Sara Graham: Department of Systems Oversight 1968-1973

OPENING RECEPTION: 22 October, 8 PM

Investigating the contemporary city as subject matter, Toronto-based artist Sara Graham explores geographic fictions through the means and methods of architecture, urban planning and art. Hers is a cross-disciplinary approach that incorporates philosophical, cultural, sociological and architectural criticism of the nature and condition of the city and urban life. The continuation of a project Graham began in 2006 that traces a plausible historical trajectory, Department of Systems Oversight 1968-1973 (DSO) is a site installation based on a deliberately obscure blending of fact and fiction. It is situated within the specific historical period 1968-1973 – a utopian moment in Western society characterized by an optimism that systems were open to renewal and could generate innovative configurations that would support new forms of living through environmental control. The DSO was established as an ‘impartial’ global organization, a ‘watchdog’ so to speak, to monitor and document how we shape and are shaped by systems. It was charged with the responsibility of ensuring the recording of future implementation and integration of local, national and international systems of all kinds and purposes. The energy crisis of the early 1970s abruptly ended this mood of optimism; the DSO encompasses both the utopian dreams of systems theory and its ultimate futility. The artist acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council.