Quick Draw Artist Interviews are a series of
interviews conducted by Otino Corsano using Facebook's IM Chat feature.
Spontaneous conversations with international artists are recorded and
documented specifically for publication on this blog.
Quick: Approaching. Stepping backwards to frame. Minor
clash. The only other media is focusing. I step on her foot and she ribs my
stomach. I grab her arm to recover and she pulls me back to balance. Coordination
is not the center of our attention. Tonight we have more grave concerns. Like
the monuments we are to manufacture; then present; before dismantling. Our
drones are your command. Until further revealed. Draw: art about art.
VSVSVS (pronounced versus versus versus) is a seven-person
collective including: Anthony Cooper, James Gardner, Laura Simon, Miles Stemp,
Ryan Clayton, Stephen McLeod and Wallis Cheung. It is also an artist-run centre
based out of a warehouse in the Portlands of Toronto, Ontario. Formed in 2010,
their activities have encompassed collective art making, a residency program, a
formal exhibition space, and individual studio practices. VSVSVS’ collective
work focuses on the collaborative production of multiples, drawings, video
works, sculpture, installations, and performance. An open framework allows each
member to play to our their own interests and ends, while contributing to a
common goal.
VSVSVS recently created a visual art installation customized for the
Carlu to celebrate the 18th annual Canadian Art Gallery Hop Gala
held on September 19th, 2013. They are also included in Micah
Lexier’s “More Than Two (Let It Make Itself)” curatorial project currently on
view at the Power Plant in Toronto till January 5th, 2014.
VSVSVS
Chat Conversation Start
Today
2 minutes ago
Otino
6:59pm
Hi James,
Hopefully you can gather around a central computer and use your
FB account for the interview.
Otino
7:26pm
Hey James,
What is VSVSVS’ tel#?
Are we using your Facebook account or Laura's?
James
Gardner
7:29pm
Vs has no phone
Otino
7:30pm
You really are orthodox.
Otino
7:39pm
7 more minutes and I'm ready to roll out this carpet.
Are you all set up?
Laura Simon
7:44pm
Hola, We're all sitting around
looking at a big screen right now.
We'll all answer from this account
and just identify ourselves, if that's alright with you!
Otino
7:47pm
Hi Laura,
My apologies as I was typing to
James' FB account earlier.
Happy you are all set and grateful
for the Oz-environment.
You are kind hosts to accept my
invitation to interview you all as a group.
Laura Simon
7:47pm
No problem. We’ve made it comfy in
here.
Otino
7:50pm
It was nice to find your table at
the Canadian Art Gallery Hop Gala the other evening and finally have the
opportunity to meet all members of VSVSVS in person.
You sincerely seem to get along
quite well as a team.
Laura Simon
7:51pm
Yeah, you're pretty lucky too.
We're talking about having
stand-ins/impersonators go to all our events for us from now on. Just to be
spooky.
Otino
7:51pm
I hear it is a popular technique
among celebrities so why not?
Miles Stemp
7:52pm
We're working on masks.
Otino
7:53pm
Afterwards, I first had the
opportunity to speak with Stephen McLeod in the Carlu’s Round Room where several
VSVSVS works were exhibited and integrated into the Canadian Art Gallery Hop
Gala event space.
Wondering if Stephen can recap our
earlier conversation regarding the headset contraption linked to the topography
of graphics projected onto the Judd-like primary plywood structures?
Possibly a fortuitous question since
you are all currently viewing my thoughts from a data projector right now.
Seen 7:55pm
Stephen
McLeod
7:59pm
Basically we were interested in collecting and presenting bio
data in direct relationship to the Canadian Art Gallery Hop Gala. We felt it
made the most sense to use heart rate and EEG data as they correspond well to
social anxiety in the context of a high stress event. (i.e.: a live art
auction)
Anthony
Cooper
8:00pm
We were always aware and amused with the understanding of just
how few people participate in an interactive piece. So we knew we wanted to
create a reward for those who put themselves out there.
Otino
8:03pm
When was VSVSVS first contacted by the Canadian Art Foundation to
discuss creating these artworks for the Gallery Hop Gala and how did you
generally manage the project as a group?
Florida is typing...
James
Gardner
8:04pm
It felt like a long time ago, it depends on whom you ask.
It definitely was one of the longer lead times we had for a
project.
The project changed and mutated over the course of approximately
4 months.
Otino
8:09pm
The overall effect was streamlined and textural given the
interplay of materials and the incorporation of a full range of media including
interactive components, industrial design aesthetics, sound and light
installation and signature wood-working forms.
Miles
Stemp
8:09pm
This keyboard is terrible, so it's going to take a bit of time
to type replies, sorry.
Anthony
Cooper
8:10pm
Disparate ideas were able to congeal into a coherent
multi-facetted production.
Stephen
McLeod
8:11pm
We sat around our kitchen table a bunch.
Miles
Stemp
8:12pm
It was nice to work at the Carlu and it was a great to have the
support of Canadian Art Magazine and the Canadian Art Foundation.
Otino
8:13pm
Does the fact you all spend a great deal of time in the studio
building affect the type of organizational structure involved in the management
and production of VSVSVS art projects?
Florida is typing...
Laura
Simon
8:13pm
The living environment definitely affects the way we work. As
Steve said, most of the planning happens around our kitchen table. Most of the
hashing and re-hashing of ideas happens there or in other little units
throughout the production process.
Since we're all around most of the time, there's a lot of
mutation happening just because we're sort of always working, albeit pretty
casually a lot of the time...
Otino
8:17pm
Do some individual members take on more supervisory roles to
delegate responsibilities to ensure timelines are met or are you reconsidering
these types of power relationships as a group?
Seen 8:17pm
James
Gardner
8:18pm
Yeah, at first a lot of the ideas get laid down, yet once we get
to work a certain amount of changes take place to accommodate the problems
arising while making the work. It can be hard to make those executive decisions
and be sure that everyone is on board; still, we try to keep everyone up to
speed...
Otino
8:20pm
James, to a degree and possibly reluctantly, you seem to be
considered the face of the group - at least in a public relations perspective
and even possibly historically given the original plan to establish and
organize a Toronto studio space for artists. True? Or is this one of the
perspectives VSVSVS is trying to dispel?
James
Gardner
8:21pm
I’m not sure how you got that impression. In fact it was more
Ryan and Miles who found the space and took the lead to lock this place down,
even if I had always wanted to have a place like VSVSVS.
Stephen
McLeod
8:22pm
We are really enjoying the process of working on these larger
scale projects. There are so many
individual voices and interests that it is difficult for everyone to be heard
without this kind of scale. That being said, whatever project we work on, there
is no leader and all decisions are made collectively.
Anthony
Cooper
8:23pm
Yes, we are pretty vehemently against the idea of any sort of
leader.
Miles
Stemp
8:27pm
This returns to the principles of our collective work and we are
very, very, interested in not having a ‘boss’.
All of our ideas are discussed amongst ourselves equally and we take
great care to ensure everyone has an equal voice.
Otino
8:26pm
What key factors have contributed to VSVSVS' quick rise on the
Canadian art scene? Is it the inherent "competitive" nature found in
your collective's title?
Is this triplicate ‘versus’ notion ironic or not?
Ryan
Clayton
8:28pm
The ‘versus’ in our name doesn't refer to any outside
competition. I always imagined it as an internal motivator. Any successes we
achieve are only possible because we work together to drive each other forward.
Anthony
Cooper
8:29pm
But it has been joked/discussed the VSVSVS title refers to the
micro/macro analogy of the larger art world, where artists are supportive of
art production and development, but competitive and sometimes nasty about
direction and details.
Otino
8:3opm
In my view, this collective strategy has been and is still a
traditionally Canadian approach. It seems native to our country’s art
production and dissemination.
Do you agree these group efforts involve our national and
slightly socialistic sense of artistic equity?
Florida is typing...
Laura
Simon
8:31pm
In terms of whether artist collectives are a traditionally
Canadian, we actually think of our organization in closer terms to Wu Tang's
approach to collective vs. independent careering...
Otino
8:32pm
Are you being serious?
Laura
Simon
8:33pm
Totally.
Otino
8:34pm
General Idea, Group of Seven, Les Automatistes, Painters Eleven,
ChromaZone, Cold City Gallery, Persona Volare, Loop, WhipperSnapper, and the
White House have pioneered or at least share your structure to a degree.
Red Head Gallery is twenty-three years strong with current shows
by Elaine Whittaker, Margie Kelk's upcoming exhibition "SWARF" and
participation at this year’s Toronto International Art Fair.
What distinguishes your collective from these precedents?
James
Gardner
8:36pm
A lot of people keep trying to place us. There are certainly
people organizing and producing art like us, and yes, there are tons of artists
who have done this before; however, it’s not so much we just found this model
and adopted it. More accurately, we were just a few people who wanted an
artistic space to make things.
We have been lucky to have recently received significant
opportunities and so Toronto has been really supportive. It is pretty cool
being in Toronto right now as there are lots of people holding it down.
Otino
8:38pm
Does VSVSVS still draw academic links back to its origins
developing from the University of Guelph's acclaimed Fine Arts program or are
you trying to establish a new autonomy?
Miles
Stemp
8:39pm
We are still connected to Guelph. We have been affiliated with G gallery and
some of our members are still there on the board. We just recently connected
with the FASTWURMS DMS lab as off site researchers.
Otino
8:40pm
Are you committed to developing as a collective entity? How do
you see this collective progressing concurrently with your individual art
practices?
Seen 8:40pm
Anthony
Cooper
8:41pm
We admire the collectives you previously mentioned, yet
distinguish ourselves as an artist collective who create collaborative artwork.
This work is in addition to our studio project housing our individual studios
and also a curated front space playing home to our residency program. We just
want to do a lot of everything all the time. We want to push ourselves.
Wallis
Cheung
8:30pm
I find that living and working together helps to create a
balance between the personal and collective practices. While working in my own
studio ideas for collective projects can be brought up and worked on and I can
still somewhat cross-pollinate the idea. With so many of us involved, I find
myself being pushed outside my comfort zone on collective projects.
Otino
8:43pm
Last time I visited your studio it was specifically to view The
Whidden and René de Cotret VSVSVS Residency. It really was surprisingly
spectacular.
And I'm not being sarcastic in the least.
Florida is typing...
Laura
Simon
8:44pm
Elinor and Julie are great people to have around, in addition to
building a great couch-bull.
Anthony
Cooper
8:45pm
We really are proud of our residency program and that last show
was amazing.
Otino
8:46pm
I truly find it remarkable as a group you are able to
orchestrate these types of programs outside of trying to find food for
yourselves.
Miles
Stemp
8:47pm
It's a lot of work, and we all work other jobs.
A lot of people we talk to about our work presume we create art
exclusively and I usually have to explain we also have day jobs.
Stephen
McLeod
8:49pm
Though we really do try to work as little as possible.
Otino
8:50pm
I've been conducting ongoing research on Warhol and I can't help
draw comparisons to the Factory and how it did not evolve as first anticipated.
Does VSVSVS have an end game scenario planned out? Corporate
visioning?
Laura
Simon
8:51pm
No real end game in mind. There are always short-term goals for
VSVSVS to stay fun and keep us going. And of course, we always have daydreams
about what we could do with new possibilities: new spaces, maybe a farm, even
boat studios tied together floating around a lake somewhere.
Wallis
Cheung
8:30pm
Our endgame is perhaps just a little romantic: to just keep
working together at least until we are old and grumpy. We would all probably
stop collaborating if it was not fun or engaging; so as long as it is still
happening for us I suppose we could work together indefinitely.
Stephen
McLeod
8:53pm
I think what has kept things interesting for us is the fact we
are always changing. This lack of a clear self-definition helps us to respond to
our changing circumstances and not get bored.
Otino
8:54pm
Do you have higher expectation of the art market to support the
development of your phenomenal artistic growth as a creative team?
James
Gardner
8:59pm
This whole art market thing seems rather irrelevant right now. We
have always been interested in finding other ways of getting to do what we want
to do.
There is a ton of really good people in the commercial scene in
Toronto who we are getting to know. It’s not like we are against being able to
make a bit of cash; nevertheless we will manage to keep making stuff
regardless.
Otino
9:00pm
Is there a political undercurrent to the VSVSVS dialogue and collective
vision akin to Tiravanija's "The Land"?
Miles
Stemp
9:02pm
MS: from what we know of Tiravanija's "The Land" it seems more akin to Don Blanche.
9:03pm
Your installation at the Carlu for the Canadian Art Gallery Hop
Gala really accentuated subtle experiments with perception utilizing gem
structures as soundboards. For example, the low drone tone at the elevator
entrance was the perfect soundtrack to accompany the two arching obelisks structures
guarding this zone. Were there collective objectives set for these
site-specific works prior to the onset of production?
Laura
Simon
9:05pm
A lot of our planning emerged through working directly with the
space of the Carlu and having our work be inspired and creatively compliment the
incredible art deco designs of the unique event location.
Ryan
Clayton
9:07pm
The design of the obelisks came from this, but looking at art
deco and seeing their influences and parallels to occultism and science fiction.
We were very interested in creating the subtle experiences and
having these things act as an entrance to actually create a new environment,
and hopefully set an initial state for the experience of the evening.
James
Gardner
9:09pm
Historically obelisks were used to demarcate that sort of space.
Stephen
McLeod
9:10pm
The obelisks emitted a low delta wave frequency reducing anxiety
and are even great for healing back pains.
Otino
9:11pm
Raising interest from sacred monuments?
Seen 9:11pm
Anthony
Cooper
9:12pm
Also the data taken by the two booths fed data on the central
large plywood facades. These structures were based on the forms of a historical
Pylon - the entrance to a temple - yet made of plywood. Mostly these structures
are permanent, but we are working transitionally like nomads.
James
Gardner
9:13pm
A couple of the parts from the show tap into some weird YouTube
subcultures. i.e. Solffegio frequencies and the wonderful world of ASMR
9:15pm
Well I think you all delivered at the Carlu almost as well as
Jay-Z dispatched at Pace. And staying with the aforementioned hip-hop metaphors
I hope VSVSVS rises even further to find Laura Owens-like success.
Thanks so much for this great opportunity to speak with all of
you.
VSVSVS
9:20pm
Thank you for the opportunity to discuss our practice.
And for the record, we aren't toooo sure about Jay-Z recent art
performance.
Chat Conversation End
No comments:
Post a Comment