Announcing Hammertown
dal 3/10/2002 al 22/11/2002
Segnalato da
3/10/2002
Announcing Hammertown
The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh
A touring show of artists emerging from the Vancouver arts scene to international attention. A vibrant, startlingly original and challenging exhibition of sculpture, multi-media installations, film, photography and video works. Hammertown, the title, is taken from the novel Life, A User's Manual (1974) by French author Georges Perec.
Announcing Hammertown, a touring show of artists emerging from the Vancouver arts scene to international
attention. A vibrant, startlingly original and challenging exhibition of sculpture, multi-media installations, film,
photography and video works, Hammertown is the first themed exhibition of the artists work realized
outside Canada, mounted in conjunction with the Contemporary Art Gallery of Vancouver, and curated by
director Reid Shier.
'Free and wonderfully uninhibited,' said The Toronto Globe and Mail, describing as serious fun the artists
who share a mutual interest in the use of commodities, popular media and everyday imagery which their
work re-inscribes with personal and politicised meanings. Individually, they have exhibited in London,York,
Melbourne, New York, Munich and Helsinki and most have work in major Canadian Gallery Collections.
The group, of Brian Jungen (born 1970), Geoffrey Farmer (b. 1967), Euan Macdonald (b. 1965), Damian
Moppett (b. 1969), Myfanwy MacLeod (b.1961), Luanne Martineau (b. 1970), Shannon Oksanen (b. 1967)
and Kevin Schmidt (b.1970), will be installing Hammertown and attending its opening and education events.
Among the striking works will be Jungen's, constructed from everyday camping items. In the past he has
utilised plastic stackable lawn chairs, and Nike trainers. Jungens previous sculpture Shapeshifter was named
within a top ten list in Artforum magazine and profiled in Time magazine. MacLeod's Our Mutual Friend, a
wood sculpture of leg, foot and arm recalls and satirizes folk-craft tradition; The Shadow's Path, Macdonald's
spectacular video gloaming of the New Zealand countryside traces, from helicopter viewpoint, the path of
an eclipse of the sun, Shannon Oksanen's Spins film projection of a formalist skater is an homage to the
theatricality and stage magic of Georges Méliès, and Kevin Schmidt's Long Beach Led Zep performance video
with guitar, juxtaposes raw idealistic untrained technique with the splendor of Vancouver Island's West Coast
backdrop.
Hammertown, the title, is taken from the novel Life, A User's Manual (1974) by French author Georges Perec.
The title is chosen to illustrate the sense of alienation inhabitants of Vancouver may feel as a result of the
received misinformation and promotion of the young North American city as a romantic geographical
stereotype, that of a snow-capped town of traditional, cottage industry. Vancouver is the antithesis, its
landscape bearing the cultural impact of European colonization and a compulsion to battle history by
destruction and reinvention.
The Hammertown Media Education Project gives 48 young people, aged 16-25 years, the opportunity to to
record, interpret and communicate their reactions to Hammertown artworks within a local peer-based media
and promotions strategy while acquiring communication, audio-visual recording, design and marketing skills.
Organised by Media Education, the project runs from 30
September 25 October, within structured training sessions in the
gallery and initiatives in the wider community. A provider of
practical media and technical applications for young people, Media
Education has joined forces with The Fruitmarket Gallery and
Standard Life Investments to deliver this unique vocational
opportunity, supported by Arts & Business New Partners scheme.
Hammertown artists and exhibition curator Reid Shier are available
for advance phone interviews or, from Saturday 28 September, in
Edinburgh. Hammertown Media Education Project participants are
available for interview from 7-10 October or by arrangement.
Image: Shannon Oksanen, Spins, 2002
EXHIBITION PREVIEW
Friday 4 October 7 9 pm
Sponsored by Gordons Edge
ARTISTS TALK
Saturday 5 October, 2pm
Hammertown artists in discussion with Reid Shier.
EXHIBITION DETAILS
5 October 22 November
Mon-Sat 11am-5.30pm, Sun 12-5pm
NEW PUBLICATION
Pp64, hardbound,170 x 210mm
Including essays by Reid Shier and
Michael Turner and full documentation of
the artists work. Price £10,
available from the Bookshop.
FUNDING SUPPORT
Department of Foreign Affairs and
International Trade of Canada, British
Columbia Arts Council, Canada Council
for the Arts, Canadian High Commission
CORE FUNDING
Scottish Arts Council
For all media enquiries, interviews and
press material, please contact
Annie Woodman,
Media and Marketing Manager
The Fruitmarket Gallery
45 Market Street Edinburgh, EH1 1DF
Tel: 0131 226 8182
Fax: 0131 220 3130