Perhaps the best ever motorcycle documentary, On Any Sunday (1971) came out during the last major phase of the Vietnam War, a bit before Nixon’s Watergate, and right around the time that the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty was ratified in Moscow. It is fun to imagine, then, how the filmmakers were able to digest these wild episodes of contemporary life and come out with so perfect an expression of individual freedom, complete with awesome wipe-outs, blinding speed, and heart-wrenching flip-flops (Mert Lawwill lost the #1 plate that year while the actor Steve McQueen placed respectably in many events both on and off road). It would seem that utopia depends very much on perspective.

The equilateral triangle, for example, itself a perfect storm in terms of measure, degree, and projection, is still not without its scandals: if for some it comes to symbolize unity at the heart of a circle, the checks and balances of the democratic process, or the Holy Trinity, for others it is the un-deadly Mexican Stand-Off of the geometric set—benign and without agency. In the work of Jenipher Hur, the equilateral triangle acts as both stand-in for pure potential and, conversely, as a point of departure to implicate the flaws of theoretical quandary in general. In fact, if Unified Field Theory has proven elusive for scientists, then Hur’s own quest for total harmony would seem to illustrate again the tragic hard-headedness of unilateral pursuits. But the apparent flexibility of the repeated forms in Momentary Equilibrium of the Fantasy Harmony Schematic, in terms of strategy and materials, creates an unlikely pairing of potential and volition which seems to comically undermine its uniformity. These small intuitive works skirt the boundaries of quasi-acute investigation, and in the end come out a measured rhapsody of charms that spark carefully, each trying in vain to reattach itself to the seat of power. It would seem then, that what we make or do On Any Sunday is of utmost importance, despite rumours to the contrary – that we should rest.

Jenipher Hur is entering her fourth year at Emily Carr Institute. Her playful sculptural works critique the process of critiquing as much as they offer relief from conundrum.