Person/ne Forum: Ethics of Care
A day of discussion on themes related to political agency, personhood and care, in conjunction with the exhibition Person/ne with a group of international writers, researchers, curators and artists. Live events include talks, conversations, and performance, from historical and archives-based projects to consideration of the impact of digital technologies for future solidarity, collaboration and relationality. As an extension of Griffin’s exhibition and residency program, all events are free and open to the public.
Emily Rosamond is a Canadian writer, artist and educator based in London, UK. Her current research stems from an interest in how historically situated performances of selfhood, character and reputation are intertwined with financial and surveillant infrastructures. Emily completed her PhD as a Commonwealth Scholar in Art at Goldsmiths, University of London in 2016. Following lectureships at the University of Kent and Arts University Bournemouth, she joined the Department of Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths in 2017, as Lecturer and Joint Programme Leader, BA Fine Art and History of Art. Emily has guest lectured widely, at venues including ICA, London; F.A.C.T., Liverpool; Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam; and Kunstgebaude, Stuttgart. Her recent publications have appeared in the Journal of Aesthetics & Culture, Paragrana, Finance and Society, International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, Moneylab Reader (Institute of Network Cultures) and Are We All Addicts Now? (Liverpool University Press). Recent exhibitions include A.P.T. Gallery, London; Leu Gallery, Belmont University, Nashville; Karst, Plymouth; ASC Gallery, London; and Tenderpixel, London. Her upcoming two person exhibition at SixtyEight Art Institute, Copenhagen (2020) explores narratologies of prediction through a 1941 patent filed by an actress and composer, which influenced the development of frequency hopping in wifi networks.
Helena Reckitt is a curator and researcher with a longstanding interest in legacies of feminist and queer art, thought and collectivity. She is editor of the books Art and Feminism (Phaidon Press), Acting on AIDS (Serpent’s Tail), and Sanja Ivekovic: Unknown Heroine - A Reader (Calvert 22), and Consultant Editor for the recent survey The Art of Feminism: The Images that Shaped the Fight for Equality (Chronicle and Tate Publishing). With Jennifer Fisher in 2015/2016 she edited two issues of the Journal of Curatorial Studies on affect, curating, and relationality. She has curated group exhibitions including Habits of Care, Getting Rid of Ourselves, and Not Quite How I Remember It, and solo exhibitions with such artists as Yael Bartana, Keren Cytter, and (with Jon Davies) Ryan Trecartin. In 2015 Helena initiated the Feminist Duration Reading Group, a monthly meeting dedicated to the collective exploration of overlooked feminisms from outside the Anglo-American feminist canon, which is currently in residence at the South London Gallery. Reader in Curating in the Art Department at Goldsmiths, University of London, her former positions include Senior Curator, The Power Plant, Toronto; Senior Director of Exhibitions & Education, The Contemporary, Atlanta; Head of Talks, the ICA, London; and Commissioning Editor for Film and Performance Studies, Routledge, London.
Lorilee Wastasecoot is a curatorial intern at the University of Victoria Legacy Art Gallery. Lorilee is Cree from Peguis First Nation with ancestral roots from York Factory in Northern Manitoba. Wastasecoot believes that art is a powerful way for Indigenous people to express and share knowledge about their own cultures. Working with her family, the MacKay Indian Residential School Survivors, the artists and their families involved in the creation of the recently opened exhibition currently on display at the Museum of Vancouver, There Is Truth Here: Creativity and Resilience in Children’s Art from Residential and Day Schools has inspired her to work with Indigenous communities and museum collections to curate exhibits that matter to Indigenous people. Wastasecoot will be curating a Indigenous basketry exhibit at the Legacy Art Gallery in fall 2019, titled, We Carry Our Ancestors: Cedar, Baskets, and Our Relationships with the Land, which involves her year-long research into the largely overlooked basketry work in the University of Victoria collection. Her project situates the baskets as part of a larger discussion on Indigenous women’s traditional artwork into the contemporary. The show will feature Salish and Nuu-chah-nulth historical baskets from the collection and also feature the work of contemporary basket weavers, including Brenda Crabtree, Angela Marston and Deb George. Through this work with the UVIC collection, Wastasecoot has been able to identify a number of previously “unknown” baskets made by Indigenous women from Northern Coast Salish and Nuu-chah-nulth communities.
Lorenzo Fusi is the Artistic Director of PIAC (Prix International d’Art Contemporain) of the Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco. He was the Visiting Academic Curator at the Alberta College of Art + Design where he directed the Illingworth Kerr Gallery between 2016-2018. Previously, he was the Director of Open Eye Gallery, one of the oldest not-for-profit photography galleries in the UK. Prior to this appointment, Fusi was the International Curator at the Liverpool Biennial, for which he curated the 2010 and 2012 renditions, titled Touched and The Unexpected Guest. Between 2001 and 2009 he was the Chief Curator at Palazzo delle Papesse Contemporary Art Centre, to then became the Contemporary Art Curator of the Santa Maria della Scala museum hub in Siena (Italy). Fusi regularly lectures at universities and has a portfolio of over 60 curated exhibition projects and as many publications and almost 200 commissions.
Lam Wong is a contemporary artist, designer and curator based in Vancouver, BC. His interest is primarily rooted in regional West Coast art history, with an emphasis on the development of painting and its avant-garde narrative. Lam’s creative approach is often concerned with blending Eastern philosophies and challenging the notion of painting. As current artist in residence at Griffin Art Projects, Wong will create and perform his “間 / MA Trilogy”, a three-part series of tea ceremony performances taking place within the framework of the exhibition Person/ne, staged in the gallery, residency studio, and outdoors at nearby Capilano River. Wong has a family history with the art of tea for over 15 generations, and creates performances situation his art practice within traditions of Chinese style tea ceremony (gongfu cha) and tea meditation.
