her work has been supported by the BC Arts Council (2016); Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation (2015-16); the Banff Centre, Banff AB (2015); Touchstones Nelson Museum of Art and History, Nelson BC (2015-16); Charles H Scott Gallery, Vancouver (2014); and City of Richmond Public Art Commissions (2013). Her professional experience includes designing costumes for contemporary theatre and dance companies, and she completed a Masters in Applied Arts (Visual Art) from Emily Carr University of Art + Design in 2014.
JONI LOW is a writer and independent curator committed to interdisciplinary and intercultural conversations. Recent curatorial projects include What Are Our Supports?, a series of artists’ projects in public space (2018: Or Gallery and Richmond Art Gallery), Hank Bull: Connexion (2015–2017: Canadian tour), and the symposium Underground in the Aether (2017: VIVO Media Arts Centre). As the 2017 Or Gallery curator-in-residence she organized the exhibitions Afterlives: Germaine Koh and Aron Louis Cohen, Charles Campbell’s Actor Boy: Travels in Birdsong (Flotilla Atlantic), and Chloë Lum & Yannick Desranleau’s performance 5 Tableaux (It Bounces Back). Her essays appear in exhibition catalogues and publications including Canadian Art, C Magazine, The Capilano Review, Fillip, Momus, and Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art. She is a producing member of Doryphore Independent Curators Society. www.doryphore.ca