Top 10 Modern and Contemporary Art Exhibitions Worth Visiting in Fall/Winter 2015

Each year in January and August, ahead of the new academic semester, I take time out to browse the web and check back on bookmarks from art journals, critic's blogs, and other social media feeds to research upcoming exhibitions at some of the leading modern and contemporary art museums around the world. I love dreaming up fantasy itineraries that have me traveling on an open airline ticket and visiting these shows (in fact, I would be very happy to be the Anthony Bourdain of the art world!). Back in January, I wrote about my selections for spring and summer as I have in years past on my blog, and I was fortunate to visit a number of these exhibitions as part of the New York/Venice Biennale field school back in June. Alas, I will be sticking much closer to home for fall and winter, but I haven’t given up the dream planning. And so I present to you, in no particular order, a list of 10 exhibitions worth visiting for fall and winter 2015. I hope some of you will be able to check out any number of these shows if your travels find you at the right place at the right time (and if you do, please report back and let me know what you thought)!

Transmissions: Art in Eastern Europe and Latin America, 1960-1980

Museum of Modern Art, New York : September 5-January 3, 2016

My dissertation work focused very heavily on the emergence of modernism and the avant-garde in Budapest and Vienna in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and it is for this reason I am very intrigued by MoMA’s exploration of the comparisons between the art movements of Eastern Europe and that of Latin America in the latter part of the century. The time frame of 1960-80 is set within a loaded historical context—the challenge of artists and critics from these regions of the world to Western art historical paradigms, together with ways of thinking of international exchange, experimentation, and institutional critique was profound, and remains for the most part misunderstood by many North American scholars. I especially look forward to seeing the catalogue that emerges from this exhibition, and hope that alternative accounts of this period of art history are made better known.

1550 Chairs Stacked Between Two City Buildings is an installation by Doris Salcedo at the 2002 Istanbul Biennial. Her projects are both thought-provoking and visually striking.

Doris Salcedo

Guggenheim Museum, New York: June 26-October 12

I recall being awestruck when Columbian artist Doris Salcedo created the temporary 2007 installation Shibboleth in the floor of the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern museum in London. The dramatic piece took the form of a 548 foot long crack or “scar” in the floor—an artwork she created to symbolically address a long legacy of racism and the fractures in modernity itself, especially with respect to truths about the dark side of colonialism and the excluded underclasses of the world.  It is wonderful that she is being given a much-deserved retrospective at the Guggenheim. I cannot wait to see how her sculptural work and projects are installed in that most iconic space.

The EY Exhibition: The World Goes Pop

Tate Modern, London: September 17-January 2016

Pop art began as a mid-twentieth century art movement in the U.K. and not in the U.S.A. as many people mistakenly believe. Blame Andy Warhol for this historical oversight (perception is everything as he would have us believe), but trust the Tate Modern to set the record straight with this very bold and groundbreaking exhibition looking not only at the British roots of pop, but more importantly, the global story of pop art. As the Tate website states: “The exhibition will reveal how pop was never just a celebration of western consumer culture, but was often a subversive international language of protest – a language that is more relevant today than ever.” The show will also be coinciding with a number of high profile pop art themed exhibitions set to open around the world in 2017.

The poster for the Tate Modern's pop art show using Japanese artist Ushio Shinohara's Doll Festival from 1966 demonstrates the global range for this art movement usually associated with the West. 

Frank Gehry

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles: September 13-March 20, 2016

I have been wearing different kinds of Frank Gehry torque rings on my right hand for many many years. When people comment and ask about the jewelry, it allows me a moment to share my love of architecture, but also to share in my admiration for the experimental and organic architectural style of architect Frank Gehry. Both loved and hated in the architectural world, Gehry’s buildings have largely defied easy categorization and have consistently broken the rules. My kind of artist! Gehry will be featured in a much-anticipated retrospective in his home town of Los Angeles this fall with the focus on two main themes in his practice—urbanism and digital design.

Splendour and Misery: Pictures of Prostitution in France

Orsay Museum, Paris: September 22-January 17, 2016

Each year when I teach about the French Impressionists, I get to the point in the syllabus when I discuss the role of the prostitute in both the representation and symbolic associations with class/social mobility in the subversive works of the Impressionists. Manet’s Olympia has become the iconic painting associated with this chapter of art history, and the painting, more than just a portrait of one prostitute, relates to a larger world of emerging modernity and the shifting social contexts of mid to late nineteenth century urban Paris. The Orsay Museum in Paris will be launching the first major show ever to take up the subject of prostitution, and the exhibition promises to include both documentary materials and cover the broader history of the prostitute as subject, from traditional salon painting to the art of the modern movements.

Manet's Olympia (1863) is one of the most iconic representations of a prostitute in art history. The new Orsay exhibition promises a full exploration of this subject in French art. 

to expose, to show, to demonstrate, to inform, to offer

Museum of Modern Art, Vienna: October 10-January 24

Some of my favourite modern art museums are in Vienna. They never fail to excite with their programming, and they have housed many of my favourite shows over the years. This fall MUMOK will tackle a relatively recent but very rich period in contemporary art history—the global art activities of the 1990’s. This was a time of growing identity politics, a turn to questions of gender and class, and the rise of institutional critique together with the broader question of how and why art should be exhibited to audiences. It will be interesting to see how this period of art history – a period that I studied as truly contemporary and “of its moment” in the early to mid 2000’s—is captured in a retrospective way.

Allan Kaprow: Fluids, 1967/2015

National Gallery of Berlin, Berlin: September 19-until further notice

Allan Kaprow makes me happy. It is that simple. And his approach to art production—one that is rooted in making everyday events into art and involving audiences in the creative process—is one that literally transformed art practices of many key art figures from the 1960’s onwards. Kaprow passed away in 2006, and since then a number of art institutions have been recreating his famous Happenings in one way or another. This fall, the city of Berlin will play host to the reenactment of Kaprow’s Fluids (1967)— a project where volunteers construct blocks of ice in public spaces around the city in an effort to challenge traditional understandings of public art. Berlin artists and architects responded earlier this year to a call where they were asked to respond critically to Kaprow’s original project. The invited artists will be setting up their works throughout the city this fall and I look forward to seeing what creativity and responses they will bring.

Several art institutions (such as LACMA above) have re-performed Allan Kaprow's happening works since his death in 2006. It is Berlin's turn this fall!

Camera Atomica

Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto: July 8-November 15

One of my most important academic mentors is Dr. John O’Brian, Professor of Art History at the University of British Columbia, with research interests in Canadian art, modern and contemporary art, modernism, and the photograph. This fall his years of research and writing on the role of photographs in shaping perceptions of nuclear weapons, war, and energy, will be given full dimension in a guest-curated exhibition on the same theme at the Art Gallery of Ontario. The exhibition, which opened in July, shows photographs of all kinds (vintage, fine art, scientific, touristic, advertisements, etc…) and is organized thematically in an effort to open up conversations about how the photograph has played a multi-faceted role in our understanding of what “nuclear” means. A rich catalogue accompanies the exhibition and is sure to become a fantastic resource for historians of all kinds.

Rebel, Rebel

Seattle Art Museum, Seattle: August 29-December 13

The poster for this exhibition caught my eye first—who wouldn’t look twice at a woman astronaut with American flags for breasts and genitals (and a penis poking through her pants!) and wonder, what is this exhibition all about? Luckily for me, the show is in Seattle, just a short drive from here in Vancouver, and the show is all about artists’ reactions to female stereotypes. The works are mostly part of a recently donated collection of art from a couple who were especially interested in gender issues. In this way, this exhibition will also be interesting for those who want to see how an art collection can be put together thematically. Worth the drive in my mind to check this one out!

The eye catching Woman Landing on Man in the Moon by Ann Leda Shapiro (1971) is evocative and part of the exhibition at the Seattle Art Gallery exploring rebuttals to female stereotypes.

Murakami Takashi: The 500 Arhats

Mori Art Museum, Tokyo: October 31-March 6, 2016

Yes, I know. Takashi Murakami is probably up there with Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst as among the most overexposed artists of recent years. But who could resist the chance to see an epic painting that is 100 meters long in the artist’s home country? In this much-anticipated exhibition set to take place this fall in Tokyo, the creator of the “superflat” approach to art making will exhibit his famous 500 Arhats painting cycle for the first time since its first showing in Qatar in 2012. The painting, as described by artnet.com is the artist’s masterpiece to date, and Arhat “refers to a tenet of Buddhism that has the goal of defeating greed, anger and delusion in order to achieve transcendence from earthly limitations.” I have always wanted to visit Tokyo, and I think this would be a great reason to get there this fall, no?

The 14th Istanbul Biennial

Multiple Venues, Istanbul: September 5-November 1

I wanted to add here a quick bonus selection of not just a single exhibition, but an entire biennial. After visiting the Venice Biennale several times in the past decade, I would love a chance to get to Turkey and see the global collection of art voices at the Istanbul Biennial. The curator this year—Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev— is especially intriguing to me since I read her book on the arte povera movement, a movement interested in subverting the commercialization of art, back in grad school. With so much tension in and around the Middle East and Turkey today, I am curious to see how this event will be organized and received both locally and globally. 

A much anticipated event for Murakami to bring this epic painting back to his home country.

Courses for Fall 2015: Topics in Urban, Street & Graffiti Art, Modern Art, and Film Studies

As registration for Fall 2015 academic courses begins soon, I wanted to provide more information about courses I will begin teaching in September, 2015. Please see detailed descriptions below. If you have any specific questions that are not answered here or in the links I provide you to the registration for the courses, you can contact me directly. I look forward to another rich and engaging semester with both new and familiar faces. **NOTE: New pre-requisites for ARTH 3100 and ARTH 2122 allow for more flexibility in registration for non-Fine Arts students**

---

ARTH 3100: Urban, Street, and Graffiti Art

Kwantlen Polytechnic University (Tuesdays 4:00-6:50pm, Surrey Campus Fir 3414). Prerequisites: 6 Credits of ARTH or 18 credits of 1100-level courses or higher, and ENGL 1100.

Graffiti and street art from around the world will be part of the focus in this special topics course. Come learn more about one of the most visible and highly circulated art forms in the world today.

The recent NYC/Venice Field school had many opportunities to see graffiti and street art around New York-- a city that will play a big role in this course.

This course offers a critical and historical examination of the origins and evolution of graffiti and street art in the urban context. Beginning first with an overview of the subculture of graffiti as it emerged on the streets of Philadelphia and New York over forty years ago, the course will track the rise of graffiti and street art from its first appearance on North American city streets through to its often controversial foray into the contemporary art scene and into its present status as among the most circulated and highly visible forms of public art both on the Internet and in cities around the world. As such, the course will consider the broader role that graffiti and street art have played in the cultural landscape and consciousness of the city, dating back through earlier episodes in history when slogans and political/social commentary written illicitly on public walls emerged as the recognized precursor to modern forms of graffiti and street art.

 Themes and issues covered in this course include the form and content of signature graffiti writing (tags, throwies, pieces) and street art media and techniques (murals, stencils, stickers, mosaic tiling, yarn bombing, street sculptures and installations); the emergence of key individuals, crews, and rivalries on local and global scenes; the influence of hip-hop and music cultures on graffiti and street art; identity politics and the contest over real and virtual public space; the role and influence of celebrity graffiti and street artists on the scene (i.e. Shepard Fairey, Banksy, David Choe, Retna, Os Gemeos, JR, Lady Pink, and Miss Van), and the influence of technological, digital, computerized, and networked information technologies in the creation, distribution, and circulation of graffiti and street art today.

ARTH 2122: Modern Art and Visual Culture, 1890-1945

Kwantlen Polytechnic University (Mondays 10:00-12:50pm, Surrey Campus Fir 128). Prerequisites: 6 credits of any 1100-level or higher courses.

Pablo Picasso's iconic Les Demoiselles D'avignon (1907) signalled a radical shift in modern art-- come learn in ARTH 2122 about how and why paintings like this matter to the way we think about art today, and how this work came to be considered one of the most important art works ever made in the twentieth century.

This course offers a survey of changing ideas in the visual arts of Europe and North America during the first half of the twentieth century with special emphasis given to the movements of the historical avant-garde. Considering these major movements in the context of the social, economic and political upheavals of this complex and multi-faceted time period, key to the course will be the broader question of modernity itself and its transformation through a time of radical technological, social and political change. Topics such as the social and representative meanings of abstraction, the internationalization of art production, the development of Modernist theory, and the impact of new technologies on the production and dissemination of art objects will be explored. And while lectures will be organized around the familiar “isms” that have historically constructed the canon of modernism, careful consideration will be given to the fabricated nature of these designations, reading instances of art practice for aesthetic significance together with connections and responses to specific historical and social developments. Traditional media such as painting, drawing and sculpture will be examined alongside the newer media of photography, assemblage, film and collage.

ARTH 1130: Introduction to Film Studies

Kwantlen Polytechnic University **TWO SECTIONS OFFERED** Mondays 7:00-9:50pm, Surrey Campus Fir 128; and Fridays 1:00-4:50pm, Surrey Campus Fir 128). No Prerequisites.

What makes a motion picture iconic and worthy of critical consideration? Come learn the answer to this question in ARTH 1130, an introductory course to one of the most beloved visual art forms on the planet-- movies! Full feature film screenings and discussion are part of each class.

Students will study the history and development of world cinema, and the comprehension and theory of film as a visual language and art-making practice from its inception in the late nineteenth century to the present. The goal of the course is to introduce students to the critical interpretation of the cinema and the various vocabularies and methods with which one can explore the aesthetic function, together with the social, political, and technological contexts and developments, of moving pictures. The weekly format of this course (as a 4 hour block) will normally entail a 1 hour lecture and the screening of a full-length film followed by a group discussion period. Each film will thus serve as a starting point and gateway for discussion about the course’s weekly theme.

FPA 167: Visual Art & Culture I

Simon Fraser University (Thursdays 6:30-9:20pm, Vancouver Harbour Centre Campus 1700). No Prerequisites.

Eduard Manet, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (1882)-- why doesn't this painting add up, and why is this important to the artists part of the Impressionist movement? Come learn more in FPA 167.

This course provides an introduction to the complex ways in which social and political change, and ideologies of gender, class, race and ethnicity, worked to shape aspects of nineteenth century visual culture in Europe and North America. Emphasis will be placed on the roles played by industrialization, political revolution, rapid urban growth, global commerce, and the new media technologies of an expanding consumer culture in defining a wide range of visual culture. Throughout the term we will also examine different representations and debates around the idea of modernity and the “modern.” Since the time period under investigation has often been called “The First Modern Century”, we will pay particular attention to shifting ideas related to labour and leisure, urban social space and spectacle, and issues bearing on Euro-American expansion of empires in relation to indigenous populations, throughout the nineteenth  century to turn of the twentieth century up to WWI.

Location | Venice, Italy: Reflections From the Field Part 2

Sarah Thornton's book was one of the books that was assigned for reading in the pre-departure classes. Her final chapter on the Venice Biennale is eye-opening and highly recommended. 

To understand the Venice Biennale, it is important to consider both its very long and often politically animated history, but also the way the event has become spatially charged, creating literal insiders and outsiders to the main venues in Venice. The Biennale has also been subject in recent years to increasing scrutiny for the exhibition’s influence on the world’s very hot contemporary art market. These were themes that we explored in the pre-departure field school classes as part of the larger understanding of the connections between New York—as the center of the art world—and the role of art fairs, biennales, and global exhibitions in determining how audiences come to “value” art.  (Two resources that were especially helpful for students to begin this exploration and I recommend here are: 1) the final chapter on the Venice Biennale in Sarah Thornton’s Seven Days in the Art World; and 2) the Vice produced documentary on the Venice Biennale from 2013, pasted below).

For the 2015 Venice Biennale, the appointment of Okwui Enwezor as curator signaled an important and potentially critical turn for the 120-year old institution. Enwezor, a figure known in the art world as both an ardent critic of the art market and an art theorist steeped in research concerning global modernism and formations of postcolonial modernity, proved to be a bold choice for an event that many have criticized in recent years for being overly commercial and launching global art trends that eventually trickle down to the auction houses.  At the core of Enwezor’s curatorial vision for the 2015 event was the desire to interrogate both the pleasure of viewing and fetishization of the object so key to many individual’s understanding, appreciation, and valuation of art. His theme, “All the World’s Futures” is devoted in Enwezor’s own words to “a fresh appraisal of the relationship of art and artists to the current state of things.” One part of this appraisal is tackling head on the often taboo relationship between art and money. To this end, the central and featured art performance at the Biennale this year is Capital: A Live Reading which entails a daily live reading of the complete four volumes of Karl Marx’s Das Kapital. Of the project, Enwezor says in an interview with The Guardian: “I wanted to do something that has contemporary relevance and speaks to the situation we are in. And so I thought of Das Kapital, a book that nobody has read and yet everyone hates or quotes from.” 

The compact catalogue for the 2015 Venice Biennale with this year's theme "All the World's Futures" logo on the cover.

Now for those who recall Enwezor’s position as the first non-European art director of the equally prestigious Documenta 11 art exhibition a decade and a half earlier (from 1998-2002), the curatorial vision of the 2015 Venice Biennale follows closely in both approach and execution—an ideas-driven, decentered exhibition, interested in opening up conversations about “shadow histories” that redress past exclusions from the most important art event in the world. To be sure, many critics have been struck by how entire pavilions in the 2015 Biennale are empty of “art objects” and have been made into environments or overtaken by elaborate installations and platforms for performance—art forms that traditionally resist easy commodification and consumption.  For some critics, this is refreshing and potentially transgressive—see for example the review by New York Times art critic Roberta Smith, while for others it is a “joyless” failure—see for example the review by artnet’s Benjamin Genoccchio .

When visiting the Biennale, this curatorial vision was immediately apparent in the minimal, stripped down, and emptied pavilions. I found the experience to be incredibly powerful and thought that the spaces were somehow less burdened and more focused in both vision and message without all the accumulation of things. Having in past visits to the Biennale been overwhelmed with both the information and number of art objects placed in each space, this approach was incredibly radical. This was especially the case at the Giardini venue where nearly every national pavilion presented viewers with open space, sensory immersion, and interactivity. This served to activate art as an "in process” experience versus art as an experience of passive consumption.

Hungary’s Sustainable Identities installation by Szilard Cseke invites audiences to explores multiple and dislocated identities.

Another look at Hungary's pavilion

Germany’s Fabrik and their creation of a kind of gaming platform that audience’s get to passively consume as “activists” is both a statement and critique of today’s political landscape.

Japan’s Chiharu Shiota’s The Key in the Hand uses the key as a launching off point to explore public and private memory.

USA’s rich Joan Jonas retrospective has audiences come face to face with the fragility of nature.

Switzerland’s unique and full sensory Our Product is a project that artist Pamela Rosenkranz created to approximate the skin colour and smell of the average European (it was smelly!), and to transform the pavilion into a living body. 

Korea’s artist dup Moon Kyungwon and Jeon Joonho’s digital installation explores new and supernatural visions of the artist’s future role in society.

Norway's pavilion

France's pavilion

Austria's pavilion

Some highlights (assembled in the photo gallery of pictures I took at the Biennale) include Japan’s Chiharu Shiota’s The Key in the Hand, which uses the lost key as a launching off point to explore public and private memory; Korea’s artist dup Moon Kyungwon and Jeon Joonho’s digital installation to explore new and supernatural visions of the artist’s future role in society; Germany’s Fabrik  and their creation of a kind of gaming platform that audiences get to passively (but with full awareness) consume as “activists” in both a statement and critique of today’s political landscape; Hungary’s Sustainable Identities installation by Szilard Cseke which invites audiences to explore multiple and dislocated identities; the USA’s rich Joan Jonas retrospective that has audiences come face to face with the fragility of nature; and Switzerland’s unique and full sensory Our Product, a project that artist Pamela Rosenkranz created to approximate the skin colour and smell of the average European to transform the pavilion into a living body. Other notable pavilions operating in this vein include the Austria, Serbia, Israel, France and Norway exhibitions. One after the other, these places engaged audiences with radically new and different spatial propositions.  All in all, a successful approach in my estimation. And while many will likely still ask "where is the art" when visiting this year's Biennale, others will walk away broadening their definition of what art can consist of while expanding the possibilities for the artist's role in contemporary society. 

Inside the Serbian pavilion, the installation United Dead Nations by Ivan Grubanov explores the idea of "nation" by looking at the flags and banners of nations that no longer exist such as Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The colours all appear to merge and suggest an unexpected kind of unity.

Location | Venice, Italy: Reflections From the Field Part 1

I captured this image from our vaporetto on the day of our arrival to Venice.

Now that you have met the field school participants through their individual blog posts, I will reflect on some of the time we spent on the Venice leg of our journey after the initial two weeks in New York. The original intention of this field school was to duplicate the structure of the Paris/Documenta 2012 trip, where we had first spent two weeks in Paris (studying assigned artists and the themes of urban transformation, modernity, and the rise of modern art in the French capital) followed by a visit to one of the most significant contemporary art exhibitions in the world-- Documenta-- held every five years in Kassel, Germany. 

Combining a trip with two very distinct art centers and art histories allows students to study both the similarities/overlaps in the themes of art production and circulation in the two locales, along with considering how a global art scene is created through information exchange, curatorial influence, and the search for a greater vision for the role and influence of today’s art world.  The Biennale—the world’s most influential art exhibition held every two years in Venice—was the focus of our visit to Italy. As part of the pre-trip courses at KPU, each of the students had been assigned a national pavilion (loosely related in some way to their assigned New York artist and art movement) to study and tour while on the ground in Venice.

The view from our hotel from Jessica, Michelle, and Olivia's room.

Jessica, Michelle, and Olivia settle into their new temporary home at our Venetian hotel.

Arriving in Venice from New York was certainly a bit of culture shock for many of the students on the trip. For beginners, we were welcomed with a heat wave and the daunting task of getting to our Venetian hotel from the airport via a bus and then a vaporetto (water taxi) and finally a walk though the labyrinth of small medieval streets to arrive at our final destination. Air conditioning is both a luxury and a rare find in Venetian hotels, and so our group was forced to acclimatize quickly (with the help of fans, we eventually found some comfort). Once settled, we were then able to get our bearings and plot out our visit to the Biennale over the remaining week.

The Giardini is laid out with thirty national pavilions. Each student had been assigned one national pavilion and accompanying artist to study and then visit while in Venice. Note Canada's location at the south-east corner of the gardens, wedged between Great Britain and Germany.

Our first task was to tackle the Giardini—the historic and traditional exhibition venue of the Venice Biennale. First laid out by Napoleon Bonaparte during the French occupation of the Republic of Venice in 1807, the garden was to become an open public and cultural space for the enjoyment of locals.  After Napoleon departed and the unification of Italy’s larger cities took place in the mid to late 19th century, Venice used the Giardini as a space of national exhibition, attempting to forge a modern identity for the ancient city. Importantly, these early exhibitions were concerned strictly with art, and so the founding of the International Exhibition of Art in 1895 (eventually to become what we know today as the Venice Biennale) was the world's first modern, open, and international art exhibition, inviting tourists to come and see the best of the world’s contemporary art. The garden today contains thirty permanent national pavilions, while the remaining nations represented at the Biennale are housed at the second venue of the Biennale—the Aresenale, a complex of former armories and ship yards near the Giardini—or in temporary spaces, leased to countries and artist groups seeking access to Biennale audiences, scattered throughout the city. The peculiar tension between old and new art  worlds is therefore played out throughout Venice for the duration of the Biennale, as the temporary contemporary art exhibitions of the event compete with the medieval and Renaissance art that has shaped and created a particular vision of the city throughout history.  Read more about the history of the Venice Biennale here.

The list of national pavilions and other sites of interest at the 2015 Giardini venue at the Venice Biennale.

Visiting all of the Biennale is an almost impossible task, but we were determined to give students ample time and space to explore the exhibition at their own pace and with their own particular interests in mind. Outside their own assigned pavilions, we asked students to see the main pavilions at the Giardini and Arsenale, and explore the off-site venues at their leisure, keeping in mind this year’s Biennale theme—"All the World’s Futures" (more on that in the next blog post). But one pavilion we all wanted to visit together was the Canadian pavilion, located in a somewhat isolated spot between the looming Great Britain and Germany pavilions (as in all things, location is a sign of status at the Giardini).

Having visited the Biennale in past years (and blogged most recently on the 2011 Biennale when the chosen artist to represent Canada was Vancouver artist Steven Shearer) I was especially interested to see how the pavilion had been transformed. A great deal of buzz had already been generated back home with the selection of Quebec City’s artist-collective BGL (made up of artists Jasmin Bilodeau, Sébastien Giguère and Nicolas Laverdière) and their Canadassimo concept for the space. On the National Gallery of Canada’s official website for the Canadian pavilion, the following statement by guest curator Marie Fraser helps describe the idea:

 “Canadassimo offers a strange path through the Canada Pavilion, which has been completely transformed. Beneath the scaffolding that partially obscures the building’s façade – creating the impression that the exhibition is still under construction – is the entrance to adépanneur, one of the small neighbourhood convenience stores found across Quebec that sell tinned goods and other household essentials. Beyond this typically chaotic and shabby shop is a loft-like living space: though far more organized, this area is evidently the preserve of a recycling enthusiast. Next comes what BGL has dubbed “the studio,” a place crowded with countless objects of all kinds, including stacks of tin cans covered with dribbles of paint. Having made their way through this bizarre living/working domain, spectators can relax for a while on a terrace that offers a marvellous view over the Giardini.”

We arrived at the pavilion and were immediately struck with how very “under construction” the place felt. Entering the pavilion, many of us however felt immediately at home when we explored the Canadian convenience store installation with all of the recognizeable Canadian name brands we had grown up with. From the small town convenience store through into the spaces of the makeshift studio, we were met with hundreds of cans of paint and the interior spaces of a living workshop. It is almost impossible to take in the space in its entirety, but it certainly represented some sense of the creative process that is often lost on audiences when visiting an art exhibition. Upstairs to the tree-house, we were delighted to find both a great view of the Giardini, but also the feel of the nature and environment many of us associate with home (wilderness and technology-- very Canadian indeed!).  Invited to drop coins into a large gaming contraption built at the apex of the pavilion, we were a bit disappointed that they did not accept Canadian pennies (“they jam the system” one attendant told us without a hint of irony), but we still had a moment of play and got to experience some of the whimsy that is at the heart of BGL’s installation. Afterwards we all went in groups or individually to begin our exploration. More reflections on the curatorial vision of the Biennale, and other adventures of the field school in the next post!

Experiencing BGL's Canadian pavilion at the 2015 Venice Biennale. Dropping coins are Jess, Olivia, and Eric.

BGL's official video for the 2015 Canadian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

To see more photos and impressions of New York and Venice through the eyes of the field school participants, click on this link to check out our Instagram feed #kpunycvenice

Location | New York: Meet Field School Blogger Cody Lecoy

Tell us a little bit about yourself—your background, major program of study, reasons for taking this trip, and anything else interesting you want to share (maybe something people might not know about you).

I am writing this on our last day in Brooklyn.  Today we pack up and leave for Venice, I would like to share with you some of my experiences from the last two weeks here in New York. But first, a little about myself.  My name is Cody Lecoy, and I am enrolled in the Bachelor of Fine Arts program at KPU.  I have found to have a real passion for painting and over the last few years I have developed a studio practice outside of school.  Currently I have been living in an artist residency space, Skwachays, located in the Downtown East Side of Vancouver.  There is access to a shared studio space as well as an art gallery to showcase work.  These two factors and also the centralized location in the downtown core have made for a real enriching experience.  What continues to be surprise me while being engaged in the creative fields is the importance of networking and also the somewhat coincidental circumstances I find when navigating the art world.  Since I have been living Downtown I feel the frequency of these networking opportunities has increased and I feel that is because of greater accessibility to various markets, opening, festivals, performances, film screenings, panel discussions and many other events that happen in the city.  Also the process of actively seeking out these places, I feel, also works in ways to connect one with place and community. To be in this state of immersion is why I choose to participate in this New York/ Venice field school.  

What has met or exceeded your expectations or surprised you about New York so far?

Cody enjoying Coney Island!

Since arriving here in New York, I would have to say the neighbourhood of Brooklyn, in which we've been staying has been the biggest surprise for me.  It has been surprising because my first impression was that it was mostly just an industrial space with more of a character of passing activity, with people coming and going, and not having a centralized atmosphere.  Also I believe my notions of art had a large part to do with this reading.  The walls of Brooklyn are covered in street art and I love it.  I feel that because I see street art I never thought that would equate to fine artists also sharing the space.  In our last days here there was the Bushwick Open studios event, which I felt was a perfect illustration of the streets coming alive and the walls of the neighbourhood becoming animated and enhancing the experience.  The density of artists living in studio space here really surprised me.  As I mentioned before, that connection to community and place is really important as an artist for support, and in the days of the Open Studios those values were evident and visually expressed.  I was also impressed to witness how the art community really came together and embraced creating a strong street culture.  There was a strong grassroots and “do it yourself” feel on the streets during the event.  Restaurants were extending their spaces out into the streets.  There were a lot of performances from bands, theatre troupes, and many street vendors.  One could see that it was a sought after destination.  Another aspect I enjoyed were these U-haul storage trucks transformed into portable gallery spaces.  

Give us some insight into your assigned artwork from the Museum of Modern Art. Who is the artist? When was this work made? What is the content of this work? In what context and as part of what art movement was it made?

Cody was assigned Robert Rauschenberg's The Bed (1955) from the MoMA collection.

The Bed (1955) by Robert Rauschenberg is a radical departure from traditional art representation.  The work is described as a “combine” piece, for it combines the mediums of sculpture and painting.  Rauschenberg’s art can be described as neo-Dada.  Dada has been described as an anti-art movement that seeks to question the role of art and expand and redefine the notions of what art is.  In this piece I see Rauschenberg questioning the purist ideal of Abstract Expressionist painting.  Abstract Expressionist painting is said to be “of the body”.  This means the body can be seen or felt as present within the art.  Also the process of making the art is emphasized as giving meaning to the work, and the work itself provides the viewer with an experience of pure ideas and a new experience.  Rauschenberg looked to question Abstract Expressionism both literally and figuratively.  Bed is literally of the body, for there is evidence of bodily secretions such as blood and semen within the work.  Although I looked very closely and I believe the archival quality of these materials isn't as permanent as the oil paint that is found on the bed.  By naming the work Bed, Rauschenberg frames the work within the mysterious domain of the dream world; a world of pure subjective experience that everyone experiences regularly.  

How did you approach the creative task of responding to this assigned work in studio? What were your challenges as an artist to be in dialogue with the artwork and artist? Would you do anything differently now that you have seen the work in person?

Cody (always in motion!) next to his response piece to the assigned Rauschenberg, exhibited at the "Talking Back" show at KPU prior to departure to New York and Venice. 

In response to Bed, I chose to also employ the bed frame to frame the work in the domain of dreams and the subconscious mind.  I am interested in illustrating the process of thoughts becoming conscious.  Drawing influence upon reading the work of Carl Jung, I was fascinated from an account of him describing belief systems in the mind being expressed as actual physical structures.  In this train of thought it is my hope to visually express the rise and fall of thoughts and how over time these thoughts work to form beliefs that inform social structures.  I would say in speaking of the conceptual underpinnings of the work, my hardest challenge for this art was allowing the materials to have a greater role in communicating the actual content of the work.  I mainly have a painting background, although I do enjoy the expressive qualities of paint, more often the content of my work has to do with how the imagery I make relates to broader concepts.  I was most struck as to how the actual quilting pattern of the art piece was really a strong compositional element.  I believe Rauschenberg chose this piece of quilt because of how the geometric colouring had reference to minimalist and geometric art that is relatable to the modern art movement.  I would have liked to employ this play of materials.  The challenge I set for myself was to have two-dimensional images and extend outwards and allow them to become more sculptural.  I see the quilting pattern as a solid foundation from which to work on. I see also that it also sort of imposes its own limits on how to make stronger statements with less compositional elements.  Less is more.  

After seeing your assigned art work in person (and any other related art from the same artist or art movement associated with the assigned work), what struck you most, and/or how did the artwork’s form, content, and context shift for you when seeing it?

As one of his studio assignments while in New York, Cody sketches The Bed while at MoMA and photographs a side by side shot, later to be uploaded to the class's Instagram feed.

When seeing Rauschenberg’s work in person, I really enjoyed not only the museum context but also the work it was surrounded by.  In particular his other combine work,  The Canyon,  as well as Jasper John’s work.  In person I could notice on a visceral level how the tension between how the suspended work from a wall and the protrusion into space really gave weight to the work.  In seeing The Bed I found that I was surprised to find it felt a bit smaller than I imagined.  Seeing it in person I felt like Rauschenberg presented it in a light that is unexpected for a bed.  Beds are a place of rest and comfort.  This bed is quite small, the sheets are pulled taut to the corners and contained, the paint hardens into globs sharp and jagged edges.  The bed also mimics the bed frame giving it a very stiff like appearance. 

Today’s activity was a free day spent in the neighbourhood of Brooklyn. What were your impressions of this part of New York after learning about it first in the pre-departure classes? What will you take away of the experiences of this day?  What are the most memorable moments for you?

Kenneth, Olivia, Jess, Cody, and Larry pose proudly in front of their completed street art mural in Brooklyn. From what we hear, it is still there!

In conclusion to my stay at New York, a group of us were very fortunate to stumble across an opportunity to paint a mural here in the Bushwick neighbourhood.  After being immersed in street art and amazed at the sheer amount of covered wall spaces, we all jumped in at the opportunity to try it out for ourselves.  This experience also went to confirm my beliefs that the Bushwick neighbourhood is a thriving artistic hub of creative energy.  This experience also seemed serendipitous to me in a way.  It had been a goal of mine to expand the borders of the canvas onto outdoor wall space and to create work with the immediacy of being in the public sphere.  Also, for many of us we have been looking at art at The Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum, The Guggenheim, The Metropolitan Museum and many galleries, so I feel like we all were ready to express our collective inspiration.  The wall that we were able to spray paint was attached to a paint supply store.  Their mandate was simple: buy some paint and the wall is yours.  After we found this place in the evening, we went back to the hostel and started up a sketch brainstorm session.  With a direction in mind we went out the next morning and got to work.  I had a picture that in order to do a mural it would take much networking, permits, planning, and experience.  Thank you Brooklyn for changing my outlook on that.  Also a big thanks to Kenneth, Olivia, Jess, Larry, Merry for taking the documenting pictures and everyone stopping in for the input and support. 

To see more photos and impressions of New York and Venice as the field school continues, check out our Instagram feed #kpunycvenice

A closer look at the finished street art mural-- a wonderful opportunity and labour of love for Cody and the other participating students.