The Mirror’s Edge Symposium

Erin Boniferro’s Take on the Talks

Thomas Demand, Studio, 1997
Chromographic print on photographic paper and Diasec, 183.5x349 cm
Courtesy Victoria Miro Gallery, London and 303 Gallery, New York

When the Vancouver Art Gallery held a symposium on
March 18 about Mirror's Edge, showing at the VAG
until August 13, | thought | might check it out. |
thought that the little | had heard and read about the
exhibit sounded interesting and a little different from
the norm. | thought | might even learn something. After
six hours in the basement of the Robson Square Centre,
| left feeling inspired, confused, overwhelmed, and that
perhaps | had indeed learned something. The day
began ordinarily enough; we arrived way too early and
eventually made ourselves comfortable in spite of a vibe
from the crowd that made me feel that | had less of a
right to be there than they did. Regardless, my dirty art
student friends and | (as viewed by some attendants)
sat down, ready to listen. Okwui Enwezor, curator of
Mirror's Edge, opened the talks with comments about
his experience with this particular exhibit. He talked
about the element of pleasure, the feeling one gets
when standing before the works. He discussed his
approach to selecting the work as being all-inclusive, as
observing a certain global discourse. He talked about
the implications of a shifting landscape. He didn't seem
to want to label it all under globalization, but couldn't
seem to abandon his repeated references to it. He
divided his conception of audience into three compo-
nents: himself, his peers, and the general public. He
anticipated that this audience would want to see work
that questions context and presents new narratives, new
histories on the edge of the contemporary art map.

The global theme was supported by the fact that the
work in the show comes from everywhere - various
places with different values and ethical relationships.

He suggested that artists must be willing to be a part of
this exchange as they find new places as citizens and
find their public, their place in the world. He reaf-
firmed us that this place is not singular, that artists must
seek out the other in order to gain energy in and for
their work. Just to make you even more stressed out
about that final project, Enwezor impressed on the audi-

30
@

ence the necessity of artists
to engage in ethical con-
tracts in relating cultural
identities and ideologies to
the global community
around them. This was all
about communication in a
contemporary language.
When asked if he would

| repeat this process, he simply
answered "no", and stated
that he might choose a
messier approach. Mirror's
Edge merely presents a stage
of the process and that the
viewer is faced with the ethi-
cal task (there's that word
again) of dealing with that
space.

After Enwezor's introduction,
artist Steve McQueen (New
York) was joined on stage by
VAG curator Grant Arnold. What followed was an
unbalanced but rather enjoyable exchange. When
asked about the work in Mirror's Edge, McQueen
always used the word tension. Everything had to do
with a repeated notion that does not lose its tension.
Inspired by Buster Keaton films, silent movies and televi-
sion, McQueen dealt with the frame within the frame
within the frame. His speech was punctuated with lots
of hand gestures that | sadly can't recreate for you now.
(Its about this, this, this, this, he'd say, pointing to the
middle of his forehead). He talked about the total
embrace of the institution, and likened it to Lenny's
embrace of the kittens in Of Mice and Men. He
assured us that, “| do what | want to do and that's it.”
Sometimes | feel like I'm working as a black artist,
sometimes | don't. Sometimes | forget. When asked
later on when he felt like he was working as a black
artist, his response was simple: “When people ask that
sort of question and when | pass mirrors."

Liisa Roberts (New York and Helsinki) wanted to talk
about her work, which seemed rather interesting, but
was totally distracted by the fact that the projectors and
video player weren't working. We spent a lot of time
looking at her looking at the screens on either side of
her. She liked to use the word "paradigm", and worked
a lot with the idea of space and how the viewer is posi-
tioned in that space. Thomas Hirschhorn spoke about
his work and what it had to do with Manuel Joseph, the
writer whose text is included in the work. He assured
us that this was not about communication, it was about
respect. He asked Joseph to write for his piece because
he felt that the writing was itself like a collage that
could be both fiction and reality. When Manuel Joseph
took the stage it was more like performance art than
anything else. He played a tape of his writing being
recited and had a camera panning the crowd the entire
time so that we could see ourselves on the screens
beside him. He proceeded to read from his own text, in

a strange mumbled English-French combination. Alll |
really understood clearly from his talk was . . . "| am my
own clone, | don't need Dolly... and... we are all
pigs, but this is okay." It was abstract and disconnected
and | was beginning to experience a little attention
deficit. Go see the work, it's a similar experience.

The most interesting part of the afternoon came when
Canadian poet Peter Culley read his response to the
show - in spoken word performance style - something
that initiated a dialog with Steve McQueen. Culley used
the Clash's 1980 release Sandinista as an analogy for
artistic creation at its best. Culley then compared the
less-known Sandinista with the mass selling phenome-
non of bands like Wu Tang Clan in modern culture. | am
over-paraphrasing and not doing his talk justice, but the
subsequent exchange between Culley and McQueen
about modern audience and what people seem to be
ready for was inspiring and entertaining.

Sophie Tottie spoke next, expanding on some of the
issues and thoughts she began at the ECIAD talk she
gave earlier in the week. When an audience member
presented Tottie with some rather critical comments, she
did not immediately respond in a ooh, |'m right 'cause
I'm the artist sort of way. | suppose this really struck a
chord as my exposure to other events like this have
often felt that way. The Mirror's Edge artists are gener-
ally rather young, and although established, seem open
to comments and criticism.

Pascale Marthine Tayou spoke briefly and mostly in
French, which is fine and great except for the fact that
the interpreter repeated the words in French with a few
English words thrown in. His work was like his talk:
fast, bright, exciting and a little difficult to understand.
| wish | had talked to him, as he seemed the most out-
wardly excited about his work, but instead | just
watched him dance at Sonar later that night, where he
displayed the same outward energy. Beth Coleman and
Howard Goldkrand, co-founders of Cultural
Alchemy/Soundlab, spoke last. | attended Goldkrand’s
talk at ECIAD earlier in the week and was anxious to
hear more. Sadly, their talk was a little rushed because
the symposium was coming to a close. A combination
of sound and sculpture, their work is informed by their
environment. Goldkrand in particular looked at New
York's low-rider subculture and graffiti. | was again
reminded of the opportunities we all have to base our
work on the ever-changing world around us. As Okwui
Enwezor stated at the beginning of the symposium, it's
important to bring it all together to look at - to deal
with it, to attempt to write a history, or retell a story
from where we are in the world right now. An audi-
ence member commented at the end of the
Coleman/Goldkrand talk that the work was about as
American as Norman Rockwell. | thought this was a lit-
tle disappointing at the end of a day devoted to talking
about appreciating our differences, as both artists and
citizens. | suppose that we also have to be aware that
people like this audience member are also a part of
what is and will be our audience. | encourage you to
check this exhibit out for yourself, and to get to the
next artist talk. We could all learn something that in
turn might actually make it back to school, to our learn-
ing environment, to our critiques, to our work.

The Mirror's Edge Symposium

Erin Boniferro’s Take on the Talks

Thomas Demand, Studio, 1997

‘Chromographic print on photographic paper and Diasec, 183.5x349 cm
Courtesy Victoria Miro Gallery, London and 303 Gallery, New York

When the Vancouver Art Gallery held a symposium on
‘March 18 about Mirror's Edge, showing at the VAG
until August 13, | thought | might check it out. |
thought that the little | had heard and read about the
exhibit sounded interesting and a little different from
the norm. | thought I might even learn something. After
six hours in the basement of the Robson Square Centre,
| left feeling inspired, confused, overwhelmed, and that
perhaps | had indeed learned something. The day
began ordinarily enough; we arrived way too early and
eventually made ourselves comfortable in spite of a vibe
from the crowd that made me feel that | had less of a
right to be there than they did. Regardless, my dirty art
student friends and | (as viewed by some attendants)
sat down, ready to listen. Okwui Enwezor, curator of
Mirror's Edge, opened the talks with comments about
his experience with this particular exhibit. He talked
about the element of pleasure, the feeling one gets
when standing before the works. He discussed his
approach to selecting the work as being all-inclusive, as
‘observing a certain global discourse. He talked about
the implications of a shifting landscape. He didn’t seem
to want to label it all under globalization, but couldn't
seem to abandon his repeated references to it. He
divided his conception of audience into three compo-
nents: himself, his peers, and the general public. He
anticipated that this audience would want to see work
that questions context and presents new narratives, new
histories on the edge of the contemporary art map.

The global theme was supported by the fact that the
work in the show comes from everywhere - various
places with different values and ethical relationships.

He suggested that artists must be willing to be a part of
this exchange as they find new places as citizens and
find their public, their place in the world. He reaf-
firmed us that this place is not singular, that artists must
seek out the other in order to gain energy in and for
their work. Just to make you even more stressed out
about that final project, Enwezor impressed on the audi-

en

ence the necessity of artists
to engage in ethical con-
tracts in relating cultural
identities and ideologies to
the global community
around them. This was all
about communication in a
contemporary language.
When asked if he would
repeat this process, he simply
answered "no", and stated
that he might choose a
messier approach. Mirror's
Edge merely presents a stage
of the process and that the
viewer is faced with the ethi-
cal task (there's that word
again) of dealing with that
space.

After Enwezor's introduction,
artist Steve McQueen (New
York) was joined on stage by
VAG curator Grant Amold. What followed was an
unbalanced but rather enjoyable exchange. When
asked about the work in Mirror's Edge, McQueen
always used the word tension. Everything had to do
with a repeated notion that does not lose its tension.
Inspired by Buster Keaton films, silent movies and televi-
sion, McQueen dealt with the frame within the frame
within the frame. His speech was punctuated with lots
of hand gestures that I sadly can't recreate for you now.
(its about this, this, this, this, he'd say, pointing to the
middle of his forehead). He talked about the total
embrace of the institution, and likened it to Lenny's
embrace of the kittens in Of Mice and Men. He
assured us that, “I do what | want to do and that's it."
Sometimes | feel like I'm working as a black artist,
sometimes | don’t. Sometimes | forget. When asked
later on when he felt like he was working as a black
artist, his response was simple: "When people ask that
sort of question and when I pass mirrors.”

Lisa Roberts (New York and Helsinki) wanted to talk
about her work, which seemed rather interesting, but
was totally distracted by the fact that the projectors and
video player weren't working. We spent a lot of time
looking at her looking at the screens on either side of
her. She liked to use the word “paradigm”, and worked
a lot with the idea of space and how the viewer is posi-
tioned in that space. Thomas Hirschhorn spoke about
his work and what it had to do with Manuel Joseph, the
writer whose text is included in the work. He assured
us that this was not about communication, it was about
respect. He asked Joseph to write for his piece because
he felt that the writing was itself lke a collage that
could be both fiction and reality. When Manuel Joseph
took the stage it was more like performance art than
anything else. He played a tape of his writing being
recited and had a camera panning the crowd the entire
time so that we could see ourselves on the screens
beside him. He proceeded to read from his own text, in

a strange mumbled English-French combination,
really understood clearly from his talk was... . “I am my
‘own clone, I don’t need Dolly... and... . we are all
pigs, but this is okay." It was abstract and disconnected
and | was beginning to experience a litle attention
deficit. Go see the work, it's a similar experience.

The most interesting part of the afternoon came when
Canadian poet Peter Culley read his response to the
show - in spoken word performance style - something
that initiated a dialog with Steve McQueen. Culley used
the Clash’s 1980 release Sandinista as an analogy for
artistic creation at its best. Culley then compared the
less-known Sandinista with the mass selling phenome-
non of bands like Wu Tang Clan in modern culture. | am
over-paraphrasing and not doing his talk justice, but the
subsequent exchange between Culley and McQueen
about modern audience and what people seem to be
ready for was inspiring and entertaining.

Sophie Tottie spoke next, expanding on some of the
issues and thoughts she began at the ECIAD talk she
gave earlier in the week. When an audience member
presented Tottie with some rather critical comments, she
did not immediately respond in a ooh, I'm right ‘cause
I'm the artist sort of way. | suppose this really struck a
chord as my exposure to other events like this have
often felt that way. The Mirror's Edge artists are gener-
ally rather young, and although established, seem open
to comments and criticism.

All

Pascale Marthine Tayou spoke briefly and mostly in
French, which is fine and great except for the fact that
the interpreter repeated the words in French with a few
English words thrown in. His work was like his talk:
fast, bright, exciting and a litte difficult to understand

I wish | had talked to him, as he seemed the most out-
wardly excited about his work, but instead | just
watched him dance at Sonar later that night, where he
displayed the same outward energy. Beth Coleman and
Howard Goldkrand, co-founders of Cultural
Alchemy/Soundlab, spoke last. | attended Goldkrand’s
talk at ECIAD earlier in the week and was anxious to
hear more. Sadly, their talk was a little rushed because
the symposium was coming to a close. A combination
of sound and sculpture, their work is informed by their
environment. Goldkrand in particular looked at New
York's lowrider subculture and graffiti. | was again
reminded of the opportunities we all have to base our
work on the ever-changing world around us. As Okwui
Enwezor stated at the beginning of the symposium, it's
important to bring it all together to look at - to deal
with it, to attempt to write a history, or retell a story
from where we are in the world right now. An audi-
ence member commented at the end of the
Coleman/Goldkrand talk that the work was about as
‘American as Norman Rockwell. | thought this was a lit-
tle disappointing at the end of a day devoted to talking
about appreciating our differences, as both artists and
citizens. | suppose that we also have to be aware that
people like this audience member are also a part of
‘what is and will be our audience. 1 encourage you to
ccheck this exhibit out for yourself, and to get to the
next artist talk. We could all learn something that in
turn might actually make it back to school, to our learn-
ing environment, to our critiques, to our work