Liminal Place: An
exhibition of three emerging Canadian artists questioning aspects of cultural
policy, nationality and place. Curated by April Steele
Spatial tension and unrealized potentials mark the work of David Kopulos, Dagmara Genda and Dominic Gagnon. Historical narratives, ranging from the rise and fall of Polish Communism to modernist urban development in Toronto, Canada to the political issues discussed in the video works of Gagnon, illustrate shifts in the relationship between culture and place. Genda references her childhood immigration from Communist Poland while alluding to the aesthetic of Canadiana, in an exploration of citizenship, nationality and cultural policy. Kopulos, a Torontonian, constructs unrealized urban plans proposed in the 1950s and 1960s as a critique of the Modernist discourse of utopia. Gagnon salvages video clips red-flagged on YouTube, thereby contextualizing the authors’ intents while commenting on the grey areas of censorship and preservation.
As important as what is included in the works is what remains omitted. The physical presence of Kopulos’s utopias remind us that they don’t, in fact, exist outside the artworks. Genda’s drawing installation, comprised of imagery sourced from old family photographs, wallpaper patterns and architectural drawings, suggests only an elusive narrative, while the homemade videos collected by Gagnon have disappeared entirely from the internet. The simultaneity of presence and absence in an indeterminate space characterizes the search for new perspectives in these works.
David Kopulos is an accomplished graphic designer and emerging visual artist. Born and raised in Toronto, he studied visual arts for a year in Florence, Italy, and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Ontario College of Art and Design. Reflecting influences from painters such as Eleanor Bond to the conceptual architects of Archigram, his most recent artwork examines the history of unbuilt modernist megaprojects and other urban spaces, inviting viewers to see familiar landscapes as sites of fantasy and myth. David's artwork is held in private collections and has been featured in the Toronto Star and National Post. He maintains a website featuring articles on the intersection of visual arts, architecture, and Canadian/American culture. He is currently based in Dallas, Texas. http://www.davidkopulos.com/
Dagmara Genda is a Polish-Canadian artist and writer currently living in London, UK where she is a PhD candidate in Humanities and Cultural Studies at the London Consortium. She completed her BFA Honours in painting at the University of Manitoba and an MFA at the University of Western Ontario. Since graduating with her MFA, Dagmara has exhibited cross-country with the support of the Saskatchewan Arts Board, published with Locus Suspectus magazine and written for Forest City Gallery in London, Ontario and AKA Gallery in Saskatoon. She continues to write for BlackFlash magazine and serves on its editorial committee. Her research and artistic interests include research in art, East/West aesthetic hybrids, and contemporary Polish and Canadian art. http://www.dagmaragenda.com/
Inventor, director, installer and active performer on the international scene, Dominic Gagnon considers cinema as a technique for measuring the immeasurable or as a discipline of chaos. Since 1996, he has made public presentations of moving images, invented machines and concepts, sound works and performances for various galleries, festivals and biennials around the world. To carry out his projects, Gagnon has conducted several researches about: the decline of economies (ISO, 2002), terror (Du Moteur a Explosion, 2000) violence and identity crisis among boys (The Making of a Cobra, 2004) the international adoption systems (Anchorage, 1998), information disorder and homelessness (High Speed, 2007), Sado-Masochism and fetishism in popular culture (Blockbuster History, 2005) and the family in the era of mega-entertainment (Beluga Crash Blues, 1997). http://videomedeja.org/en/dominic-gagnon
April Steele is a an emerging curator and art historian raised in Peterborough, now based in Toronto. She is currently completing her Masters degree in Art History at the University of Toronto, specializing in modern/contemporary art and curatorial practices. She graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design's drawing and painting program with distinction in 2007, and studied abroad in Florence during her third year of studies. She has previously held positions as coordinator of Artsweek, the City of Peterborough's annual multi-disciplinary arts festival, and as Curatorial Assistant at the Art Gallery of Peterborough. Her previous curatorial projects include The Luminous Body (2007) at the Art Gallery of Peterborough, and she is currently curating an exhibition at Forest City Gallery in London, Ontario (Maidens, Spindles, and Mother-of-All). http://www.aprilsteeleart.com/website.html
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