The Pavilion by Holly Ward

Artist in Residence: Holly Ward

  Holly Ward is a Vancouver-based artist whose work has been in a number of recent exhibitions including How Soon is Now, Vancouver Art Gallery; Radical Rupture, Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery, UBC; Gasoline Rainbows, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver; and Voice Overhead, Insa Art Space, Seoul, South Korea. Some of her current work can be seen at Republic Gallery. Holly received her Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Guelph in 2006, having completed undergraduate degrees in both Fine Arts and English at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and the University of New Brunswick. Holly will continue her research interests in utopian thinking through the development of The Pavilion, a project that combines the structure of the geodesic dome through collaboration with faculty and students at Langara College. Her project will explore interdisciplinary exploration, sustainable construction practices and a creative learning initiative that will engage the campus community and the public at large.

Project: The Pavilion

The Langara College Centre for Art in Public Spaces presents The Pavilion, a project by Holly Ward. The Pavilion is an artist project wherein a geodesic dome is built to function as a project space until April 2010. It was built as an experimental collaboration with Ward, Langara College students and community volunteers. The dome began its construction phase on Saturday, September 26, and was completed in approximately 2 weeks.

The geodesic dome, a form originally designed in the 1930s by engineer Richard Buckminster Fuller, represents an alternative architectural framework (one in which there are no right angles) has been used in large scale projects including the Montreal Expo in 1967.
Symbolic of difference and utopian thinking, the geodesic dome form became a symbol of the back-to the landers of the late 1960s and has a specific connection to mid-century west coast artistic practice and a Do-It-Yourself culture. By placing a dome on the Langara College campus, students and the larger artistic community will have a chance to explore the remnants of utopian thinking and artistic experimentation.

Events

From January through April 2010, The Pavilion will serve as a space for a variety of projects, including readings, exhibits, and performances. All events take place at the Langara College main campus.     

The Pavilion Grand Opening - Ideas and Integrities	Jan 14 - Feb 6,2010 Exhibition hours:1-5pm, Thursdays, Fridays, and SaturdaysLocation: The Pavilion (Langara College front lawn)	The Langara College Centre for Art in Public Spaces invites you to the grand opening of The Pavilion, a project by current Artist-in-Residence Holly Ward. On January 14, 2010, from 4-8pm, students, artists and the general public are invited to its first exhibition, Ideas and Integrities: A Utopian Library. The exhibition will take place inside The Pavilion dome located on the front lawn of Langara College.  The Pavilion is a geodesic dome intended to serve as a catalyst for speculative thinking and artistic experimentation. The public is invited to attend the program of events taking place in The Pavilion from January through April 2010. Ideas and Integrities: A Utopian Library features the utopian literature collection of Denman Island anarchist poet and scholar Ron Sakolsky. The exhibition serves to highlight aspects of The Pavilion as a model of utopian thinking. A selection of utopian literature, theory, and case-studies will be available to read on-site in the dome’s lounge area from 1-5pm on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays until February 6, 2010.
The Pavilion - Ideas and Integrities: A Utopian Library exhibition	January 14-February 6, 2010 Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays from 1-5pm The Pavilion (front lawn)	Ideas and Integrities: A Utopian Library exhibition will be held at The Pavilion dome, and serves to highlight aspects of The Pavilion as a model of utopian thinking. The exhibition features a lounge area which includes a hanging bookcase, inspired by the design of Buckminster Fuller, hammocks, and plants. Guests are invited to browse through the literature collection of Denman Island utopian poet and scholar Ron Sakolsky to explore utopian thinking. Ron Sakolsky is an anarchist poet and scholar that has published several articles and works on the topic of utopianism and anarchy. His works include Creating Anarchy (2005), Swift Winds (2009), and Islands of Resistence: Pirate Radio in Canada (2010). During his tenure at the University of Illinois at Springfield, Sakolsky also designed and taught a course entitled "The Utopian Imagination" in the Studies in Social Change Program. Book Reading January 28: Sakolsky will be present on January 28 at 6pm to read from his new book, Swift Winds. The reading will take place inside The Pavilion.
The New Paradigm: Models, Diagrams, Proposals and Provisions for the Coming Age	Opening Celebration March 3rd, 5-8pm March 4-27, 2010, 1-5pm Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays  The Pavillion (front lawn)	The Langara College Centre for Art in Public Spaces invites you toThe New Paradigm: Models, Diagrams, Proposals and Provisions for the Coming Age. Featuring new work by artists Geoffrey Farmer, Devon Knowles, T&T, Ron Tran and Elizabeth Zvonar, The New Paradigm utilizes the context of The Pavilion as an oracle to present artworks that function as generative, reflexive tools that orient us towards our collective future. The role of creative work, whether it be craft, assemblage, collage or collecting is presented as a crucial element of extropy - the prediction that human intelligence and technology will enable life to expand in an orderly way throughout the universe. The playful approach to this journey that these artists have taken indicates an auspicious outcome.
A Poetry Reading: Occupying Minds	Thursday, April 8, 2010 7pm The Pavilion (front lawn)	Occupying Minds is a reading on the theme of “the university” in conjunction with a projection of Sabine Bitter and Helmut Weber’s The University Paradox, an installation shown concurrently in Galerie Grita Insam, Vienna. Organized by Jeff Derksen, the reading consists of a group of poets who work in and through the education industry. All language is in solidarity against "the shipwreck of the singular" (George Oppen) with all eyes on the future horizon. Reader line-up: Clint Burnham, Stephen Collis, Jeff Derksen, Kim Duff, Reg Johanson, Larissa Lai, Donato Mancini, and Cecily Nicholson.
The University Paradox - Projection by Bitter & Weber	Opening: April 8, 1-9pm Exhibit: April 9 & 10, 1-5pm Location: The Pavilion (front lawn)	The University Paradox - Projection by Bitter & Weber A work of mediated images of student protests, university occupations, and political aesthetics from 1968 to today. Drawn from the archives of Simon Fraser University and documentation of the recent occupation of the University of Vienna, this exhibition of mediated photographs springs from the super stylish and super affective political and aesthetic revolutionary campus movements. About Sabine Bitter and Helmut Weber Sabine Bitter and Helmut Weber live, work, and teach in Vancouver and Vienna. Their work focuses on city life, architecture, and spatial practices. Recently their art has aimed to represent forms of autogestion (or self-management) in post-Fordist cities such as new Belgrade, Caracas, and Vancouver.