grunt gallery Media Lab, Photo Credit: Henri Robideau

grunt has always represented a myriad of disciplines and often contradictory points of view, defying attempts to dogmatize and always presupposing shifting positions. This tradition has grown out of the discussions gallery’s kitchen space, representing the heart of the organization and a point of intersection for many of Vancouver’s artist communities. It has become a place where many points of view collide and the city’s cultural diversity is apparent. The Media Lab is a result of a recent renovation to the kitchen space and continues this heterogeneous tradition, inviting artists of varied backgrounds to present and collaborate within the context of digital media, net.art, video and sound installation. The Media Lab will be used by grunt to develop online audiences,  open our extensive archives to the public, offer artists new opportunities to work in digital media, and provide the gallery increase capacity for educational programming.

One of the main focuses of the Media Lab is the preservation and dissemination of grunt’s archives, amassed over the past 28 years of the gallery’s existence. grunt’s archives are a rich resource of images, video and texts documenting the history of exhibitions, performances and projects.  In order to stimulate these material artists, performers, curators and writers will be invited to dissect the archives, creating new shows, performances, and installations through discussions between the original artists and emerging artists in the digital field.

The Media Lab is an interactive space that provides artists with a programmable context from which to create work. In addition to being a resource that can be used to augment exhibitions in our gallery space, the Media Lab can be used to present artworks designed to be viewed online, video, audio, and works that employ exotic technologies.

In the tradition of it being a site of conversation and exchange, the Media Lab has been designed as a space to house meetings and presentations, expanding grunt’s capacity to support educational programming. Live streamed lectures, participation through telepresence, and audiovisual aids, are features of the Media Lab that allow for an enhanced educational environment. This will allow the gallery to pursue educational programming that has the ability to engage and enlighten as well as auxiliary programming for exhibitions that will take you further into the artist’s world.

The Media Lab is a physical manifestation of grunt’s virtual identity. Like the tip of an iceberg, it is the visible component of grunt’s online community, digital archive, media arts programming, and the exchange of ideas at the heart of the organization.

Emilio Portal, Qiqayt, 2012

Description: An on going installation honouring the complexities and mysteries of Qiqayt history, Canadian colonialism, and the artist’s own personal journey. Emilio Portal was born 1982 in New Westminster, British Columbia, the traditional territory of the Qiqayt nation.

Bio: Emilio Portal is an artist, musician, builder, and designer of French and Peruvian descent. Portal’s work is inherently interdisciplinary and spontaneous – preferring to work in-the-moment, rather than through script. Portal has spent a number of years with Dakota, Nahuatl, and Wixarika elders experiencing the immeasurable wisdom of traditional knowledge. He received a BFA from Laurentian University in 2005, a Bachelor of Environmental Design from Dalhousie in 2007, and graduated from the MFA program at the University of Victoria in 2011.

Exhibition Title: Ominjimendaan/ to remember

Artist: Charlene Vickers
Opening: Thu, 23 February 2012, 7-11pm
Exhibition Dates: Thu, 23 February 2012 – Sat, 31 March 2012

Carvings in wood, grasses wrapped in fabric and hair, and a clan of turtles become signals and searchers to remember those lost or missing.

Grunt gallery is pleased to present the work of Charlene Vickers in her new installation entitled, “Ominjimendaan/ to remember”. This exhibition is comprised of a range of sculptural objects including wrapped grasses, sturdy spear forms, and stylized turtles. At the heart of this exhibition, Vickers evokes a healing space for those who have experienced loss or who are looking for someone who is missing. Within each grass stalk, spear, and turtle, memory is a source of experiential meaning both historical and personal, for maker and viewer.

History, healing and growth are themes of the early wrapped grass and fabric works. By wrapping and binding grasses and hair together with cotton and linen strips, the grasses begin to resemble bone-like forms to evoke vulnerability and recovery. The most recent wrapped grasses stand facing the viewer in relation to their own body. Emphasis on how the body and experiences of the viewer are incorporated in the meaning of the work is crucial.

Tall lengths of pointed, sharpened cedar stand balanced against a wall waiting for someone to employ them with purpose; a story, a history, an action. Resembling spears or tipi poles, one thinks of weaponry, hunting, or traditional shelters that provide protection and sustenance. The initial idea for the form of the work began when thinking of the porcupine quill and its elegant and efficient functionality as deterrent to predators.

The clan of turtles are the searchers of things lost: people, culture, languages, and histories. The clan shuffles, floats, dreams and searches to find lost sisters and family members, then slowly re-enters the land and the rivers from where they came.

This exhibition was produced in cooperation with Urban Shaman Gallery, Winnipeg.

Charlene Vickers is an Anishinabe artist based in Vancouver BC. She graduated from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design (94) and is currently an MFA candidate at Simon Fraser University (2013). Born in Kenora Ontario and raised in Toronto her art explores her Ojibway ancestry and her experiences living and working in urban spaces. Vestige Vagabond, a performance and collaboration with Maria Hupfield was recently presented at the 2011 Santa Fe Indian Art Market hosted by the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts.

Watch the artist interview: