"The Long Time"
Lisa Steele and Kim Tomczak, "The Long Time," installation, 2012.
LISA STEELE and KIM TOMCZAK, The Long Time
September 6 to 29, 2012
On Main Gallery, Vancouver
By Janet Nicol
Lisa Steele and Kim Tomczak have been collaborating on video, performance and photographic work since 1983. With The Long Time, the artistic pair bring together work created over the past ten years. They say their goal is to “engage the viewer and ask questions.” Becoming is a major video installation that captures the evolution of the urban environments of Toronto, Vancouver and Berlin. “It’s an observation of the continuing urban architecture,” Tomczak says. “We look at old buildings against new towers.” Steele adds that they wanted to “create a dialogue between the old and the new.” A second video installation, Before I Wake, turns the camera on the artists. “We’re hypnotized as part of the study,” Steele says of the self-portraits. The final piece is called The Miniatures, a series of videos installed in small frames. Images of nature are juxtaposed with the text of protest slogans. A new photo-text series, ….bump in the night, will also be on public display at the Broadway and Cambie Skytrain station in Vancouver. The artists asked young people on the verge of leaving school at Vancouver’s Native Education College, “what are you afraid of?” — rather than the more frequently asked question, “what are you looking forward to?” Asking the right question led to intriguing results.