Search and Rescue

Opening Reception: Thursday, 16 October at 8pm 
Artist Presentations and Catalogue Launch: Thursday, 13 November at 8pm

The phrase Search and Rescue conjures notions of salvage, of being adrift or temporarily lost, of effort in the face of unknown difficulties.

These installations, video and performance works by (mostly) recent graduates from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design reflect an aesthetic attitude that rejects permanence and the heroic artistic gesture in favour of the immediate, provisional and personal. Most of the artists have claimed and altered the typically white, unadorned spaces of the gallery using materials and methods associated with movements such as Arte Povera and Fluxus - works may be constructed out of found objects, scraps of paper or fabric, or everyday items literally brought in from their homes. There is much gathering and sorting (of materials, ideas, personae); there is marking and carving of territory; there is also a certain yearning for the secret refuges and daydreams of childhood; and, in the construction of identities, histories, and relationships (fictional or true), there is both audacity and vulnerability. Artists include Tashia Friesen, Andréa Lalonde, Larissa Muzzy, Spencer Ramsay, Valerie Salez, and Grentak (Greg Reynolds and C.A. Swintak). Curated by the basement collective.