Artist Statement

In this installation, Utopia's Stations, I am interested about an exploration into a place of otherness and worldviews beyond my own comprehension. The project is a residue of, or extension from a past film about imigration, a story exploring identity, place, settlement, and personal experience. These are issues dealing with internal aspects of self or the construction of identity. This new work is a departure from my former interests, with a particular empasis about the nature of phenomenon and the human condition. The work represents a journey I am making (like the train on its circular tracks). It is possibly a journey with no finite conclusion.

Kitsch and elements of spectacle through the use of and presentation of objects - as well as the association between objects and their viewers - is of great interest to me. The model train in the plexiglass dome is playful and childlike; its craft is appropriated from model culture, a sort of folk art, yet the table and projections are distant and from the traditional form of model making. The dome is a surface and a shell that encloses this small world in its atmosphere while offering a space for an illusion to operate.

The accompanying objects serve as a conceptual premise and subplot to incite and provide climax - with the vintage chair and its suitcase signify the body, or lack of, setting the tone of time and evoking nostalgia or place. The narrative is left open for the viewer to conclude.

This work would not be possible without the support of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts (AFA), and the collaborative support of my colleague Keith Korsgaard for the construction of the model train.

Bio

As an intermedia artist who uses video and new media, Tom Andriuk has developed a diverse range of work over the last ten years including site-specific installations, video art, performance, research initiatives and Internet projects.

The collaborative and participatory approach to Tom’s practice engages the process as a part of the exploration of the idea. He is primarily interested in the viewer’s exchange with the work and how an audience interprets meaning. Themes in his work address issues of identity, technology and social behavior and vary from social satire to political commentary.

Tom recently completed a nine-year position with NUTV working as the organization’s Program Director, coordinating community television productions; and is an active member of Calgary’s media arts community. Tom was educated at the Alberta College of Art and Design graduating with distinction in 1993. He is currently obtaining his MFA in media studies at the University of Calgary.

Artist Statement

Dogpull is a video installation depicting a tug of war between two dogs (one dog in each monitor, facing each other) pulling away from the camera. This work operates on a number of different levels - it becomes a technological take on a fundamental power strugle, dumbed down to a couple of canine adversaries. A techno-formal poke at an age old contest of strength and will. It also deals with the notion of a contemporary sublime whereas the viewing position within the piece becomes a place of conflict and stress.

Brad Harms CV

Artist Statement

Scenes in the City is a video and music installation that is about finding sanity in the schizophrenic environment of the city, and of our tendencies to cover up our need to love and be loved with thoughts of busyness.

Two seperate scenes will be viewed simultaneously. As the scenes play out the viewer will start to notice that the background environments become more similar and the black line dividing the two will disappear. Sounds of the characters' internal thought play along side the sonic scape of the city - and in the end the audio is interwoven into a more rythmic and harmonized sound.

Artist Statement

Protovision is inspired by the work of Antonie Van Leeuwnhoek (1632 - 1723), a pioneer (not inventor, as is often mistaken) of microscopy. Experiments on pepper to discover if its heat was caused by tiny spikes caused him to put peppercorns in water and let them soften for three weeks. He later observed the water and was surprised to see tiny organisms: the first bacteria observed by man. His description read, "[They] were incredibly small, nay so small, in my sight, that I judged that even if 100 of these very wee animals lay stretched out one against another, they could not reach to the lenght of a grain of course sand." Van Leeuwenhoek's letter announcing this discovery caused such doubt at the Royal Society that that he had to enlist an English Vicar, as well as jurists and doctors, to confirm that his report was in fact based on true observations. Robert Hooke later repeated the experiment and was able to confirm Van Leeuwenhoek's discoveries. Hooke later discovered blood cells and sperm cells.

What is fascinating about Van Leeuwenhoek is the fact that he was not trained as a scientist; he was a fabric merchant who later learned lens grinding. It was his superior skill at this that led him to construct microscopes far more powerful than anything else in existence at that time. As an artist I am constantly inspired by science and technology and the interactions it has with art. Particularly pioneers in science and technology who saw things for the first time - it is that captivation in discovery that I am trying to channel through my work. i am also using assembled and modified technology to present Protovision; this embodies Van Leeuwenhoek's intimacy and reverence with his technology.

The Art Gallery of Calgary is an interactive and dynamic forum for presenting the art of today and activities that foster the appreciation and understanding of visual culture. The AGC is the largest non-collecting contemporary art institution of its kind in Canada, and embodies the city's youthful and pioneering spirit.

Important work from Calgary artists is exhibited alongside the work of national and international artists. The gallery is currently showcasing some of the country's top artists, including Marla Hlady and John Will, and hosts several public events each month, ranging from artist talks and cultural discussions, to family days and education programs.

Art on the Installment Plan coincides with the following receptions at AGC:

Main Gallery: Noel Bégin
An Lithospheric Semilocus ~
Undermine Litotes

Tall Gallery: Elliott Mealia & Dayna VanHarten
Something Borrowed

The Art Gallery of Calgary is located at:

117 8 Avenue SW
Calgary, AB, Canada T2P 1B4
T: 403-770-1350
F: 403-264-8077
E: artinfo@artgallerycalgary.org