Is there anything left to be done at all? (2014)
Is there anything left to be done at all?
Solo Exhibition
Trinity Square Video
In partnership with the 27th Images Festival
Toronto, Canada
Curated by John G. Hampton
April 12 - May 12, 2014
In 2014, we were invited to undertake a residency at Trinity Square Video in Toronto. Because the residency was dedicated to art production, we asked ourselves if it was possible to embrace the non-productive without depriving ourselves of the potential to act. As artistic practices are increasingly complicit with high-performance culture in contemporary labour regimes, we were interested in exploring what would remain of the desire to act if the compulsion to produce for the sake of productivity were suspended. After breaking the links that bind intention with realization, effort with reward, we wanted to see what-if anything-there is left to do.
To explore these questions, we invited four artists-Justine A. Chambers (dancer, choreographer), Kevin Rodgers (visual artist), Rodrigo Martì (community-engaged artist) and Ryan Tong (hardcore singer)-to the gallery to workshop the generative potential of unproductive labour and expenditure in creative labour. By suspending the expectation to produce something for someone or for something, we encouraged our collaborators to engage with the desires that drive their creative practice without being oriented towards any specific purpose.
The installation consists of selected fragments from the video recordings made during these explorations as well as sculptural elements that reflect the material and spatial arrangements that emerged during this process.
With the collaboration of Justine A. Chambers, Rodrigo Martì, Kevin Rodgers and Ryan Tong.
Work presented: Is there anything left to be done at all?
