The current exhibition at AKA Gallery, Dustin Wilson / FUTUROLOGIST, may initially deceive you into thinking that you’ve stepped into a project that was rejected by the Western Development Museum. The drawings, videos and the helpful handout with its accompanying list of symbols and definitions belie the wry humour at play. But like all “comedians”, Wilson is illuminating some essential truths (just as Margaret Atwood did in Oryx and Crake), about our potential future(s), our contemporary attitudes and the essential relationship between those two things.
The site of contested [future] narratives for Wilson is his native New Brunswick (he and I had an entertaining – and depressing – discussion about how a number of places in Canada are either never included in the national narratives, or are present solely as outside misinterpretations – he must be a trapper, eh, and I must be a farmer. Or he must be a craft artist who works in fur, and I must paint stripes….). This provincial focus allows a specificity for the Futurologist that is Wilson’s persona with this work, as in his talk at AKA he spoke in a dry, tongue in cheek manner of the “messages” he recieves from the future, and his attempts to decipher and decode them for us all. His words (which I commented previously could be grafted onto a number of sites in Canada, and beyond) speak of “dissecting issues of rural identity in the current era of ...
Just a note of correction to my previous "bold" commentary on We The Artists: I'll begin with the positive.
Besides the people I praised, I should also add Adam Naismith: and I received an email from Toryn Adams, who asserts that I am incorrect in saying that the Dean of Fine Arts and Humanities was not there. As I was there until 9 PM, and the event ran until 11 PM, I will take Ms. Adams's word that an appearance was made - as she is employed as a "research assistant" in the Arts and Science Office, I'm sure she would know.
Attended this extravaganza that students from the Visual, Musical and Dramatic Arts at the University of Saskatchewan made happen last night, and was impressed: not so much by the art works (some were good, some were not) but by the spirit and energy that made it happen. Kudos are in order to those responsible, and as always, respect and thanks have to be given to individuals who see the need for something to happen, and make it happen.
However, I have a few questions: and none of them are directed at WTA, or its organizers or participants. My questions are about those who weren't there - such as the Dean of Fine Arts and Humanities, or the plethora of fat, lazy tenured faculty who seem content to let the Clarion project die as it may involve some work on their part, or it may interfere with their sabbaticals or other external manifestations of their incompetence and institutional laziness: how does it feel to have the students show you up, and set a bar that you aren't likely to even try to beat (will it be another 14 odd years before another Faculty show from the tenured profs of the visual arts area - actually, that may be a blessing in disguise....)? I temper my congratulations to the students who organized this with my contempt for the faculty whose absence is literal, and metaphorical.
It is time to revisit what tenure means, and ...
...or you can advertise it like neon in the winter night.
This in response to this letter in the Star Phoenix. The debate tires me, and as I am no longer at the University of Saskatchewan I treasure that my interaction with ignorant people has dwindled significantly. But sometimes it's necessary to get your hands dirty....
This may or may not run in the Star Phoenix, as I sent it off: but I don't need them to make a point, and here it is.
---------------------------------
Like most people on the Anti – RAGS side (as they can’t honestly be called Pro Mendel, despite their revisionist fantasies about the failed renovation plan), Dave Geary plays loose with the facts, and makes a number of ignorant assumptions that he passes off as “truth”. Although I’m tired of this debate and the refusal of individuals to inform themselves, I’ll step into the fray again (since the Star Phoenix has called me a “Civic Art Star”, perhaps I should….god help me).
A few of the “facts” that Geary cites are anything but, and it’s necessary to point that out.
Firstly, his assertions that this is a closed door process is belied by my personal experience of being invited to a consultation on this: and this was made up of individuals from a number of galleries in the city, and organizations, all of whom have experience and knowledge of what it takes to make a gallery run on a day to ...
This will be at the Gordon Snelgrove Gallery this Thursday, January 12th, at noon. I mention this now as some people may not hear this week's A Word until Thursday night, and will miss the talk, and as I've demonstrated, I have no issue using the A Word as an event calendar - if you're doing something worthwhile, and not karaoke. The next few weeks will see a number of events worth your time, from Emanuel Licha at PAVED to We The Artist at TCU place to Shauna McCabe's Prairie Readymade, so mark these down in your datebook.