Rodrigo Marti on his Artistic Practice and Working at CIVIC Space

Just last month our friend Rodrigo Marti put together a project here at CIVIC Space, the substantially titled, “THANKSGIVING * DIA DE ACCION DE GRACIA * FOR THE LOVE OF GOD * POR EL AMOR DE DIOS * CLOTHING SWAP * MERCADO TRUEQUE DE ROPA“. Near the end of Rodrigo’s stay in Windsor, he sat down with Dennis Hunkler of ArtWindsor, which is a fairly new web-only Windsor arts resource put together by Arturo Herrera. It features, among other things, interviews with Windsor artists, most of whom are just starting their careers in the arts and are speculating as to what will happen. It’s an interesting twist on conventional artist interviews and in the best cases, helps to capture a time of unlimited possibility.

After chatting with Dennis earlier in the setup of his show, Rodrigo sat down again and discussed the issues surrounding the kind of work he does, the misconceptions that often arise, and how he intended the work to function.

To learn more about Rodrigo’s work, please visit here.

THANKSGIVING * DIA DE ACCION DE GRACIA * FOR THE LOVE OF GOD * POR EL AMOR DE DIOS * CLOTHING SWAP * MERCADO TRUEQUE DE ROPA BY RODRIGO MARTI

Rodrigo Marti (2013)

THANKSGIVING * DIA DE ACCION DE GRACIA * FOR THE LOVE OF GOD * POR EL AMOR DE DIOS * CLOTHING SWAP * MERCADO TRUEQUE DE ROPA

Open Monday-Thursday from 12pm-6pm between October 14th and November 2nd, 2013 – CIVIC Space (411 Pelissier Street, Windsor, Ontario) – Closing Reception on November 1st from 6-9pm

For Rodrigo Marti‘s residency/exhibition at CIVIC Space, the artist is considering the responsibility between Windsorites and the Temporary Foreign Worker population based around nearby Leamington.

The Ghanian-British philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah see’s cosmopolitanism, the way of the global citizen, as a position that will aid in filling the gap between groups and peoples in a globalized world. Our evolutionary specialty is in relating and maintaining a sense of responsibility for others through face-to-face relations (ie – our family, friends, immediate community), the problem Appiah asks us is how can we find and maintain a sense of responsibility for those distant groups and cultures that we now affect and interact with on a daily basis?

Using clothing and fashion as a starting point to consider identity, culture and place, the artist has set up a clothing swap installation open to the public from Monday-Thursday from 12-6 between October 14th and November 2nd, 2013. There will also be a closing reception held at CIVIC Space on Friday, November 1st from 6-9pm.

Please come visit, drop-off, pick-up, or exchange clothing!

Christian Boltanski’s No Man’s Land

Have you ever sat back and contemplated how much ‘stuff’ you use on a weekly, even daily basis? Do you consider clothing to be items of utility or a means to show others what type of person you are? These are a couple of the questions I imagine Christian Boltanski is trying to address with his work No Man’s Land. “This sprawling piece is centered around a 30-ton mass of clothes that is picked up and dropped — in an act of abject futility — by a massive, industrial crane. All around are tidy squares of used clothing, illuminated by harsh fluorescent lights. […] The dire industrial backdrop keeps things suitably grim.” There is a strong message of life and death here also.

Via: C-Monster

Continue reading “Christian Boltanski’s No Man’s Land”