In Conversation: Artistic Collaborations with Children – Hannah Jickling, Helen Reed, Vanessa Kwan and Cindy Mochizuki

In Conversation: Artistic Collaborations with Children – Hannah Jickling, Helen Reed, Vanessa Kwan and Cindy Mochizuki

What is the radical potential of artists working with Children? How do we understand agency and authorship in projects involving young people? How might such projects point to broader questions around the ethics of engagement in contemporary art practice, and to new (and often destabilizing) forms of interactions within the gallery and beyond? How might curators or institutions shift their practices to support a wider range of complex, generous, and attentive play, in younger communities and in a wider sense? These are some of the questions that will propel a conversation between artists Cindy Mochizuki (Access Gallery), Hannah Jickling, Helen Reed, and Vanessa Kwan (Other Sights for Artists Projects) on the occasion of their concurrent artistic collaborations with children. We view this informal event as a generative jumping-off point for a robust, longer-term discussion. Children are welcome to the event, of course!

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CINDY MOCHIZUKI creates installations, performance, animation, drawings, and community-engaged projects which consider spaces that embody both the fictional and documentary. Often working with archival sources, memory work and interviews; her practice revisits historical and personal memory. A large body of her work investigates narratives and memories within the archive of familial architecture, including childhood spaces, home videos, photography, and oral histories. Her community-engaged projects include Shako Club (Grunt Gallery, 2015), Fortune House (Koganecho Bazaar, 2014), and Bow Wow and Slow Trades & The Collections Turtle (City of Vancouver Parks Board Strathcona Field House, 2013). Recent exhibitions include: AIR 475, (2014) Yonago, Japan, Fictive Communities Asia, Koganecho Bazaar (2014), On the Subject of Ghosts, Hamilton Artists Inc (2013), Yokai & Other Spirits, Toronto Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (2013), and To|From BC Electric Railway 100 Years, Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art (2012).

HANNA JICKLING experiments with the possibilities of form, participation and meaning-making across disciplines and publics. She frequently collaborates with HELEN REED, whose artistic practice explores her interest in participatory culture, affinity groups and fantasy-based subcultures. VANESSA KWAN is an artist and curator whose current projects include Jickling and Reed's public artwork situated at Queen Alexandra Elementary School (produced by Other Sights).

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In Conversation: Cindy Mochizuki with Hannah Jickling, Helen Reed, and Vanessa Kwan on Artistic Collaborations with Children from Access Gallery on Vimeo.