مساحة لإعادة تصور الفنون الإعلامية

Past

EXHIBITION: Borderless, Stateless (Themed Commission 2023)

02 August – 02 September 2023

Featuring works by Francisca Jimenez Ortegate, Kasra Goodarznezhad, Lawrence Bird and Tangent Collective (Yantong Li, Beichen Zhang and Shengxu Jin)

Curated by Christina Oyawale and Karina Iskandrsjah

OPENING RECEPTION: Wednesday, 02 August, 5-8pm

“Borderless, Stateless” presents new works by international and local artists Francisca Jimenez Ortegate, Kasra Goodarznezhad, Lawrence Bird, and Tangent Collective, which were produced during the 2023 Themed Commission – Trinity Square Video’s annual summer artist residency.

The theme of “Borderless, Stateless” invites projects that explore and critique the concept of borders, both metaphorically and methodologically, as well as in relation to geopolitics, nationhood, and movement.

In accordance to the sprawling potential afforded by the curated perimeters of the theme, the works in the exhibition acknowledge a myriad of topics and perspectives, including; the complexities, inter-connections and hidden narratives of different Chinese diasporas; the observation of earth’s polarizing temperatures and geological extremities as a way to prepare for climate crisis; as well as critiques on destructive political regimes and global economic systems through acts of mapping and situationist theory tactics. The exhibition focuses on the numerous effects settler nations have (and continue to) extract resources and harm working-class communities. Each artist examines the effects of geopolitical borders – visible and invisible – societal impacts from ecological and anti-capitalistic perspectives that bring about the imbalances that benefit the ruling class.

Image from “This is Not the Last of It.” by Kasra Goodarznezhad

Generously supported by the EQ Bank

Biographies

Francisca Jimenez Ortegate

FRANCISCA JIMENEZ ORTEGATE is a visual artist whose works dialogue between expanded cinema, research and editorial production. Francisca has ventured into photography, video, text and new media; and addresses concerns about the aesthetic gestures that are formed within the great political, historical, natural and even emotional ecosystems where different readings of Latin American landscapes and conflicts converge. Francisca guides exchanges and dialogues between dissimilar groups like Victims of the armed conflict in Colombia, disarmed guerrilla, government armed forces and environmental collectives that are actively reaching for reconciliation.

Kasra Goodarznezhad

KASRA GOODARZNEZHAD is a new media artist working in Performance and Installation with a BFA in Integrated Media from OCADu. He is the co-founder of KOMITE Collective (@komitekomite) and is the Prototyping Lead at UKAI Projects (@ukaiprojects). Throughout his practice, Cassraa has exhibited work in Toronto, Montreal, Berlin, Reykjavik, and Naples. Cassraa’s current practice focuses on themes of displacement, propaganda, repression, and censorship.

Lawrence Bird

LAWRENCE BIRD is a settler artist of Welsh and English heritage, living on Treaty One territory, and in the homeland of the Métis Nation. His background is in architecture and urbanism – which has extended to media art, film and drawing – and has written on these subjects for ARP Books, Intellect Books, Leonardo, and others. Lawrence is fascinated by relationships of image, materiality and space; his work encompasses video exploration of urban sites, projection mapping, installation, and short films. Since 2012 he has developed a body of videos and projections focused on anomalies in popular imaging and mapping programs, focusing on their representation of geography and landscape. This work addresses settlement, and connects the historical scarring of the land with systems of surveillance and image commodification current to our own time. I also have an interest in intersections of early film, contemporary media, and the body.

Tangent Collective

Founded in 2021, Tangent Collective is a nomadic artists and curators collective maneuvering in Toronto/Tkaronto, New York City and China. We incubate cross-disciplinary dialogues and research-based practice on issues surrounding decolonization, global infrastructure, planetary-scale computation and pan-Chinese diaspora.

Yantong Li (b.1998, Dali, China) (based in Toronto, Canada) is a cultural organizer, researcher, and curator. He is an MVS (curatorial) candidate at the University of Toronto. Li works at the intersection of global infrastructure, geopolitics, regional folklore and decolonization. His works and curatorial projects have been shown internationally, which include the Curatorial Awards at Jimei x Arles International Photography Festival, Xiamen, China (2022), Singapore International Photography Festival, Singapore (2022) , Durian-Durian: the First Trans-Southeast Asia Triennial, Guangzhou, China (2023), and The New Gallery, Canada (2024).

Beichen Zhang (b.1993, Shandong, China) (based in New York City, USA and Shandong, China) received his MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art in 2019 (United States). He works with a broad range of media from photographs, essay films, to mixed media installations and institutional research, to investigate the relationship between cultural heritage and Asian colonial history, archive and geopolitical vicissitude, and the fluidity of identity within the post-colonial context. Zhang has exhibited in numerous international platforms such as the 8th Daegu Photo Biennale in South Korea, the 34th Image Forum Festival in Tokyo, the SPE (Social of Photography Education) Media Festival and 2022 Jimei X Arles International Photo Festival. He has received numerous international accolades and nominations, including the nominations for the Foam Paul Huf Award 2023, the nominations C/O Berlin Talent Award 2023, the Best Portfolio Prize of the 8th Singapore International Photography Festival (2022), the selected Artist of Top 20.21 Chinese Contemporary Photographer (2021), the Media Award of the 12th Three Shadows Photography Award (2020).

Shengxu Jin (b.1992, Yanji, China) (based in Yanji, China) is a Chinese Korean artist and curator. His current research envelops the development of network political ecology, the recent buzz of decentralization of web 3.0, blockchain and internet-related practice. As a Korean descendant residing in Northeast China, he also conducts in-depth research surrounding the Korean (朝鲜族) diaspora as part of the broader pan-Asia diasporic landscape, as well as the relationship between the history of North Korea, officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and the motivation of nuclear development and nuclear strategy.