ARTISTS
OTHERWORLD
Unprepared Architecture, 2007
Computer running ubuntu, augmented reality software, webcam, wooden cubes
Unprepared Architecture is an almost toy-like object of perceptual and spatial game playing. A 5-centimetre-square cube placed on a plinth displays images of a flat, architectural space that has no visible depth. When viewers interact with the cube, picking it up and turning it this way and that, a nearby projection reveals a three-dimensional space, with rooms, walls and staircases, and which appears to exist within the cube. The projection provides another world that is otherwise invisible without viewer interaction.
Simone Jones graduated from OCAD and received her MFA from York University. She has been making kinetic sculpture since 1989. Most recently, her work has expanded to include film, video and performance.
Jones and Oliver collaborated on the development of Unprepared Architecture as part of a residency at Media Lab in Madrid, Spain.
Ruminate, 2006-7
Video animation
Stamp, 2008
Video animation
In Stamp, the banal act of rubberstamping a page in a book is repeated over and over on a series of small video monitors. Each animation is a mere one-second long. Cherniack has left all the wiring and mechanics exposed, creating a completely artificial apparatus to show an action that's insistent and unrelenting but which is also unexpectedly compelling. Meanwhile, Ruminate engages by its nearly invisible presence. Through a gash in the wall, one views repetitive clips of tiny animations comprised of short, open-ended narratives. Viewers are invited to peer voyeuristically into an alternate reality that exists only inches away from our own world.
Jennifer Cherniack is the assistant curator and public programs manager at InterAccess, Toronto. She has exhibited her work in Toronto, London, Winnipeg, Quebec City and Venice, Italy.
The Portable Sublime, 2003-2008
Suitcases, switches, light sensors, speakers, water pump, CD players, amps, balloons, glass and metal
Symphony for 54 Shoes, 2008
Shoes, solenoids, steel, wood, proximity sensors, arduino micro-controller
Bachmann's work engages viewers with immersive and interactive environments that are both large and small. With Symphony for 54 Shoes, shoes mounted on hydraulics and rigged with sensors stomp out an agitated symphony of sounds when motion is detected. Although rudimentary in its mechanics, the awkward movements appear to imbue the dancing shoes with a will of their own. In her other works, collectively titled Portable Sublime, Bachmann creates micro-worlds within the confines of a suitcase where various actions and narrations occur on an intimate scale. Viewers are required to lean in and observe the actions taking place - a manipulation that manages to engage our sense of observation much more so than when looking at a stagnant object.
Based in Montreal, Bachmann is a professor in studio arts at Concordia University. She is represented by Studio D.V.O. in Belgium.
Crocodile Tears (crying cat), 2007
Found objects and video component
Soft, fluffy toys - especially ones shaped like animals - tend to cause an emotional and affectionate response from people. Paolini's installation reinforces our desire to empathize and relate to inanimate objects. Titled Crocodile Tears, a white (stuffed) cat, with giant teardrops in its eye sockets, appears to be "watching" a real cat on a nearby television set. At random moments Paolini's cat hisses or purrs, suggesting that the inanimiate object is fully cognitive and responsive to its comfortable living room environment. In fact, it is only the viewer's desire to interpret these mechanical actions and sounds as living. Much like Philip K. Dick's androids, artificial forms can be hard to discern when our emotions start to pull us in.
Based in Toronto, Laura Paolini is the recipient of the CFC Media Lab Fellowship, 2008, and the InterAccess Media Arts Prize, 2007.
Bionic Forest, 2005
Steel, electric motors, assorted mechanical devices and electronics
There is very little that's real looking about Vickerd's Bionic Forest. Besides being of a similar scale to real trees, the mechanics are rudimentary and obvious. Even the metallic noises created by the moving "branches" of his six tree-like forms dilute the idea the artist is trying to recreate nature with precision. Yet the fakery manages to heighten our impression of what real trees look and feel like. In some ways, the cruder the creative interpretation, the greater our sense of reality becomes. Shadows that are cast by the moving limbs creates the impression of a forest swaying in a light breeze, yet that notion is imagined only, existing in our own subliminal perceptions of trees and forests.
Brandon Vickerd is a professor of visual arts at York University. His recent research draws its influence from contemporary mythologies and popular culture, including heavy metal music and comic books.
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