#01 – North Bay Post Office Eighty-Four Times, 1910 (Detail)
Marc Losier’s newest exhibition, Échange (Exchange)/Post(e) – North Bay, at White Water Gallery is a series of rediscovered images of our region found in archive collections from Toronto. Each of the works reflects a unique aspect of local history re-envisioned through the eyes of the artist. The exhibition is presented as a trading post, of sorts, where the values of the works are based on the individualized relationship between the audience member and the image. The trade is made through the exchange of reflective stories or expressions of interest in each piece of work, which are recorded in the exhibition’s receipt book. The records of the works and the documentation of the trade are both archived making the reflections as meaningful and valuable as the work itself.
Échange (Exchange)/Post(e) – North Bay will be on view at the White Water Gallery until May 30th, when the Gallery will hold a closing reception with the artist at 9pm as part of the Dream Big Conference.
Marc Losier is a French-Canadian artist and photographer, based in San Francisco and Toronto, whose work revives histories, documents, and materials as a means of destabilizing standpoints and perceptions. He has participated in visual arts residencies at The Banff Centre and the Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, California, and his works have been exhibited in the Toronto Images Festival, Open Engagement in Portland, Oregon, the Canadian Heritage Foundation, and in a solo exhibition at Dwinelle Hall Gallery at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2013, he was the recipient of a Toronto Arts Council emerging visual artist award, and in May 2014 was invited to participate in the FAAS 4 visual arts biennale in Sudbury, Ontario. He currently teaches at Ryerson University’s School of Image Arts and OCAD University, and has previously taught at the San Francisco Art Institute.
After reflecting on the history of the White Water Gallery as well as several other Artist-run Centre’s Curators Fynn Leitch and Clayton Windatt generated the following text as a summary. It was installed at the WKP Kennedy Gallery on behalf of the White Water Gallery, at Ice Follies 2014: Ohkwamingininiwug on the frozen Ice of Lake Nipissing and at Artspace in Peterborough. Each site has significant relevance to each statement and the meaning behind each piece connects to the space.
1) ARTIST-RUN CENTRES WERE FOUNDED IN REACTION TO A PERCIEVED LACK OF EXHIBITION SPACE FOR EXPERIMENTAL CONTEMPORARY ART. WE WERE, AND STRIVE TO REMAIN, ALTERNATIVE SPACES THAT PUSH BOUNDARIES. WE ARE OBSESSED WITH NEWNESS. OUR GROWTH RESPONDS TO EMERGING PRACTICES THAT ARE SHAPED BY ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS, AND A NEED TO APPEAL TO THE STATED PRIORITIES OF OUR FUNDING BODIES. THOUGHTFUL AND CAREFUL REFLECTION SEEMS A LUXURY. DO WE REALLY UNDERSTAND WHAT IT MEANS TO BE RESPONSIVE AND INNOVATIVE FOR MORE THAN 4 DECADES?
2) AS WE GROW, THE QUESTION OF FOLLOWING OUR ROOTS BECOMES PRESSING. RESPECTING OUR ORIGINS IS IMPORTANT BUT IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE GIVEN THE CURRENT ENVIRONMENT? IS THE CLIMATE FLEXIBLE ENOUGH TO ACCOMMODATE A NEW MODEL OF EXISTENCE THAT ALLOWS FOR THOUGHTFUL REFLECTION AND AN INTEREST IN THE PAST?
3) THE STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE ON INCREASINGLY SCARCE RESOURCES CAN BREED COMPETITION, FEAR, AND THE WILLINGNESS TO COMPROMISE. STRENGTH DURING THIS TIME OF RENEWAL IS CRITICAL AND WE NEED TO STICK TOGETHER. IT IS EASY TO BECOME CYNICAL, ESPECIALLY AT OUR AGE, BUT NOW IS THE TIME FOR OPTIMISM. WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE AND CHANGE THE WORLD AFTER ALL; WE ARE ARTIST-RUN CENTRES.
These statements lead towards an additional campaign where Fynn Leitch took the conversation further at the Festival of Alternative Art Sudbury (FAAS4) which was conducted by La Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario in Sudbury. The Hyperbolic ARC was created as a result and a series of slogans were produced on tote bags furthering the temporary nature of our existence and emphasizing many of the changes that we are facing in Artist-Run Centres today.
