Manning Provincial Park. The title refers to the moment in time between the setting of the sun and the onset of darkness and to the geographical location of this phenomenon, which endlessly traverses the rotating surface of the planet. These references are reiterated in the phantasmagoric light projected onto the fire towers, the pool of water on which they sit and the wall behind them, evoking a transitional condition somewhere between the setting of the sun and the approach of a catastrophic wildfire.
Mythology has its own precision, often developed from knowledge of the land based on careful observation of physical evidence which often anticipates what science will only later show. Landscape change in the post-glacial gulf is recorded as much in these narratives of civilization-destroying floods as through the use of any modern instrument.
Myths of water, change, and loss form part of a collective memory which can serve as a check against exploitative and abusive behaviour, and a remembrance of the consequences of ignoring this vital information.
In this critical moment of social and ecological change, coastal cities will be forced to adapt. This installation imagines the needs for and a longing for what is already lost using a series of water catchments and speculative gardens of native plants threatened by this coming situation. The impermeable and unforgiving architecture of commercial urban space must be re-imagined as a critical piece of environmental infrastructure.
In times of drought the renewed importance of fresh water will transform each rainfall and every surface into an opportunity to gather and sustain precious coastal life of both people and plants. It is within this context that the overall installation becomes a memorial to an era gone by.
Abstract and artificial, these sculptures offer distant and heavily mediated representations of that time; icebergs as digitally preserved cultural artifacts, 3D scans of the last remnants which now require technical augmentation to give form to their remembrance.
Other representations of the regional landscape can be seen in the work of First Nations artists, who meld traditional iconography with a contemporary vision. The Gallery now has one of the most significant international photo-based collections in North America, which includes local artists as well as Andreas Gursky, Thomas Ruff, Cindy Sherman and Thomas Struth among others.
The collection reflects the history and lineage of local production within a global context. To this end the collection incorporates significant international conceptual bodies of work such as those by American artists Dan Graham and Robert Smithson from the s and is the repository for the Lawrence Weiner Archive.
From the N. Thing Co. The Gallery has a long history of exploring and presenting the visual art of Asia.
0コメント