Sightings is a satellite exhibition module created in 2012 and located on the metro level of the EV Building. It features curatorial and artist projects. The success of this initiative lead the Gallery to extend Sightings into 2013. Throughout 2012 only projects by students in Fine Arts were featured. However, in 2013 we have opened up the “cube” to projects from the larger Montreal cultural community.
Temporary exhibition display module now located in the Hall Building, 1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West
July 8 – November 17, 2013
A project by Jo-Anne Balcaen
INVENTORY is an installation that transposes tools and materials from the Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery’s preparatory room into this off-site exhibition space. The preparatory room, adjacent to the Gallery on the ground floor of Concordia’s McConnell Library building, is a 550 sq foot space housing a large worktable, wood working machinery, several metal shelving units, and a vast collection of tools and materials used in the preparation and installation of art exhibitions.
The shift in context from hidden service room to public display module provides an opportunity to reconsider the use value and aesthetic potential of these materials. The usual subordinate role they play in relation to ‘esteemed’ artworks is inverted. Their primary value as working tools is rendered inert by isolating them for the duration of the exhibition. Inventory becomes installation, and use value is exchanged for symbolic value, as the higher status normally ascribed to art is transferred to these practical objects.
Read moreThe accompanying text, written in the jargon of both museum didactic panels and Lee Valley catalog product descriptions, provides a ‘behind-the-scenes’, personal account of the history of some of these objects, revealing their association with well-known artists who presented their work at the Ellen Gallery between 2005-2011, the period when Balcaen worked there as the Gallery’s Exhibition Coordinator. By drawing a link between these materials and the artworks they supported, INVENTORY attempts to transfer meaningfulness and ‘aura’ onto objects based on the significance of an artist’s profile. The success of this transfer relies on the perceived importance the viewer places on the associated artist.
CloseINVENTORY
This exhibition module contains artifacts from the Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery’s preparatory room, a 550 sq foot workspace housing a vast collection of tools and materials used in the preparation and installation of art exhibitions. Amassed over a period of more than 20 years (1992 – 2013), the items on display here represent approximately one-fifth of the preparatory room’s collection. With more than 350 treasures to discover – many never before seen outside the Ellen Gallery’s walls – this collection chronicles the rich history of contemporary exhibition preparation and display.
Among the artifacts of note is the custom-built wooden crate (2009) used in the transportation of a Joe Fafard bronze sculpture titled “The Terrorized”. Travelling over 264 km, this plywood and wood veneer crate with bespoke foam-insulated interior, is an achievement in art packing and shipping well worth preserving for future study by museum professionals.
Displayed on the metal shelves are the remains of a gallon of Rosco™ Video Paint, in TV White 5735 (2007), acquired for the presentation of Montreal artist Adad Hannah’s video projection “Museum Stills”. Boasting an impressively long shelf life, this video paint’s ability to provide correct luminance and RGB balance was a hotly debated topic amongst gallery technicians and media artists of the time. Its acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, remains controversial to this day.
Read moreThe SONY PVM 2950Q monitor road case (2007), located in the centre of the module, was used to store a monitor included in the presentation of German filmmaker Harun Farocki’s “Workers Leaving the Factory in Eleven Decades”. Its fiberglass laminate exterior, double-edge aluminum extrusion, 4” caster wheels, foam-lined interior, recessed nickel-plated latches, heavy-duty ball corners and spring-loaded handles, make this road case a stellar example of design efficiency and impeccable craftsmanship.
Known in internal circles as “the clocks” (2006), these three synchronized clocks (boxed, centre) were purchased online by the Gallery for the reproduction of “3 x Wall Clocks” by Berlin-based, Finnish artist Mika Vainio. While rare, the practice of reproducing art installations made of common, manufactured objects remains a hot-button issue with contemporary art curators. Since the exhibition’s end in the spring of 2006, numerous attempts have been made to integrate “the clocks” into the Gallery’s office infrastructure, without success.
Finally, the delicate ostrich feather duster (c. 1996), best known for its role in removing dust particles from David Altmejd’s sculpture “The Settler”, in the fall of 2005, has been painstakingly preserved in its original condition. While not actually used to remove dust from the sculpture’s main component (dust accumulation on its mirrored surfaces being part of the artist’s concept), the low and imposing support platform was carefully swept at regular intervals, therefore highlighting the contrasting beauty and decay of the sculpture’s varied components.
Jo-Anne Balcaen
CloseJo-Anne Balcaen is a Montreal artist working in a variety of media, including video, audio, installation, and print media. In recent years, her practice has largely focused on the culture of rock music and the attendant phenomena of adulation and delusion. Since the mid-1990s, her work has been shown across Canada, as well as in Europe and in the US. She earned a BFA from the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg (1994), and a MFA from Concordia University, Montreal (2000).
In parallel to her art practice, Balcaen has worked as an Exhibition Coordinator in various Montréal galleries for over 12 years, most notably at the Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery from 2005 to 2011.