1 + 1 Equals Eleven is an experiment in inter-departmental collaboration that speaks to creative exhaustion, productive disagreements and Jean-Claude Van Damme-style hubris.
Artists: Timothée Messeiller and Matthew Palmer
Curator: Nancy Webb
Special Collaborator: Emily Bergsma
In an inter-departmental feat of magic, 1 + 1 Equals Eleven presents you with 110.5 original artworks that have been carefully selected from a total of 221. From the outset, this collaborative exercise was encumbered by self-imposed organizational constraints that were answered by the unyielding ambition of Palmer & Messeiller. During the process, the rules governing production broke down almost completely as creative exhaustion set in and the building of small sculptures became a rote function. The show's title borrows from Jean-Claude Van Damme's poignant musings on the potential interconnections that might happen between people when one plus one does not equal two, but eleven. Presented in parallel with this year's Art History Graduate Conference (Singulier Pluriel: Collectivity, Community, Engagement), this project also references keynote speaker Micah Lexier's exhibition One, And Two, And More Than Two (The Power Plant, Toronto, 2013/14), part of which was a group show of 221 artworks by 101 Toronto artists, curated by Lexier and assembled in vitrines.
Additional information
When: Thursday, 6 March 2014, 6 to 9pm
Where: Art History Vitrine, EV 3.809 (near the main office of the Department of Art History)
1515 rue Ste-Catherine Ouest, SGW Campus.