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ragweed is a project space experimenting with poetic inquiry; rehearsing the strengths of poetry as a medium of care and resistance and positioning the poetic as the frontier for emancipatory politics.
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ivanova@yorku.ca
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OPEN CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
ragweed invites contemporary artists of all mediums to submit work that engages the writing of Franco Berardi, whose work focuses on the role of media and information technology within post-industrial capitalist society.
The pandemic period between March 2020 and the present saw an immense expansion of communication capitalism, the digital merging with the everyday like never before through techno-mediated social distancing. Taking the relationship between temporality and meaning as a starting point, this curatorial project begins by identifying erosions of meaning under the acceleration of semiocapitalism - in an attempt to address the question, can you have democracy without meaning and can you have meaning without time?
Artists are invited to submit speculative works in progress as well as existing works. Artists should send a current CV, and an image list with title, size, and medium to ivanova@yorku.ca
The pandemic period between March 2020 and the present saw an immense expansion of communication capitalism, the digital merging with the everyday like never before through techno-mediated social distancing. Taking the relationship between temporality and meaning as a starting point, this curatorial project begins by identifying erosions of meaning under the acceleration of semiocapitalism - in an attempt to address the question, can you have democracy without meaning and can you have meaning without time?
Artists are invited to submit speculative works in progress as well as existing works. Artists should send a current CV, and an image list with title, size, and medium to ivanova@yorku.ca
A.J. MEDLAND, SARAI STEPHENS: REALLY REALLY REAL
PRESS RELEASE
The question still gets asked ‘what is art?’ But the subtext of that question seems to be, ‘is it real?’ Is art capable of being a medium of truth? Well, if art cannot be a medium of truth then art would only be a matter of taste, and if art was only a matter of taste, then the art spectator becomes more important than the art producer. Imagine the implications of this. Imagine an individual that cannot experience the possibilities of her own actions, the pleasure, or the limitations of them. The aesthetic relies entirely on the assumption that the individual is capable of responsibility, for producing this work, by undertaking that artistic action. Otherwise, if art is not a medium of truth, we are only made real by a Panopticon with no one sitting at the well. Art is a medium of truth when it is personal responsibility.
‘What is art?’ Art is Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics. Or in the words of my favourite poet, “art is a fistfight in the orchestra pit.” ‘What is art?’ Art is writing before you learn how to read. Because before thought, it must have been poetry.
Press:
TZVETNIK
PRESS RELEASE
The question still gets asked ‘what is art?’ But the subtext of that question seems to be, ‘is it real?’ Is art capable of being a medium of truth? Well, if art cannot be a medium of truth then art would only be a matter of taste, and if art was only a matter of taste, then the art spectator becomes more important than the art producer. Imagine the implications of this. Imagine an individual that cannot experience the possibilities of her own actions, the pleasure, or the limitations of them. The aesthetic relies entirely on the assumption that the individual is capable of responsibility, for producing this work, by undertaking that artistic action. Otherwise, if art is not a medium of truth, we are only made real by a Panopticon with no one sitting at the well. Art is a medium of truth when it is personal responsibility.
‘What is art?’ Art is Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics. Or in the words of my favourite poet, “art is a fistfight in the orchestra pit.” ‘What is art?’ Art is writing before you learn how to read. Because before thought, it must have been poetry.
Press:
TZVETNIK
Nov 08 — Dec 09 2019
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Sarai Stephens, "The Swamp," 2019, 54”x 84”, oil on canvas.
Sarai Stephens, "The Swamp," 2019, 54”x 84”, oil on canvas.
SOPHIA OPPEL: AN INFINITE LOOP IN THE VIRTUAL PLAZA
PRESS RELEASE
a machine for living in
a functionality that eases
sliding seamlessly into the production line;
pore-less and slick
like glossed marble.
hands co-opted for consumption manicured nails swiping across manicured screens
knuckle centipedes,
erasing the fingerprints of power
Press:
Journal FYI
PRESS RELEASE
a machine for living in
a functionality that eases
sliding seamlessly into the production line;
pore-less and slick
like glossed marble.
hands co-opted for consumption manicured nails swiping across manicured screens
knuckle centipedes,
erasing the fingerprints of power
Press:
Journal FYI
Oct 05 — 27 2019
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Exhibition view.
Exhibition view.
FRANCES ADAIR MCKENZIE: DAY OF Y
PRESS RELEASE
The sun also rises
on milk tits tilted to lips,
cat paws invoiced in clay,
before shapelessness got baked as bricks
PRESS RELEASE
The sun also rises
on milk tits tilted to lips,
cat paws invoiced in clay,
before shapelessness got baked as bricks
Aug 30 — Sep 22 2019
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Frances Adair McKenzie, "A La Une," 2019, Wax, pigment, 32” x 18” x 4”.
Frances Adair McKenzie, "A La Une," 2019, Wax, pigment, 32” x 18” x 4”.
ZEESY POWERS, ANGUS TARNAWSKY, ANTON VIDOKLE: 2020
PRESS RELEASE
Veronika has asked me to write a brief introduction to this collection of works, and for the past few weeks, I have grappled with how to approach this task. Over the last year, I have found myself struggling with the arts, with our relationship to power, and with our inability to enact change. I thought first of writing about this tension, about the support of a community, and about art’s role in dreaming of new worlds. I found that I could not articulate these things with any passion because I am frustrated, burnt out, and frankly, terrified of the future.
PRESS RELEASE
Veronika has asked me to write a brief introduction to this collection of works, and for the past few weeks, I have grappled with how to approach this task. Over the last year, I have found myself struggling with the arts, with our relationship to power, and with our inability to enact change. I thought first of writing about this tension, about the support of a community, and about art’s role in dreaming of new worlds. I found that I could not articulate these things with any passion because I am frustrated, burnt out, and frankly, terrified of the future.
Jul 07 2019
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Anton Vidokle, still from Immortality For All: a film trilogy on Russian Cosmism (2014-2017). HD video, color, sound. 96’. Russian with English subtitles.
Anton Vidokle, still from Immortality For All: a film trilogy on Russian Cosmism (2014-2017). HD video, color, sound. 96’. Russian with English subtitles.