CONCURRENT - EVANN SIEBENS & KEITH DOYLE
Keith have been long time collaborators on many projects in life. Both of these works on exhibit as part of Concurrent reflect upon deconstructed and reconstructed realities. Doyle's google-mapped Happy Days building in Detroit that looks like it has seen better days, and Evann's less than 'grand' piano undergoing the long process of restoration after a flood, this imagery projects viewers back into their memories, inviting us to slow down and consider states of change. The work also reflects upon the inherent cultural and economic value systems for all objects, old and new, in our contemporary world.
evann siebens
In the summer of 2013, my
mother’s house in Calgary, the home I was born in and grew up in, was
substantially flooded. My mother’s grand piano was covered with water, the one
I practiced on thousands of times and this triptych of photos are of her
swollen, muddy piano. In the process of restoration, she painstakingly chipped
off all the ivories from the heritage piano, because, “Ivory is endangered and
I wanted to save something precious.” I collaged these photos, printing the
photographs and then re-photographing them with the chipped ivory remnants on
top. The layers of restoration that may become more common as environmental
disasters change our perception of home. These ivories are like fingernails.
And fingernails continue to grow even after a body has died.
Keith and I are married. With
2 kids and a dog. We also sometimes collaborate with our artistic practices.
(And yes, we still like each other.) With these works, we were addressing the
theme of ‘home,’ both our homes of origin and our present shared home. The
works in all mediums are saturated with lived experience, memory and nostalgia.
Evann Siebens often makes
media about movement. Screenings of her short films, documentaries and media
installations include Eyebeam, Centre Pompidou and MOMA. She has attended
residencies at the Banff Centre, and recently attended an ACME residency in the
UK with Keith Doyle exhibiting at HotShoe Gallery, London. A former dancer with
the National Ballet of Canada and Bonn Ballet, Evann graduated from New York
University. Now based in Vancouver, Evann co-curated ContainR, exhibited during
the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Recent shows in 2013 include MediaArtLab/Urban
Screen, St.Petersberg, Russia; On Main, Harcourt House and Winsor Gallery,
Vancouver. Shows in 2014 include Wil Aballe Art Projects, Gallery 295 Vancouver
and dc3, Edmonton. She recently won the ID/Identities Istanbul 2012 Best Video
Prize.
StillFilms is a series of
works that explore the intimate setting of memory. The project is manifest as a
series of 2d graphite works on paper and small scale moving image works of low
action, still settings. The scaled scene/setting of the moving image work is
developed and built from the archived streetview document and animated during
production. Filmed over the course of a night in the studio the liminal
narrative and aural effects embellish a mediated recounting of a true-life
event.
Keith is an Adjunct Research
Associate in Applied Arts at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Trained as
a sculptor and working as a designer he has taught in both the Visual Arts +
Material Practice as well as the Design + Dynamic Media Faculties. One of five
co-creators of ContainR, a public work of design, ContainR featured 48 films
from around the world, including 5 commissioned films made specifically for
containR and broadcast on Bravo!FACT / CTV.
Keith was a recent Resident
Artist at the ACME Studios International Artists Residency Programme in London
UK, a Banff New Media Institute alum, as well as, a NYC Dance Theater Workshop
Artist’s Research Medialab Fellow. IcarusCar, a five channel video and
sculpture installation co-developed while in residence at the Banff New Media
Institute has recently shown at the Hotshoe Gallery, London UK; the Point
Gallery, Salt Spring Island BC; The New Gallery, Calgary, Alberta; Harcourt
House Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta; Vivarium Gallery and Gallery 295 in
Vancouver.
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