Judith Albert Katrin Freisager Dana Claxton Nik Forrest Aaron Pollard Chantal Molleur Where Are We
J. Albert, 2016
Opening
Saturday, September 22, 2018, at 5pm
In partnership with Swiss organization White Frame
The absence of the question mark is deliberate. Where Are We hints at the place we occupy within the exhibition space. These four artists provide a diversity of approaches to exploring fundamental questions concerning framing, narrative, still and moving pictures. Their practices span performance, figurative and abstract imagery tying the body to landscape. Brought together, their works articulate common preoccupations concerning perception and a desire to both disrupt and expand the popular imaginary by drawing from avant-garde, feminist, and post-colonial vernaculars and strategies.
Judith Albert's (CH) highly focused yet mobile still lives and her use of the vanishing vocabularies inscribe the frame, and in some cases the architecture of a space with the poetics of the body. Her installations link language and gesture with both built environments and the natural world. Through her performances, video installations and photographs, Dana Claxton (CA) has taken on the colossal task of traversing worlds, deploying and undermining the vernaculars of high fashion and popular culture to bridge the gap between colonial and Indigenous cosmologies, to unsettle and resist dominant narratives concerning Indigenous women. Nik Forrest’s (CA) practice also examines resistance, often turning to more abstract strategies, material processes and silences, whereby small gestures take on a significance that might otherwise be overlooked. Rather than framing acts of resistance, Forrest proposes tuning of senses where the viewer is invited to experience the artist's gesture outside the purview of the lens. Katrin Freisager's (CH) photographs conjure mise-en-scène of bodies and staged phenomena. Her imagery traverses the boundary between reality and fiction. In her newer works, created in her studio, she takes us on a journey between experiencing and remembering, past and future, suggestion and after-image.
These four established artists open and disrupt our knowledge of space and time, bringing into question the line between reality and illusion through poetry and resistance.
Further readings:
J. Albert, 2016
Born and raised in and around Sarnen, Central Switzerland, Judith Albert spent two years in Paris before completing her studies in fine arts at the Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst in Zurich. Her practice encompasses numerous modes of expression, including language, artistic interventions, video, photography and performance. Since 2006, she has been creating art in public spaces in close collaboration with Gery Hofer.
Katrin Freisager completed her photography studies at the Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst in Zürich in 1987. Her work has been widely exhibited in group and solo exhibitions in Europe and Overseas. Her photographic practice encompasses figurative imagery and abstraction. Since 2004, Freisager is Lecturer for Photography at the Bachelor and Master levels for the Institute of Art, HGK FHNW Basel.
Dana Claxton is an award-winning artist working in film, video, performance and photography. Her work has been shown and collected internationally. Claxton is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory at the University of British Columbia. Her work investigates indigenous beauty, spirit and the socio/cultural political. Her family reserve is Wood Mountain Lakota First Nations.
Nik Forrest is a visual and media artist, born in Edinburgh and based in Montreal. Their practice includes drawing, installation, and sound. They are best known for their short experimental videos which have shown at festivals, galleries, and museums throughout North America and Europe.
Aaron Pollard is a multidisciplinary artist from Montreal who has been producing and presenting video art and multimedia performances since the early 1990s. His works have been shown in Canada and abroad. He studied at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design and Concordia University, where he completed an MFA. He is the co-founder of 2boys.tv as well as researcher and head of OBORO’s multimedia sector.
Chantal Molleur is a Quebec-born curator and founder of White Frame, a Swiss association established in 2011 in Basel. Prior to moving to Switzerland in 2005, Molleur worked in the Canadian media arts for 20 years. She is also cultural producer and promoter. She directly assists institutions, filmmakers and artists, from the inception to the launch and promotion of their art and projects.
Where Are We, Judith Albert, Dana Claxton, Katrin Freisager and Nik Forrest, curators Aaron Pollard and Chantal Molleur – Photos Romain Guilbault 2018
Where Are We, Judith Albert, Dana Claxton, Katrin Freisager and Nik Forrest, curators Aaron Pollard and Chantal Molleur – Photos Romain Guilbault 2018
Where Are We, Judith Albert, Dana Claxton, Katrin Freisager and Nik Forrest, curators Aaron Pollard and Chantal Molleur – Photos Romain Guilbault 2018
Where Are We, Judith Albert, Dana Claxton, Katrin Freisager and Nik Forrest, curators Aaron Pollard and Chantal Molleur – Photos Romain Guilbault 2018
Where Are We, Judith Albert, Dana Claxton, Katrin Freisager and Nik Forrest, curators Aaron Pollard and Chantal Molleur – Photos Romain Guilbault 2018
Where Are We, Judith Albert, Dana Claxton, Katrin Freisager and Nik Forrest, curators Aaron Pollard and Chantal Molleur – Photos Romain Guilbault 2018
Where Are We, Judith Albert, Dana Claxton, Katrin Freisager and Nik Forrest, curators Aaron Pollard and Chantal Molleur – Photos Romain Guilbault 2018
Where Are We, Judith Albert, Dana Claxton, Katrin Freisager and Nik Forrest, curators Aaron Pollard and Chantal Molleur – Photos Romain Guilbault 2018
Where Are We, Judith Albert, Dana Claxton, Katrin Freisager and Nik Forrest, curators Aaron Pollard and Chantal Molleur – Photos Romain Guilbault 2018
Where Are We, Judith Albert, Dana Claxton, Katrin Freisager and Nik Forrest, curators Aaron Pollard and Chantal Molleur – Photos Romain Guilbault 2018
Where Are We, Judith Albert, Dana Claxton, Katrin Freisager and Nik Forrest, curators Aaron Pollard and Chantal Molleur – Photos Romain Guilbault 2018
Where Are We, Judith Albert, Dana Claxton, Katrin Freisager and Nik Forrest, curators Aaron Pollard and Chantal Molleur – Photos Romain Guilbault 2018
Where Are We, Judith Albert, Dana Claxton, Katrin Freisager and Nik Forrest, curators Aaron Pollard and Chantal Molleur – Photos Romain Guilbault 2018
Where Are We, Judith Albert, Dana Claxton, Katrin Freisager and Nik Forrest, curators Aaron Pollard and Chantal Molleur – Photos Romain Guilbault 2018
Where Are We, Judith Albert, Dana Claxton, Katrin Freisager and Nik Forrest, curators Aaron Pollard and Chantal Molleur – Photos Romain Guilbault 2018
Where Are We, Judith Albert, Dana Claxton, Katrin Freisager and Nik Forrest, curators Aaron Pollard and Chantal Molleur – Photos Romain Guilbault 2018
Where Are We, Judith Albert, Dana Claxton, Katrin Freisager and Nik Forrest, curators Aaron Pollard and Chantal Molleur – Photos Romain Guilbault 2018
Where Are We, Judith Albert, Dana Claxton, Katrin Freisager and Nik Forrest, curators Aaron Pollard and Chantal Molleur – Photos Romain Guilbault 2018
Where Are We, Judith Albert, Dana Claxton, Katrin Freisager and Nik Forrest, curators Aaron Pollard and Chantal Molleur – Photos Romain Guilbault 2018
Where Are We, Judith Albert, Dana Claxton, Katrin Freisager and Nik Forrest, curators Aaron Pollard and Chantal Molleur – Photos Romain Guilbault 2018
Where Are We, Judith Albert, Dana Claxton, Katrin Freisager and Nik Forrest, curators Aaron Pollard and Chantal Molleur – Photos Romain Guilbault 2018
Where Are We, Judith Albert, Dana Claxton, Katrin Freisager and Nik Forrest, curators Aaron Pollard and Chantal Molleur – Photos Romain Guilbault 2018
Where Are We, Judith Albert, Dana Claxton, Katrin Freisager and Nik Forrest, curators Aaron Pollard and Chantal Molleur – Photos Romain Guilbault 2018
