They’re looking at the world through children’s eyes – and what they find may surprise you.
The New Westminster New Media Gallery is presenting its new exhibition, Children, running Nov. 25 through Jan. 22, 2017. An opening reception is set for Thursday, Nov. 24 from 7 to 9 p.m.
The exhibition includes a collection of multi-channel video installations, all using children as a subject and as a mechanism to deconstruct identity, philosophy, memory and social institutions.
“Six artists from six countries bring us humorous, critical and poignant works that challenge preconceptions and disrupt sentimental narratives,” a press release notes. “We are confronted with imaginative beings who ponder existential questions (big and small), who long for ideas, who challenge the limits of familial and societal bonds and who have the inherent qualities needed to reveal some of the absurdities and deficiencies of social structures. Yet truth is elusive, and what we see is not always what it seems.”
Artist Lenka Clayton will join the opening reception on Nov. 24 for a Skype talk, from her Pittsburgh studio, at 7:30 p.m.
See www.newmediagallery.ca or stop in to the gallery at the Anvil Centre, 777 Columbia St., to check out the exhibition.
THE INSTALLATIONS: A QUICK LOOK
The Character (2011): This work by Candice Breitz of South Africa explores to what extent our lives are scripted by outside influences. A group of schoolchildren from Mumbai discuss the attributes of the lead character from a film – a character that is never identified.
The Matrix Effect (2000): This work by Christian Jankowski of Germany pays homage to fellow artists who exhibited in the Matrix exhibitions of Wadsworth Atheneum gallery in the U.K. Jankowski enlisted untrained children aged seven to 10 to take on the role of these artists and act out a script generated from interviews with the curator and artists.
The Distance I Can Be From My Son (2013): This work by Lenka Clayton of the U.K., now based in Pittsburgh, is a suite of works that attempt to measure the distance the artist can be from her son in various environments.
Need Ideas Plz!! (2011): This work by Elisa Giardina Papa of Italy presents a collection of YouTube excerpts from the community of users seeking topics for their work. “What these youngsters feel the need for is an idea to make their videos more popular; the topic matters little,” a release explains.
How Did You Come Into The World? (2015): This work by Chiharu Shiota of Japan presents small children remembering their birth with what Frieze Magazine called “weird precision.”
Here and Elsewhere (2002): This work by Kerry Tribe of the U.S. involves a conversation between a father and his 10-year-old daughter. He is off-camera while she answers his questions on time, memory, representation and identity.
