Collaboratory: Systems Systems Crush

Dates: May 21 to June 8, 2002

Artists: Charles Gardner, Kennedy Telford, Caitlin Lewis (Victoria)

Collaboratory: Systems Systems Crush was the first part of a series of three Collaboratory Series presentations programmed at Open Space that utilized an exploratory research sensibility (i.e. laboratory) and co-operative efforts (i.e. collaboration) in subverting traditional concepts of art. This project series set out to encourage dialogue and discussions, multi-disciplinary events, spontaneity, and artistic-risk taking among the artistic community. Artistic (aesthetic, formal and technical concerns), theoretical, social, and local issues were the discussion and production points in an attempt to broaden the dialogue around "New Artistic Practices" and challenge the tenets of traditional art forms.

This installation brought together Charles Gardner (visual artist), Kennedy Telford (visual artist), and Caitlin Lewis (art historian, writer) and drew its inspiration from a long history of pilgrimage paintings. Monoprints, paintings, furniture, household manuals, sketches from notebooks, and other items were presented as clues, information, or leads for the viewer to employ in their journey. As the viewer walked through the space, he or she was confronted with images of violence, tranquility, golden cities, political assassinations, apocalyptic landscapes, and technological disasters.