Unstable Ground
Robin Cameron, Sarah Ciurysek, Kate Davis, Emily Jones and Dan Siney
Curated by Andrea Pinheiro
Presented at UNIT/PITT Projects, 15 East Pender Street, Vancouver BC Canada
May 7 - 28, 2011, Opening reception May 6, 7 pm
Gallery hours Wednesday to Saturday, noon to 5 pm
"I recalled the voice I had heard; again I questioned whence it came, as vainly as before: it seemed in me--not in the external world. I asked, was it a mere nervous impression--a delusion? I could not conceive or believe: it was more like an inspiration. The wondrous shock of feeling had come like the earthquake which shook the foundations of Paul and Silas's prison: it had opened the doors of the soul's cell, and loosed its bands--it had wakened it out of its sleep, whence it sprang trembling, listening, aghast; then vibrated thrice a cry on my startled ear, an din my quaking heart, and through my spirit; which neither feared nor shook, but exulted as if in joy over the success of one effort it had been privileged to make, independent of the cumbrous body."
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre
This exhibition brings together works that evoke or are driven by instability, fragility and processes of creative and destructive forces that are intimately intertwined. Unstable Ground addressed various notions of instability through aspects of works by Robin Cameron, Sarah Ciurysek, Kate Davis, Emily Jones and Dan Siney. Using the book as a structure, source or trope that is destabilized through some gesture of their process, each of the works embodies transitional states and relies in some way on the movement across formats, mediums and modalities. In this way the book acts as both bridge and rupture.
The initial impetus from this exhibition developed from trying to conflate tectonic processes with the analog book. These forces and forms -- printed matter and seismic activity, moments of extraordinary perceptual access, and the subsequent potentialities of disruption they provide reveal certain inescapable phenomenological qualities of the physical world and information. Additionally these forces are capable of affecting human responses such as disappointment, belief, expectation, nostalgia, fear and hope.
Robin Cameron is currently completing her MFA at Columbia University in New York. She completed her BFA at Emily Carr in 2004. She has shown her work in Vancouver, Toronto, Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia, Mexico, New York, California, Zurich and Tokyo.
Sarah Ciurysek completed her MFA at Concordia University and her BFA at Emily Carr University and Parsons The New School for Design. Sarah has exhibited her photography and video installation work across Canada and is currently preparing for a show in England through Radar. She teaches at Emily Carr and at the University of the Fraser Valley.
Kate Davis completed her BA (Hons) Printmaking in 2000 and an MPhil in Art in Organisational Contexts in 2001 at Glasgow School of Art where she now works as a part-time lecturer. Davis has presented solo shows at Museo de la Ciudad and La Galeria de Comercio, Mexico; Kunsthalle, Basel; Galerie Kamm, Berlin and was selected for Art Now, Tate Britain, London in 2007.
Emily Jones completed her BA (Hon) Fine Art at Oxford Brookes UK, has exhibited work at 319 Scholes, New York, RIV Gallery, Melbourne Australia, Truman Brewery, London and in Barmedical Projects. Jones's Internet based work can be viewed at hydrothermalemerald.com
Dan Siney completed his BFA in photography at Emily Carr in 2003. He is represented by the LES Gallery and has show in Presentation House Gallery in Vancouver and in exhibitions in London, Paris, Mexico City, New York, Barcelona, San Francisco and Tokyo.
UNIT/PITT Projects is grateful for the assistance of the City of Vancouver, the British Columbia Arts Council, the Canada Council and our community of members, volunteers, artists and cultural workers, without whom we would be unable to continue. Special thanks to Surfacecollective.com for their sponsorship of UNIT/PITT Projects's new sign at 15 East Pender Street.