At the FOFA this fall: La Rentrée 2014

The FOFA Gallery opens the fall term with La Rentrée 2014. Jennifer Dorner, the FOFA's new gallery adminsitrator, shares the three separate exhibitions with multiple components that will take over the gallery's various spaces until October 19.

How many works will be exhibited, and how were they selected?

Jennifer Dorner: Eyelash Wars is a multimedia extravaganza by artist duo Jessica Mensch and Emily Pelstring who collaborate under the name Inflatable Deities.

An installation by Jérôme Nadeau titled That innate and ineradicable craving for what is out of the common proves how glad we are to have the natural and tedious course of things interrupted is an excerpt from an essay written by 19^th century philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer and will be hosted in the Black Box.

The third exhibition includes faculty members Cynthia Hammond, Kelly Thompson, and Kathleen Vaughan who are presenting Parallax: Landscapes in Translation in the York Corridor Vitrines. This exhibition will run until September 29.

When visitors enter the FOFA Gallery, what can they expect to see, hear and experience?

JD: Upon entering the gallery, visitors will encounter a black curtain. The experience of moving past the black curtain into this heavily constructed theatrical world is quite a compelling experience.

Inflatable Deities are creating a multimedia installation around a fun narrative that involves two women who own competing beauty supply shops. From Ste. Catherine Street, passersby will see display stacks of TV monitors representing the store window display of one of the beauty supply shops.

Another black curtain that will lead into the Black Box. Passing through the curtain they will experience a dramatic shift between the busy and theatrical space of the Eyelash Wars exhibition and the calm, dimly lit space of Jérôme Nadeau’s minimal installation.

In the centre of the Black Box is a pristine white display table in the centre of the small, dimly-lit room. There is a stack of light-sensitive photographic papers on the display table that will slowly transform as light hits the various paper surfaces.

This installation has an added layer to the documentation of the experience. A web cam will be mounted and will systematically capture images of the table which will then be uploaded to the FOFA Gallery’s website.

The York Corridor vitrines hold a range of works in various media including acrylic on canvas, hand woven digital jacquard cloth, and digital and hand embroidery and textile piecing.

The three artists are working within a similar theme deploying a combination of digital and analogue processes, working with and against authoritative forms of spatial representation. Simultaneously, the works speak to this idea of passage, travel and experience in time. 

What is the role that these works play in a broader context?

JD: The Inflatable Deities’ project is really exploring the ways in which art is displayed and presented to audiences. During the month of August the artists built the installation, shot and edited the videos in the gallery. They are really invested in making use of the entire space and are thinking a lot about the relationship that the different spaces have to their audiences.

The way the artists have incorporated the Ste. Catherine Street level location of the gallery, with its prime window display area into their concept speaks to their underlying narrative is about a commercial venture into the world of beauty supplies.

They have narrowed down to the minutia of eyelashes, so it is inherently about amplifying, exaggerating and showcasing something that might seem trivial or inconsequential. This idea is echoed in their embellished use of materials and sculptural elements, they are incorporating outmoded media, and deliberately using technical malfunctions and disruptive glitches as part of the aesthetic.

The cartoonlike set design is playful and absurd and invites the viewer to explore this dream-like space.

The idea of exhibiting is also present in Nadeau’s installation, although in contrast his work delves into the subtleties of exposing typically unseen production processes.

The role of the work here is to push forward with ideas about the photograph as an object, which then documents the disintegration, disappearance and decay of the paper. Nadeau has created layers to the documentation of his installation: while the paper is changing in time, the installation is being captured from a webcam above. The experience of the viewer and their interaction with the work is also recorded systematically.

The three artists exhibiting in the York Corridor vitrines are professors from different departments within the Faculty of Fine Arts; from art history, fibres and art education.

They each come from distinct areas of research but their works have clear ties and aesthetic sensibilities. The exhibition of their work is accessible to a broad public and it is well positioned in one of the busier corridors on campus.

Landscape as a subject in art has a long history and significance in this part of the world. What’s unique about this is that the three artists are interpreting or exploring the idea of the landscape from new perspectives using different media. Their pieces range from traditional practices (paint on canvas and woven textiles) to newer technologies (computerized looms and digital embroidery). 

The opening of  La Rentrée 2014 will take place on Thursday, September 4, 2014 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the FOFA Gallery in the Integrated Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Integrated Complex (1515 Ste. Catherine St. W.).

About Jennifer Dorner

Jennifer Dorner brings her experience as a gallery director and curator, a teacher, and an artist herself. Most recently she has worked as director of the Independent Media Arts Alliance, where she has been an advocate for arts funding, interdisciplinary arts, and the role of the artist-run centre nationwide.

Dorner has been actively involved in the contemporary visual and media arts community in Canada for over a decade as an artist, and an arts administrator. She lead artist run centres in London, Ontario and Halifax, Nova Scotia, before taking the position of National Director of the Independent Media Arts Alliance / Alliance des arts médiatiques independent, here in Montreal, in 2005.

Dorner holds an MFA in Visual Art from the University of Western Ontario (2001).

The FOFA Gallery presents work showcasing the range and quality of artistic media and concerns as practiced by its current and past faculty, staff and students. In addition, the Gallery will from time to time present work by artists from outside the Concordia community when it enhances, amplifies or informs the pedagogic goals of the Faculty.