“HYPER-CRAFT studio” is a 24hour installation of Aja Rose Bond’s art studio, recent works, a major work in progress, a large data flow diagram and the first performance of the sound piece “Labyrinthine”. It is the closing event of her residency at the Hammock.
Friday, April 29 – Saturday, April 30 2011.
Artbank, 1897 Powell st. Vancouver B.C.
Opening: Friday, April 29, 2011, 8pm
Open Hours: Until April 30, 2011, 12 – 5pm
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“We are at a moment where traditional binaries in art and craft theory – high/low art, functional/non-functional, digital/analog, hand/machine – are no longer viable, where the imploding contradictions and distinctions between the material conditions of practice and the rhetoric that accompanies them no longer maintain their discrete autonomy but intersect and collide. It is in these points of intersection and rupture between practice and theory where things get interesting.”
– Ingrid Bachmann, New Craft Paradigms
The prefix hyper- denotes an exagerration, “over, beyond, overmuch, above measure.” In hyper-craft, it is an exagerrated emphasis of materials and their qualities. It’s not that hyper-craft work is more physical than other kinds necessarily, but that it uses particular references and methods to bring attention to the materiality of the work. I understand this to be a restorative gesture of balancing more than an extreme in an art-culture that consistently exhalts ideas, theories and concepts at the expense/neglect of the physical qualities of works.
The split between the physical and intellectual is deep and profound. It affects everything. Exploring the much denied co-dependence of these realms is an act of healing. Incorporating the rich histories and social use-contexts of a craft-associated method or material has a way of disrupting or displacing the dominance of the “idea” of the work. It is grounding. Often it is considered base and maligned.
Art and Craft have distinctions as the physical and intellectual do, but to polarize and oppose them is counter-productive and detrimental to our ability to deeply and fully experience either. If these dualities were instead to be placed on a 3-dimensional spectrum, hypercraft would place itself somewhere in the center. Where these seemingly seperate systems interact is where they are most dynamic and unstable. If radical change and wholeness is desired, this is one place where it is to be found.
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Aja Rose Bond is an intermedia artist with background in music, craft and fashion respectively, drawing from the deep influence of D.I.Y. punk, Anarcha-Feminism and Witchcraft. She explores the interplay of the public and the private through collaborations, collective organizing, solo-projects and a variety of mediums including sound, performance, installation, textile sculpture, drawing, painting, collage and social practices. By attempting to balance service and self-care within her practice as a whole, and by ritualizing both process and presentation, she creates spaces wherein their boundaries may overlap or dissolve altogether.
While at once being a political statement and an economic necessity, the use of found and reclaimed materials is instrumental to her understanding of the subtle life within objects. She is especially drawn to the use of found cassettes, fabric that has been worn on the body and salvaged fur and leather because of their inherent and tangible past-lives. Her intimate relationship with occult traditions has deeply informed her process which includes the use of divination, symbols and geometry to align and reveal the more hidden elemental and energetic aspects of the work. It is an intuitive/intentional approach wherein conceptual analysis reveals itself lastly, if at all.
She is self-taught with the exception of some formal training in fashion and contemporary music. Her other projects and collaborations include; The STAG (Strathcona Art Gallery), Her Jazz Noise Collective, UNARC (Underground Network of Artist-Run Culture), WOEVAN (Witches of East Van), Seamrippers Craft Collective, Diadem (w/ husband Gabriel Saloman), In Flux (w/members of Shearing Pinx), DJ Tapes and the Women’s Studies performance series co-produced w/VIVO Media Arts Center. She lives in Vancouver.
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The Hammock Residency is a collaborative art project founded and directed by Vancouver artist Heidi Nagtegaal. Residencies take place in her house and in other spaces in East Vancouver made possible through community partnerships. If you are an artist and have an idea for a residency please visit Hammock’s website for more information. Applications are received year round with flexible programming. Hammock focuses on the process of making art. It is a community hub, happenstance event space and good space to let things happen. It’s the spaces between the thoughts that inform the thoughts and ultimately the art object. Applicants from all creative backgrounds are welcome. www.hammockresidency.com
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Balcone is a non-profit society that presents contemporary art projects in a variety of situations and spaces throughout Vancouver. Without a permanent location, we operate with mobile offices and flexible programs that are reactive to social, political and economic challenges within the local arts community. Our mission is to create a unique context – outside of traditional frameworks – for the practice, curation and exhibition of contemporary art in Vancouver and beyond. Our primary purpose is to advance education by establishing and maintaining artistic programs for the benefit of the community. www.balcone.org
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Artbank – a place for art and music opened May 7th, 2010. 1897 Powell st. Vancouver B.C. – heyartbank@gmail.com – www.heyartbank.tumblr.com
Diadem Discos & Library 