Cling considers satellite dishes installed on buildings for their formal similarities to barnacles growing on a rock; as barnacles encrust a rock, satellite dishes encrust a building. Satellite dishes are notable for their purpose as sites of transmission between space satellites, personal electronic devices, and the sublime realm of the digital world; barnacles for their ability to colonize and grow on any available surface. Both are receptacles that reach out, be it to receive food or signals, and both often remain attached to surfaces beyond their lifecycle or use. Installed in close-knit clusters on interior or exterior spaces, the barnacle encrusted satellites create a congregation of receptacles that are removed from their utilitarian purpose. Twyla Exner’s work explores the emotional and material impact of technology on individual consciousness and experience and the various ways in which it infiltrates, permeates, and (re)configures tangible space. Psychologically and as concrete objects, technologies are portable companions and fixed appendages that provide a physical connection between the self and the expanse of digitized information and communication networks. Regardless of our material attachment to these electronic companions, it is not the objects themselves that are irresistibly alluring rather the more immaterial connections they enable. Our electronic accomplices ensure that we are never far from the people or places of our curiosities and longings and our homes, but as digital experiences replace actual ones, how do attitudes towards our physical environments change? Are we removed from the reality of real-world degradation when the recorded history of the Internet provides us with pristine digital files, easily retrieved and reviewed, while access to accurate information is lost in opinion? Digital devices are evidence of the need for actual resources as a prerequisite for participation in digitized environments. Ironically, this same metaphysical space prides itself as a release from materiality. But the bits and bytes of the digital landscape still require atoms and molecules that remain based on a physical system of wires and electrical infrastructure. We are all aware of the steady transposition of once precious, now abandoned technology, unemotionally replaced with advanced, more attractive multi-tasking tools as an inherent process of capitalism. As they are expelled, they become deemed only as problematic waste – the materials that comprise them built to last while unyielding impulse dooms the object to failure. With humanity’s current trend of incorporating biometric devices in everyday life, what becomes of ‘living-electronics’ as they enter this cycle of obsolescence? The works in this exhibition propose hybrids of technological structures and living organisms. They take form as abandoned technologies sprouting with new life, clever artificialities that imitate nature, or biotechnological fixtures of the not-to-distant future. Cling - Exhibition Tour
Briana Palmer gathers images, objects, and ideas from the everyday, exploring the intersections between the perception, experience, and social ideologies of her own cultural practices and upbringing. Traversing the line, with no fixed point unsettles our assumptions of place and belonging. The main component of the installation is the “Iron horse” – a railway system that runs through an installation of ephemera, nostalgic paraphernalia, and cultural artifacts. Large abstract wood block prints are accompanied by ceramic biomorphic components of various sizes. These are punctuated by a multiplicity of miniature narrative assemblages made from collected found objects and handmade elements. Similar narrative elements imbued with nostalgia, societal values, and the detritus of a media saturated culture are echoed in collages across the installation.
The use of the railway has been part of society’s cultural fabric since the Industrial Revolution and for many, it evokes personal memories and experiences. For Palmer, the railway is the sound of home and memories of her grandfather. For some, it is a reminder of their heritage, an industrial feat to be celebrated, a promised freedom or a trip to the hobby shop; for others, it is the symbol of the diabolical underbelly of environmental destruction, genocide, and colonization. The recontextualization and juxtaposition of the objects in Palmer’s work as a narrative strategy points to an instability of meaning and interpretation. As the assembled objects and images are transformed from their original context their history becomes relocated, positioning them between uncertainty and new possibilities of meaning. The exhibition title, Traversing the line, with no fixed point encapsulates various prevailing ideologies by neither denying nor allowing one fixed meaning, rather cultivating an experience of constant flux. While the narratives constructed in these miniatures seem whimsically surreal on first viewing, it is important for them to be regarded within a social and historical framework. The conflicting narratives of collections are revealed through the process of transporting images and objects, both literally and conceptually, from their original context and unsettling their history. Briana Palmer - Exhibition Tour
See a collections management project in action! In the nearly 40 year since its inception, Gallery 2 has developed a regionally significant collection of approximately 300 artworks. While only a fraction of these have been exhibited, that is about to change. In 2021, Gallery 2 is embarking on an extensive collection management project which includes installing rolling art racks and inaugurating a dedicated gallery for Permanent Collection exhibitions. In conjunction with capital funding from the BC Arts Council, we are installing industry standard lateral rolling art racks and flat file drawers to better store and maintain the Gallery 2 Permanent Collection. Over the next few months, we will be temporarily relocating the collection to the Fogg Gallery. This vital collections management work will form a baseline for future Permanent Collection exhibitions. This project will provide an opportunity to showcase different artworks as we move, catalogue, and document the Permanent Collection. The Fogg Gallery will serve as a dynamic and evolving workspace over the next several months. Depending on when you visit Gallery 2, what is on display will change. As we are better able to store and care for the work, we will be increasingly able to shift our focus to interpreting, exhibiting, and eventually adding to the Gallery 2 Permanent Collection.