“I think these are the reasons this form of making is so interesting to me. It’s a connection to a rich canon of cultural production and a conversation with history. […] I’m never exactly sure where the work will take me, at least conceptually. I am more concerned with the process(es) and ultimately the rhythm of the work.”
Contemporary art
“The Archive on Ice is a solar-powered digital micro-archive. A miniature database of Ice Follies’ history. The website archiveonice.ca was coded on a Raspberry Pi microcomputer, which is then hosted by a remote server, and powered by PV solar panels. Our digital networks, data centres and technological devices contribute a massive 4% of greenhouse gas emissions. Using solar-power to build a digital archive celebrates a reciprocal relationship with the land, the sun, the lake, and the digital technology. The Archive on Ice is only available to the user as long as the sun shines.” -Imogen Clendinning and Ice Follies
“…the value of the animal archive goes beyond merely being a repository for collected specimens, biological materials, and digitized multimedia. These archives invite us to contemplate alternative futures, to bring past histories of long-gone species to the present and transmit their stories across generations.”
“The Two-Spirit Archive is a significant resource for Two-Spirit, trans, and queer Indigenous peoples—it not only provides insight into the lives of those who have, and continue to, fight for rights, but it also shows us that we’ve always been here, and we always will be.”
“I have been thinking about nuclear culture through the lens of contemporary art and curatorial practice for over five years, becoming particularly interested in what they (art and the curatorial) can offer up in terms of ways to provide insight into or further understand the slow, violent, leaky, messy, amorphous, ubiquitous and ongoing stories of the nuclear.”
“My freeze-frame process slowed down the images, and recreating them as paintings drew it out ever longer. These impressionistic renderings started to lend to your story an archetypal quality, at least for me. […] For now, Ed, your memory might last a little longer.”
“Relational Making is the skillful production of objects, new media, or performances by an Indigenous person that infuses Indigenous epistemologies such as relational, locational, spiritual, communal, and holistic understanding.”
“Rather than a singular, verifiable truth, we understand the production of knowledge as occurring through a series of encounters. For this issue, we extended an open invitation to seven contributors to respond to the themes of art, archives and the environment.”
“Although many Indigenous artists use positionality to ground their work within a cultural and geographical context, Manuel Axel Strain takes this to another level, immersing us in a reality beyond oppressive structures.”
“Meyer concocted a kind of Stampede inversion: “an equine-focussed spectacle, but with the humans performing for the horses, while sharing space.” […] the evidence of what transgressed is shared very minimally in DEEP HORSE TEXTS—appearing only in reference or grainy disposable-cam contact sheets.”
“DIY spaces exist as vital but fleeting moments in time to create new creative networks, learn and engage with cultural production. […] Because let’s be honest, the most important thing about DIY space is the community you can create around it.”