upcoming
past exhibitions
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.
︎
ivanova@yorku.ca
︎ donate
call for action against the war in Ukraine
RazomForUkraine
Counter propaganda by following and providing trustworthy information like Kyiv Independent or e-flux
OPEN CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
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 signification 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 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 signification 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 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
![]()
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
![]()
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
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
Aug 30 — Sep 22 2019
![]()
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”.