Oh, Canada : Amalie Atkins

By Leah Taylor

Exhibition curated by Denise Markonish, MASS MoCA, North Adams, MASS, USA

On a warm weekend in May hundreds of artists, curators and critics descended onto the city of North Adams, Massachusetts to take in an exhibition that caused a flurry of excitement within the Canadian art community.

“Oh, Canada” at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) showcases over 60 artists selected from across this country. With the exhibition, curator Denise Markonish aimed to create a dialogue about contemporary art made in Canada.

Upon entering the installation, I was greeted by a large feature wall painted bright Canadian red, holding the didactic. Next to the wall stands an oversized taxidermy-like bear created using felt roses by artist Janice Wright Cheney. The pairing of these elements made me apprehensive the exhibition would be decidedly recognizable as Canadiana.

As I moved through the exhibition, it became more evident that Markonish had curated an incredibly diverse survey of contemporary Canadian art. It has been said that “Oh, Canada” is the largest contemporary exhibit to look “North” that has occurred outside of Canada. Despite the fact that this exhibition has been mounted in the massive 14,000 square feet comprising MASS MoCA’s first floor galleries, as well as additional outdoor spaces, “Oh, Canada” is a tight, dense installation.

Artist Amalie Atkins was decidedly drawn into the spotlight as a primary representative for “Oh, Canada” when Markonish selected her work for much of the exhibitions visual branding. It seems the exhibition has catapulted Atkins’ career into a new trajectory: included alongside her work are many of Canada’s heavy hitting artists such as Rebecca Belmore, Shary Boyle, Eric Cameron, Douglas Coupland, and Michael Snow, to name a few.

Atkins’ inclusion in “Oh, Canada” illustrates the fine balance Markonish was able to strike between established and mid-career artists. Albeit some may argue that she missed numerous key players, others may say it is a fresh take (or counter-narrative) on who “could” rather than “should” represent the current climate in Canadian contemporary art.

Atkins’ piece selected for “Oh, Canada” is titled Tracking the Wolfe: Three Minute Miracle (2008). This piece is incorporates two components, a video, that may be viewed upon entering the second component, which is an installation of a white circular felted tent. Reminiscent of a circus tent crossed with a child’s snow fort, Atkins suggests that the tent also has less literal references to a yurt and a grain bin. Outside the tent sits a row of five pairs of hand-stitched, white felt boots, ordered from smallest to largest. The boots are designed to be worn by viewers and protect their feet from the snow-like salt crystals covering the floor inside the tent. Atkins’ inspiration for the boots is drawn from the traditional Russian footwear called Valenki – literally meaning “made by felt.”

The salt crystals lining the floor of the tent are imbued with layers of meanings, one being the natural healing properties of salt. Atkins associates the healing element as a construct to address  “loss” and “grief.” More literally, the salt creates a crunching sound that emulates the sound of walking on snow on a cold winter’s day in the prairies.

Surrounded by white felt, the tent seemed to transport the viewers from the 30 degree environment of North Adams to the snow flurried prairie landscape of a winter in Saskatchewan.

“I’ve always wanted to make some kind of viewing environment for the film that would extend the experience of watching [it],” Atkins said. “To bring you into the film in a way that feels like you almost become part of that world, or at least one layer closer to being part of it.”

During my first encounter with Tracking the Wolfe at MASS MoCA, there was a young girl sitting at the felted boots trying on each pair until she found her size. It appeared as though Atkins drew upon a Goldilocks and the Three Bears-like inspiration to create this form of participatory engagement with the gallery viewers.

Atkins’ ability to turn a serious contemporary art encounter, such as “Oh, Canada,” into a playful and even child-like memory, while simultaneously remaining relevant, poignant and engaging, marks the success of Tracking the Wolfe amongst the many other powerful works that surround her piece.

On the last day of the “Oh, Canada” opening weekend, Atkins performed the soundtrack to Tracking the Wolfe live. Accompanied by her sister Tanjalene Kuhl on piano and a choir comprised of MASS MoCA employees, together they created a live musical version of I’ve Got A Full Set of Teeth, the theme song to her film. Atkins sat on a red felted bicycle, her pedaling generated the projection of the video Three Minute Miracle, which appeared on a screen facing her audience. The audience consisted of artists, curators and art critics, and Atkins seemed at home.

“If I had gone into that performance, with that audience, cold it would have been extremely intimidating. But because it was at the end of the weekend, and the collective experience, it felt like performing for family,”Atkins said.

As an audience member, the warmth, support and patriotism projected back at Atkins was most certainly evident and could be felt throughout the room during the performance.

Atkins encountered a minor glitch at the start of the performance, when the projector was catching the loop of the film. Victoria Stanton, who originally commissioned this performance, encouraged Atkins to embrace such unexpected performative errors.

“We talked a lot about failure and how the performance has a lot to do with failure,” Atkins said.

The glitch in North Adams was affirming to Atkins who feels as though she doesn’t need to build in that imperfection, as it already exists in the work.

“I don’t need to make that happen, probably at some point it will just happen,” she stated.

Atkins’ willingness to push her practice into an uncomfortable and potentially embarrassing place is central to the complexity and experimental resonance that marks the success of her piece.

Midway through the performance, Atkins got off the bicycle as a man with a felted wolf head (a character out of the film) appeared with fragile trays of tiny glass jars, each containing a gold ceramic tooth, symbolic of the teeth featured in the film. Atkins and Kuhl handed out the little jars to the audience. It was rather magical and humbling seeing the giddy smiles of the audience members as they received the tiny souvenir from the endearing performance.

This performance contextualized the collective and collaborative way in which Atkins created the film Three Minute Miracle. Everyone has a role or feels as though they participated in the making of her projects, whether they are an animal in the film, singing in the live choir, or rattling a tiny gold tooth in a jar, she creates a seemingly magical moment out of the everyday.

The weekend events at MASS MoCA will most certainly hold a lasting memory for the artists who were included and for those of us who had the opportunity to be there and experience the 110,000 square feet of gallery space. Not to mention the expansive grounds that house the incredible historic converted factory, that was occupied by the Sprague Electric Company until 1985, and established as MASS MoCA in 1986.

After the smoke had cleared, Atkins returned to her home-based studio in Saskatoon.

When asked if this exhibition has changed her career she replied:

“In some ways it hasn’t changed anything in terms of my art practice and daily life … it was the starting point for other things to happen. I’ve been working really hard for ten years, just making my work in Saskatoon, some great things have happened, and I can pinpoint everything and how one thing has led to another.”[1]

In this moment it’s clear that Amalie Atkins is having a good year.