Opening reception: Thursday, January 11, 6-9 pm
Celebrating the excessive abundance of the archive, Beginning with the Seventies: GLUT is concerned with language, depictions of the woman reader as an artistic genre and the potential of reading as performed resistance. Central to the exhibition, Rereading Room is a reconstruction of the Vancouver Women’s Bookstore (1973-1996) in the second iteration of a project by Alexandra Bischoff. Thirteen artists, writers, theorists and researchers have been invited to occupy the installation as The Readers for the duration of the exhibition, working with and against the inventory by reading, annotating and supplementing the collection to form a dossier of responses. A textile multiple by Kathy Slade will wrap and adorn The Readers and lingering visitors. Lisa Robertson finds in Baudelaire’s dandy a tangible presence for old women in public spaces. A multitude of artworks dating from 1968 to 2017 explore language as a medium and material, including works by Allyson Clay, Judith Copithorne, Gathie Falk, Jamelie Hassan, Germaine Koh, Laiwan, Sara Leydon, Divya Mehra, Adrian Piper, Kristina Lee Podesva, Anne Ramsden, Evelyn Roth and Elizabeth Zvonar, among others that are drawn from the Belkin Art Gallery collection, the Kamloops Art Gallery, SFU Galleries, the Surrey Art Gallery and the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Beginning with the Seventies: GLUT is the first of four exhibitions based upon the Belkin Art Gallery’s research project investigating the 1970s, an era when social movements of all kinds – feminism, environmentalism, LGBTQ rights, Indigenous rights, access to health services and housing – began to coalesce into models of self-organization that overlapped with the production of art and culture. Noting the resurgence of art practice involved with social activism and an increasing interest in the 1970s from younger producers, the Belkin has connected with diverse archives and activist networks to bring forward these histories, to commission new works of art and writing and to provide a space for discussion and debate.
The Beginning with the Seventies project is made possible with the generous support of the Vancouver Foundation, the Canada Council for the Arts, the British Columbia Arts Council, our Belkin Curator’s Forum members and the Department of Canadian Heritage Young Canada Works Program. We are grateful to 221A, Bopha Chhay, Georgia Scherman Projects, Kamloops Art Gallery, Monte Clark Gallery, Samek Art Museum, SFU Art Collection, Surrey Art Gallery and Vancouver Art Gallery for lending works to the exhibition.
Image (above): Colleen Heslin, Franny (detail), 2007/17. Courtesy of the artist and Monte Clark Gallery.
Left to right: Allyson Clay, Some places in the world a woman could walk: Voices from the street, 1995, acrylic, screenprint, photograph, vinyl on canvas; Some places in the world a woman could walk: Regina, 1993, acrylic, screenprint, photograph on canvas; Kathy Slade, Love Poem, 2015, artist book; Colleen Heslin, Franny, 2007/2017, fabric print on chiffon; Kristina Lee Podesva, (r.e.) remarks on colour, 2006, single-channel digital video, 57:26; Adrian Piper, Let’s Talk, from the portfolio 10: Artist as Catalyst, 1992, 5-colour serigraph; Alison Knowles, Coco Princess, 1990, screenprint on fabric.
Photo: Rachel Topham
Left to right: Allyson Clay, Untitled (He didn’t ask her much…), 1990, screenprint on paper; Kelly Mark, Bus Transfer Origami, 1999, 4 bus transfers; Sara Leydon, Untitled (“They Say…”), 1982, hand-coloured silver gelatin print on paper; Sara Leydon, Untitled (Suddenly, There’s A New Way Of Thinking…), 1982, hand-coloured silver gelatin print on paper; Corita Kent, A Song About Greatness, 1964, stencil on paper; Alison Knowles, Coco Princess, 1990, screenprint on fabric.
Photo: Rachel Topham
Left to right: Judith Copithorne: works on paper, 1971-1972; Jo Cook and the Vancouver Women’s Bookstore, The Women’s Book Store Opening, 1972, print on paper; Alexandra Bischoff, Rereading Room: The Vancouver Women’s Bookstore (1973-1996), 2016-18, texts chosen from the 1973 Vancouver Women’s Bookstore catalogue; Kathy Slade, For the Readers, 2018, cotton; Anthea Black and Shamina Chherawala, Handbook: Supporting Queer and Trans Students in Art and Design Education, 2017, Printed by NickShick and Queer Publishing Project.
Photo: Rachel Topham
Left to right: Kathy Slade, For the Readers, 2018, cotton; Judith Copithorne: works on paper, 1971-1972; ; Alexandra Bischoff, Rereading Room: The Vancouver Women’s Bookstore (1973-1996), 2016-18, texts chosen from the 1973 Vancouver Women’s Bookstore catalogue.
Photo: Rachel Topham
Left to right: Judith Copithorne: works on paper, 1971-1972; ; Kathy Slade, For the Readers, 2018, cotton; Alexandra Bischoff, Rereading Room: The Vancouver Women’s Bookstore (1973-1996), 2016-18, texts chosen from the 1973 Vancouver Women’s Bookstore catalogue.
Photo: Rachel Topham
Left to right: Anne Ramsden, Excerpts (Nietzsche on Women), 1992, wood, metal, textile, paper, ink; Gathie Falk, Striped Shirting (Dark Grey and Off White), 2002, acrylic on vellum; Gathie Falk, 14 Rotten Apples, 1970, earthenware; Elizabeth Zvonar, Origin of the World, Peaches in Space, 2010.
Photo: Rachel Topham
Elizabeth Zvonar, Origin of the World, Peaches in Space, 2010, inkjet print.
Left to right: Elizabeth Zvonar, Origin of the World, Peaches in Space, 2010, inkjet print on Kodak semi-matte paper; Gathie Falk, 14 Rotten Apples, 1970, earthenware; Divya Mehra: The Bitch Blues (where does the Divide begin?), 2014; Striving toward enhanced linguistic tolerance, 2014; Doomsday (Collective Failure) OR Death may be your dessert, 2014; You Made Me, 2014; Rebranding YOURSELF as SOMEONE (who could definitively do something else), 2014, sizzurp, acrylic ink on watercolour paper.
Photo: Rachel Topham
Jamelie Hassan, ن , 2009, neon light on ceramic tile.
Photo: Rachel Topham
Laiwan, she who has scanned the flower of the world, 1996, 27 inkjet prints on paper.
Photo: Rachel Topham
Laiwan, she who has scanned the flower of the world, 1996, 27 inkjet prints on paper.
Photo: Rachel Topham
Kelly Mark, I Really Should, 2002, audio, 49:16.
Photo: Rachel Topham
Lisa Robertson, Proverbs of a She-Dandy, 2017, letterpress book.
Photo: Rachel Topham
Kathy Slade, I WANT IT ALL I WANT IT NOW, 2003-18, offset print poster.
Photo: Rachel Topham
Left to right: Ladies Invitational Deadbeat Society (LIDS) with Anthea Black, Nicole Burisch and Wednesday Lupypciw, DO LESS WITH LESS / DO MORE WITH MORE, 2013-14, FUSE magazine pullout; Evelyn Roth, Environment for Reading Recycled from 110 Sweaters, 1974, textile, light fixture.
Photo: Rachel Topham
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Collective Acts taps into the generative potential of archival research by artists into experiments with collective organizing and cooperative production, presenting new work by Dana Claxton, Jeneen Frei Njootli and the ReMatriate Collective, Christine D’Onofrio and Heather Kai Smith, alongside work by Salish Weavers Guild members Mary Peters, Adeline Lorenzetto and Annabel Stewart. Beginning with the Seventies: Collective Acts is curated by Lorna Brown and is the third of four exhibitions based upon the Belkin Art Gallery’s research project investigating the 1970s, an era when social movements of all kinds – feminism, environmentalism, LGBTQ rights, Indigenous rights, access to health services and housing – began to coalesce into models of self-organization that overlapped with the production of art and culture. Noting the resurgence of art practice involved with social activism and an increasing interest in the 1970s from younger producers, the Belkin has connected with diverse archives and activist networks to bring forward these histories, to commission new works of art and writing and to provide a space for discussion and debate.
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How is an archive formed? Memories of performance often exceed the containment of the document, whether photography, film, prop or testimony. As communities disperse and regroup over time, figures may slip away from the centre. Circling around the embodied archive, the exhibition Radial Change is drawn from the title of a dance work by Helen Goodwin. The elusive histories of Goodwin’s choreography and her influence on the interdisciplinary art scene of the 1970s are explored in new installation works by Evann Siebens and by Michael de Courcy.
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Exhibition catalogue from the four exhibitions associated with the Beginning with the Seventies project at the Belkin: GLUT (12 January-8 April 2018), Radial Change (22 June-12 August 2018), Collective Acts (4 September-2 December 2018) and Hexsa'am: To Be Here Always (11 January-7 April 2019), edited by Lorna Brown, Greg Gibson and Jana Tyner. [more information and purchase] -
In the resistance to the violence of gender-based oppression, vibrant – but often ignored – worlds have emerged, full of nuance, humour, and beauty. Correcting an absence of writing about contemporary feminist work by Canadian artists, Desire Change considers the resurgence of feminist art, thought and practice in the past decade by examining artworks that respond to themes of diversity and desire. [more information and purchase] -
As part of the exhibition Beginning with the Seventies: GLUT, the Belkin is pleased to present Groundhog Day Redux, an afternoon symposium addressing the perennial nature of key issues in feminism and both the frustrations and fresh insights that come with repetition. Dian Million and Kristina Lee Podesva, in conversation with Kimberly Phillips, will address the topic of Archive as Body to consider how affect, emotion and embodiment influence out relationship to archives.
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Written by Lisa Robertson, edited by Lorna Brown and Jana Tyner, designed by Derek Barnett, Information Office and printed by Peter Kruty Editions, Brooklyn, NY, Proverbs of a She-Dandy was commissioned on the occasion of the exhibition Beginning with the Seventies: GLUT at the Belkin (12 January-8 April 2018). [more information and purchase] -
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Please join us for a book launch and series of attendant events - readings, discussions, lectures - to celebrate the publication of our Beginning with the Seventies project. The program will take place on Friday, March 6 at the Musqueam Cultural Centre and Saturday, March 7 at the University Centre. Presenters include Lorna Brown, Lisa Darms, Thea Quiray Tagle, Kate Hennessy, Sarah Hunt, Yaniya Lee, Jaqueline Mabey, Allyson Mitchell and Lisa Robertson.
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