Landslide

Projects: Land|Slide

About

Land|Slide: Possible Futures took place at the Markham Museum and Historical Village in Markham, Ontario in 2013. The catalogue—edited by Janine Marchessault, Chloë Brushwood Rose, Jennifer Foster, and Aleksandra Kaminska—includes essays by the editors as well as by Shelley Hornstein, Julie Nagam and Yan Wu. Making up the bulk of the book is full-colour documentation of the 30+ artist projects, including statements by all the artists:

singing our bones home is a homage to the buried bodies in the Markham Ossuary. This installation utilizes sound, projections and sculpture to create a dialogue between the different architectural structures: the wigwam that represents nomadic lifestyles, and the wagon shed that is a symbol of settlement. The projections convey static or monochromatic landscapes that appear to be dismal or uninhabited. This contrasts with the diverse population currently living in Markham. The installation grapples with the myth of terra nullius, which considers the land to be void of people or settlement.

Construction of a 500m river began in June 2013 with cutting sod, tilling and seeding a broken line across the Markham Museum site. By late October, the path will reveal a dynamic and unpredictable growth of over 8 edible flowers—primarily sunflowers, a traditional Ontario crop—during one of the provinces most turbulent summers. The River will meander, disappear and reappear, to articulate the enduring tension between nature and nurture, past and present, human encroachment and emerging environmental innovation. At its height, The River will act as a beacon to remind the visitor of an agrarian history while providing a visual bridge to Markham’s possible future as a unique corridor for sustainable living.

Mark-David Hosale, Homunculus Agora (h.a), 2013. Experimental Media, Interactive Sculpture. Photo: Will Pemulis

Many of the key idioms used in our civilization like society, environment, culture, growth, even happiness, require constant conceptual maintenance, because their meaning migrates, changes all the time. Some of these terms have died, despite the fact that we still use them, because the underlying meaning is no longer valid as a normative or descriptive tool, and realities which they are describing no longer exist. An inscription on the central wall in an old Baptist church, which hosts Morning Daily is calling, with sweet confidence: „Come Ye Apart And Rest a While”. So let’s take a rest. Let’s rest a while from our pre-conditions, habits, cruel lack of imagination—in general, our way of being and doing. The point is to find a new approach, to avoid the error Albert Einstein warned us against, the one of trying to solve problems with the same way of thinking that created them. How hard is it to find a new way to think?

David Kidman, The Cutting Room, 2013. Experimental Media, 3D video installation. Photo: Will Pemulis

A line is one of the most basic elements of intent and organization with respect to our built environment. From the simplest lines come the various paths, boundaries and demarcations that have been inscribed, traversed, contested and defended. Borders, roads, fences, pipelines, greenbelts and flight paths are drawn and multiplied from map to territory and back again, representing our ideals, hopes, fears, and failures. As we continue to drift further afield, accumulating in certain spots and spreading out in others, we might begin to think about how and where we draw the line. Please note this installation is only viewable on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. A companion piece to this project is located behind the Sawmill. The Line is produced with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

Projects: Land|Slide

About

Land|Slide Extended Trailer