Past Projects : 2000 - 2018
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Serious Games
Printed Matter
Wrong Places Project
La Monte Young Project
Oral Fixations
Mom's Crutch
For selected time-based works ► please go to Videos
GLOBALOPOLY 2000
silkscreen on paper & board, 3" x 97" x 97"
GLOBALOPOLY is a reframing of egregious global histories and power dynamics, by redesigning the board game that functions as mainstream entertainment.
The redesign humorously highlights the original game's dynamics that parallel colonial histories, past and present, that are easily shrugged off and forgotten. Humour becomes a strategy to be more than funny, in order to remember.
Photos: courtesy of the artist
GLOBALOPOLY 2000 (detail)
silkscreen on paper & board, 3" x 97" x 97"
GLOBALOPOLY is 1 of 5 works produced for Serious Games series.
Photos: courtesy of the artist
Serious Games 2000 - 2002
Serious Games re-design classic games used for entertainment and/or education. The changes light-heartedly signal a philosophical shift away from monolingual, dualistic (Hegelian), and colonial perspectives, towards contemporary polyglot, postmodern, and cosmopolitan realities.
Scrababble (2000) uses morphemes instead of letters to create new polysyllabic words. The word creator may use the new word at their next art opening or cocktail party. 1" x 36"x36"
Photos: courtesy of the artist
Serious Games 2000 - 2002
Hybrid Blocks (2000) are language-learning toys that combine two languages per block, reflecting linguistic hybridizations.
12 blocks, each 6" x 6" x 6" (top left, bottom right)
Scrababble (2000) 1" x 36"x36" (top centre, right)
Go Hegel Go (2000) is designed for 3 players, with stones that come in 3 shades of grey. 3" x 17"x16" (bottom left, centre)
Chess Puzzle (2002) is a game for which a player can move either a chess piece or a piece of the board. 1" x 12" x 12" (mid centre)
Photos: courtesy of the artist
Printed Matter 2015 (installation view)
Malaspina Printmakers, Vancouver
Twelve print pairings were produced, bringing together two distinct yet parallel bodies of work - Globalopoly (2000) and Wrong Places Project (2007 - 2015). Produced 15 years apart, the two projects folded into a complementary body of work both formally and conceptually.
Photo: courtesy of the artist
Printed Matter 2015 (detail)
Malaspina Printmakers, Vancouver
11 of the 12 sets of diptych prints, each print 22 x 15
Globalopoly (2000) silk-screen on Arches paper
Wrong Places (2007-2015) digital print on Hahnemuhle paper
Photo: courtesy of the artist
GLOBALOPOLY Postcards 2015
Malaspina Printmakers, Vancouver
Photo: courtesy of the artist
Copies available at
Malaspina Printmakers or
by contacting the artist
Photo: courtesy of the artist
Wrong Places Project Postcards 2015
Malaspina Printmakers, Vancouver
Photo: courtesy of the artist
Copies available at
Malaspina Printmakers or
by contacting the artist
Photo: courtesy of the artist
Wrong Places Project 2007-2015
Greening the DMZ Nicosia Cyprus, 2007
I Have/Had A Dream Edmonton, 2008
El Otro Nueve Once Santiago, Chile 2008
A Measure of War (Je me souviens) Montreál 2010
Lugar Incorrecto (El trabajo de abrirse) Mexico City 2012
Mauvais Endroit / Lugar Incorrecto/ 틀린 장소
A Space, Toronto 2015
(for performance documentations, please go to ► Video)
Wrong Places is a series of site-specific/site-responsive public performances. Through researching specific geopolitical histories, seemingly disparate historical events are juxtaposed and ‘remixed’ – cross culturally and linguistically. In particular, historic public speeches (e.g. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech) is recited, not in English, but in non-native languages foreign to the site. The resulting dissonant readings are intended to counter collective historic amnesia, and to trigger the interconnectedness of forgotten strands of memories and their continuing relevance to contemporary culture and politics.
A Wrong Place (Greening the DMZ) 2007
Green Line, Nicosia, Cyprus
Wrong Place is the first of 6 site-specific performances produced for the Wrong Places Project.
Wrong Place was a response to the site - the Green Line that divided the city of Nicosia, Cyprus into Greek and Turkish territories. Visual signifiers of the Demilitarized Zone in Korea are collapsed onto the contentious politics of the divided island nation, intended to produce wider, global discourse of politics and culture. As part of the performance, reunification poem by the artist's uncle (Moon Ik-hwan / 문익환) was read out loud in Korean.
Wrong Place was commissioned by the Centre for Innovation in Culture and the Arts in Canada for the symposium Performing Identity, Crossing Borders.
Curator: Ashok Mathur
Photo: Bill Greene
A Measure of War (Je me souviens) 2010
Articule, Montreál, October 16, 2010
A Measure of War (Je me souviens) is 1 of 6 site-specific performances produced for the Wrong Places Project.
October Crisis (1970) was a pivotal moment in Anglo-Franco Canadian history. In response to the kidnappings of James Cross and Pierre Laporte by the Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ), Pierre Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act on October 16, 1970. This resulted in a nation-wide suspension of civil liberties and soldiers patrolling the streets of Montréal.
Half century later, how do we remember the event, in the face of a strained national policy of multiculturalism? How do we hear Trudeau's speech and the FLQ Manifesto, when read not in English or French, but in a Third language? How do we claim Third spaces in an increasingly obsolete "Two Solitudes" debate, without unwittingly displacing the voices of First Nations?
Project Assistance: Michelle Lacombe
Photo: Vincent Lafrance
Video: Sylvie Laplante
Once de Septiembre (El otro 9.11 con el tankecito) 2008
La Moneda, Santiago de Chile September 11, 2008
Once de Septiembre is 1 of 6 site-specific performances produced for the Wrong Places Project.
On September 11, 1973, General Augusto Pinochet led a military coup d'état, supported by the CIA and the Chicago School of Economics that sought to quash Chile's social democracy, and forcibly install free market capitalism in Chile. The attack on La Moneda, the Chilean presidential palace. resulted in the overthrow and death of democratically-elected President Salvador Allende.
Under the bemused watch of the police guards, a bicycle-powered "tankecito" was ridden around La Moneda, while reciting Allende's final speech to Chilean bystanders, in both Korean and Spanish.
Curator: Lissette Olivares
Photo: Jorge Aceituno
Video: Cheto Castellano & Ivan Fuentealba
Tank fabrication: Jim Hoehnle
Travel Funding: British Columbia Arts Council
The Tank, the Poem, and the Uniform
Exhibition Catalogue 2015
Malaspina Printmakers, Vancouver
ISBN 978-0-9692998-7-5
Photo: courtesy of the artist
Copies available at Malaspina Printmakers or through the artist
How To Feed A Piano
Exhibition Catalogue 2008
Centre A, Vancouver
ISBN 978-0-9810100-0-7
Photo: courtesy of the artist
Copies available at Centre A or through the artist
La Monte Young Projects 2018
Open Space, Victoria
September 7 - October 20, 2018
This exhibition, curated by Todd Davis and Doug Jarvis, brought together the entire suite of works inspired by La Monte Young's Compositions 1960 :
Composition #5
Composition #10 (to Bob Morris)
Piano Piece for David Tudor #1
Piano Piece for Terry Riley #1
Photo:
How To Feed A Piano 2008
協力: Collective Calligraphy (How to Move a Wall) 2018
(courtesy of the artist)
La Monte Young Projects 2018
Open Space, Victoria
September 7 - October 20, 2018
Exhibition Installations:
Draw a straight line (Zen 4 Mouth) 2003
painted paper scroll, hung from the ceiling, 50' x 1' x 1' (top left)
Walk a straight line 2003
video documentation of 22-hr. walk, Irvine to LA (bottom left)
Bleeding Book 2004
video projection with reflective ink pool, 3" x 108" x 120 (bottom centre)
How To Feed A Piano 2008
baby grand piano, video monitor, bale of hay, pitch fork (bottom right)
Waiting (like teeth inside her gums) 2018
video still; detail (top right)
Collective Calligraphy 2018
calligraphy brush, paper roll, water bucket, 1' x 10' x 30' (middle centre)
Photo: courtesy of the artist
協力: Collective Calligraphy (How To Move A Wall)
Open Space, Victoria
September 8, 2018
Performance (9:20):
In collaboration with Chris Reiche Boucher, Nathan Friedman, Alex Jang, Maria Eduarda Martins, & audience participation.
Video: B. Joel Cran & Lot2.Media
Photo: Zoe Maclean
協力: Collective Calligraphy (How To Move A Wall)
Open Space, Victoria
September 8, 2018
Composition 1960, Piano Piece for Terry Riley #1
"Push the piano up to a wall and put the flat side flush against it. Then continue pushing into the wall. Push as hard as you can. If the piano goes through the wall, keep pushing in the same direction regardless of new obstacles and continue to push as hard as you can whether the piano is stopped against an obstacle or moving. The piece is over when you are too exhausted to push any longer."
Video stills : B. Joel Cran & Lot2.Media
La Monte Young Projects 2003-2008
La Monte Young Projects is a series of performances, videos, and installations that take Young’s Compositions 1960 as departure points. The cited works are interpreted and performed, producing divergent readings, as a way to re-imagine their poetic and political potentials.
Zen for Mouth Track 16 Gallery, LA, 2003
Bleeding Book / Linea Lingua UC Irvine, 2004
Speaking of Butterflies Track 16 Gallery, LA 2004
Mediamorphosis Western Front, Vancouver 2006
M Butterfly New York University, NYC, 2007
Phalogocentrix Fado Toronto, 2007
How To Feed A Piano Centre A, Vancouver 2008
Collective Calligraphy, Opens Space, Victoria 2018
Photo:
Kevin Schmidt (centre column);
courtesy of the artist (left & right columns)
How To Feed A Piano 2008
Centre A, Vancouver May 16, 2008
How To Feed A Piano (in collaboration with Candice Hopkins & Robbie the Clydesdale) is 1 of 7 performances produced for La Monte Young Projects.
Composition 1960, Piano Piece for David Tudor #1
"Bring a bale of hay and a bucket of water onto the stage for the piano to eat and drink. The performer may then feed the piano or leave it to eat by itself. If the former, the piece is over after the piano has been fed. If the latter, it is over after the piano eats or decides not to."
Curator: Makiko Hara
Piano: Hank Bull & Joomi Seo
Project assistance: Gary Gottfriedson, Gerri O'Neill, Elia Kirby,
Robyn Volk, Sean Lang
Project Funding: Franklin Furnace Archive, Inc., Canada Council for the Arts
Photo: Will Ting, Steve Lemay
Speaking of Butterflies
Speaking of Butterflies is a part of the La Monte Young Projects that performs Young's Compositions 1960 #5:
"Turn a butterfly (or any number of butterflies) loose in the performance area.
When the composition is over, be sure to allow the butterfly to fly away outside.
The composition may be any length but if an unlimited amount of time is available, the doors and windows may be opened before the butterfly is turned loose and the composition may be considered finished when the butterfly flies away."
Speaking of Butterflies 2004 Track 16 Gallery, Los Angeles (top row)
Mediamorphosis (Waiting) 2006 Western Front, Vancouver (middle)
M Butterfly (after Shigeko Kubota) 2007 NYU, NYC (bottom)
Photo:
Mark Reyes (top row)
Erin Perry (middle row)
Jaleen Grove (bottom row)
Bleeding Book / Linea Lingua 2004
MFA Thesis Exhibition, UC Irvine, CA
Bleeding Book / Linea Lingua is a project that brings together research into embodied calligraphy and cultural othering/mirroring, in a language performed that is neither spoken nor written. The work was produced in the years following the events of 9/11 in 2001, in response to conditions of violence that rendered rational, articulate voices speechless.
3-channel video installation with reflective pool, 3" x 10' x 12'
Photo: courtesy of the artist
Bleeding Book / Linea Lingua 2004 (detail)
UC Irvine, CA
Bleeding Book 2004 installation view (top left), video still (bottom left)
Linea Lingua 2004 video still (top right), installation view (bottom right)
3-channel video installation with reflective pool, 3" x 10' x 12'
Video: Mark Reyes
Photos: courtesy of the artist
Oral Fixations 2002 - 2023
Oral Fixations is an ongoing body of interdisciplinary work using dental techniques, technologies and biomaterials - from stem cell research to Botox injections - and incorporating them into sculptures, photographs, videos, and performances.
Pearls of Wisdom 2002
Riccochet (with Jeremy Hatch) 2007 (bottom, middle)
Grotesques, A Space, Toronto 2008 (middle/bottom right)
Dental Drawings 2008 Western Front, Vancouver (top left)
SymbioticA Artist Residency 2010 UWA, Perth (top right)
Amelogenesis Imperfecta 2012 grunt gallery, Vancouver
Beautox Me 2012, CSA Gallery, Vancouver (bottom left)
Wish Wisely / Meow Mix 2020
Photo: courtesy of the artist
Pearls of Wisdom 2002
laser-engraved text on human molars
Photo: courtesy of the artist
Artist Residency, SymbioticA 2009
SymbioticA Centre for Biological Arts, Perth
Amelogenesis Imperfecta is an interdisciplinary research project bringing together art and dentistry, conducted at SymbioticA Centre for Biological Arts, Perth during an artist residency. Starting with stem cells harvested from a tooth, I attempted to grow a tiny enamel sculpture in a petri dish - in a process known as amelogenesis. Ultimately, I failed to produce the desired results.
In failing to achieve the desired results, or doing it imperfectly, I then fixed the cells on to glass slides, and used a micro-laser to write and draw on them. The result is art that can only be seen magnified through a microscope.
Project Funding: Canada Council for the Arts
Photo: courtesy of the artist
Artist Residency, SymbioticA 2009
SymbioticA Centre for Biological Arts, Perth
Research documentation:
1: stem cell harvesting (top left);
2: machete for an enamel sculpture (top middle);
3: epithelial and mesenchymal cells in petri dishes (top right);
4: microscope view of cell growth (middle left);
5: centrifuge of two cell lines (middle);
6: laser-engraved text within a single cell
"What is the smallest measure of life" (middle right);
7: slide with epithelial cells (bottom left)
8: slide under microscope
9: laser-engraved text on cells fixed on a slide (bottom right)
Project Funding: Canada Council for the Arts
Photos: courtesy of the artist
Amelogenesis Imperfecta 2012
grunt gallery, Vancouver
September 6 - October 6, 2012
Exhibition installation with microscope, video monitor, video animation projected onto an ink pool.
Based on bio-art research conducted at SymbioticA Centre for Biological Art, Perth, AUS
Canadian Art Review: "Sound Waves, Microscopes Bring Science-Fair Feel to Grunt Gallery"
by Ashley McLellan
Photo: courtesy of the artist
Amelogenesis Imperfecta 2012
grunt gallery, Vancouver
September 6 - October 6, 2012
1: monitor and shark skin (top left);
2: monitor with human molars as a clock (top middle);
3: scanning electron microscopic image of sharkskin covered with enameloid denticles (top right);
4: microscope and monitor (middle left);
5: microscopic image of epithelial cells on glass slide (middle);
6: exhibition view (middle right);
7: animation still (bottom left);
8: video projection on ink pool, 6" x 36" x 48" (bottom);
9: video projection on ink pool (bottom right).
Photos: courtesy of the artist
Beautox Me 2012
CSA Space, Vancouver
Beautox Me takes our faces as the canvas for artistic intervention. Actors open to experimenting with their facial expressibility were chosen for botox injections. They posed for 'before' and 'after' video shoots while reciting highly affective scripts. The two channels are layered together to highlight the in/ability to make facial expressions as the result of botox-induced muscle paralysis.
Video: Beautox Me 2012 (2-channel video);
Beatox Me (Richard III) 2012 (1-channel video)
Actors: Billy Marchenski & Lesley Ewen
Video: Elisha Burrows
VIdeo editing: Maksim Bentsianov
Project Funding: British Columbia Arts Council
Beautox Me (Richard III) 2013
Toxicity, Plug In ICA, Winnipeg
1-channel video (5:00)
Actors: Billy Marchenski
Video: Elisha Burrows, Henry Tsang
VIdeo editing: Maksim Bentsianov
Project Funding: British Columbia Arts Council
Mom's Crutch 2003
Orange County, CA – Chimayo, NM
On August 3, 2001, I flew to Toronto to visit my parents. After welcoming me home, my mother died a few hours later.
A month later, my mother appeared in a dream. She looked at peace, though she was missing her legs, while effortlessly balanced on a pair of crutches. Some months later, I happened upon an old photograph – of my mother in her office, with a crutch leaning against the wall when she had a broken ankle.
Focusing on the crutch, I began collecting second-hand crutches from local thrift stores, envisioning a large-scale installation with a room filled with crutches. When I couldn’t find enough crutches, I travelled to Santuario de Chimayó, New Mexico, where it was said to house thousands of crutches left behind from pilgrims who were miraculously cured of illnesses. I left Chimayó without any crutches, only with a miracle narrative.
I decided to take a more ephemeral approach. I made adhesive stickers of my mom's photo, and applied them to each crutch, and donated them back to the thrift stores. The piece was considered finished when the next person obtains these crutches, and then upon seeing my mom's image, wonders.
Mom's Crutch 2003
Orange County, CA – Chimayo, NM
1: B&W photograph (circa 1970) and accumulating crutches in studio, UC Irvine
2: Image made into stickers
3: Stickers attached to each crutch collected
4: Santuario de Chimayó, New Mexico
5: Earth pit with healing powers, Chimayo NM
6: Crutches left behind at Chimayo by healed pilgrim believers
7, 8: Donating the crutches back to thrift stores
9: Javier receiving the donated crutches at a local thrift stores
Photos: courtesy of the artist
Voids 2000 - 2002
works experimenting with surface/depth using light-absorbing materials (e.g. soot, flocking)
Soot Painting (painting on wall with soot) (top right/left)
Untitled (wood boxes, soot, graphite) (top/middle)
Voids (black squares, soot, cut-out of wall) (middle row, right/left)
Words we have spoken are already dead in our hearts (5 leather-bound books)
Photos: courtesy of the artist
Words we have spoken are already dead in our hearts 2002
University Art Gallery, UC Irvine
5 leather-bound books
Photos: courtesy of the artist