Jeff Derksen, (b. 1958), is a cultural critic and a poet who works at Simon Fraser University. Derksen graduated with distinction from the David Thompson University Center in 1984 with a bachelor in Arts and Science. His writing on art and culture has appeared in Springerin, Hunch, C magazine, Open Letter, Poetics Journal, XCP, amongst others. He has two books of critical essays forthcoming: After Euphoria: art / space / neoliberalism (EC Press/JPR Ringier), and Annihilated Time: Poetry and Other Politics (Talonbooks). Derksen was a research fellow at the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics (CUNY Graduate Center) and is a founding member of the Kootenay School of Writing. Under the name Urban Subjects, he collaborates with Sabine Bitter and Helmut Weber on curatorial projects and visual research.
Kathleen Ritter (b. 1974) is an artist and a writer based in Vancouver. Her research and practice investigate institutional structures that surround and mediate the reception of art. Her work has been exhibited at Modern Fuel, Kingston ON (2008); the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa ON (2008); Western Front, Vancouver (2004); Skol, Montreal (2000); and Access, Vancouver (2000). Her writing has been published in the anthology Places and Non-Places of Contemporary Art (2005) and the journals Prefix Photo, ESSE, Open Letter, and Fillip Magazine. She curated Expect Delays (2003) at Artspeak, a series of artist’s interventions that took place throughout Vancouver. She is currently Assistant Curator at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Holly Ward is a Vancouver-based artist. She received her BFA (Interdisciplinary) from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 1999 and her MFA (Studio) from the University of Guelph in 2006. She has exhibited in solo exhibitions across Canada at the Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery (Vancouver), the Or Gallery (Vancouver), and YYZ Gallery (Toronto), amongst others. She has participated in group exhibitions in Canada, England, Mexico, the United States, Norway and South Korea. Her public art project, News of the Whole World (2011), can currently be seen on the exterior of the CBC building in downtown Vancouver. She is represented by Republic Gallery (Vancouver).
Persistence of Vision
HOLLY WARD
June 11–July 23, 2011
Holly Ward’s interdisciplinary practice is centred on ideas surrounding social progress and political power, and serves to examine the role of art within this. In Persistence of Vision, Ward investigates symbolic strategies of resistance and the use of utopian discourse as a starting point for revolution. The exhibition creates a linkage between contemporary spaces of protest and historical representations of the “utopian” city square. Featuring new sculptural and print work, the exhibition is an extension of Ward’s ongoing interest in social engagement and the utopian imaginary.
HOLLY WARD
June 25, 2011
Holly Ward speaks in conjunction with her exhibition, Persistence of Vision.
Title: Every Force Evolves a Form
Category: Artist Book
Artist: Holly Ward
Writers: Kathleen Ritter, Jeff Derksen, Laura Piasta
Editor: Kim Nguyen
Design: Post Projects
Publisher: Artspeak
Printer: Paper Chase Printing
Year published: 2012
Edition: 200
Pages: 48pp
Cover: Paper
Binding: Perfect Bound
Process: Offset
Features: 26 colour images
Dimensions: 20.5 x 20.5 x 0.5 cm
Weight: 159 g
ISBN: 978 -0-921394-64-8
Price: $6
This catalogue is published in conjunction with Holly Ward’s exhibition Persistence of Vision. It features the artist in conversation with Kathleen Ritter, an extended essay by Jeff Derksen and a text on recreating a glass symphony by Laura Piasta.