Denison Art Space in Newark: ‘Art in the Twenty-First Century: Vancouver’

The Denison Museum and the Department of Studio Art present a screening of the PBS Art21 documentary series “Art in the Twenty-First Century: Vancouver” at Denison Art Space in Newark. The episode will have a faculty introduction and discussion panel after the screening.

In small and tightly knit Vancouver, artists reframe the world through a series of sophisticated illusions. By recreating historical moments, staging photos of vernacular scenes, and crafting intricate sculptures that trick the eye, artists reveal how everyday images and moments from the past are not always what they seem. Liz Magor makes uncannily realistic casts of humble objects–gloves, cardboard boxes, cigarettes–that speak to mortality and local histories. Through complex video installations, photos, theatrical productions, and virtual reality simulations, Stan Douglas reenacts historical moments of tension that connect the history of Vancouver to broader social movements of struggle and utopian aspiration. Brian Jungen draws from his family’s ranching and hunting background, as well as his Dane-zaa heritage, when disassembling and recombining consumer goods into whimsical sculptures. Attentive to the accidental encounters that can inspire an image, photographer Jeff Wall recreates flashes of inspiration by building sets and repeatedly photographing gestures until they coalesce into a picture that’s printed on a grand

This event is part of ART21 Screening Society 2016, a worldwide initiative providing unprecedented access to contemporary artists through preview screenings of ART21’s “Art in the Twenty-First Century Season 8.” ART21 is a nonprofit organization dedicated to making the world a more creative place through the work and words of living artists.