Heather Koning: AT WILL and SEEING THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

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Heather Koning, "at will," 2019

CONSTANT CHANGE is a convergent program that brings artists, makers, learners, teachers, and thinkers into relation through exhibition, interaction, conversation and demonstration. 

AT WILL and SEEING THROUGH TECHNOLOGY, exhibition projects created by Heather Koning are presented in the George Sawchuk, South, and Window galleries.

Constant Change: Explorations in Art and Technology

The Comox Valley Art Gallery has instigated a gathering of community collaborators to look at and reimagine possibilities for how humans, machines and data interface. The projects offer unique starting points for inquiry into the shifting terrain of shared language, intuitive and resonant gestures and communications – internally and in the world around us. The thematic program Constant Change, opening April 6 2019 at CVAG 1PM –5PM, highlights creatives engaged with high and low technology in their lives, work, education and practices.

Seeing Through Technology, is a presentation new work by artist Heather Koning, in the gallery’s Main and Window spaces April 6 – June 8. In her own words about the process of creating, Koning says: “I take on the role of cultural observer, re-spinning narratives that challenge my place, my sense of belonging, bringing the viewer along with me in this endless quest for answers, logic and relationship.” Also created by Koning, AT WILL, is situated in CVAG’s George Sawchuk gallery. T is work offers a kinetic invitation to the community – “This artwork is designed for movement, for impulse and reaction.” Koning acquired her BFA through Emily Carr University of Art and Design at North Island College, then went on to complete her Master of Fine Arts at the University of Victoria. Koning is now situated in Port Alberni.

Presentation of Research + Creation Projects that include art based technology experiments and virtual reality explorations run concurrently at CVAG with Koning’s exhibition. Matt Adamson of Spaces VR in Courtenay states that “virtual reality offers limitless potential for expression, but this is difficult to grasp without experiencing it first-hand.” In collaboration with CVAG, Spaces VR is sponsoring a creative residency for emerging and established artists: Angela Bedard, Cassidy Gehmlich, Clive Powsey, Emma Heitzmann, Roxane Fortin. Currently, and during the run of Constant Change, these artists are taking their traditional art practices into the realm of VR for creative exploration. Community drop-in opportunities to engage with their projects will be available at GATHER :PLACE / CVAG during opening day events, and during regular gallery hours. On May 31 a special presentation event will be held at Spaces VR.

The technology and art-based experiments of SD71 NIDES Enter + E2 programs will be presented at CVAG during the Constant Change thematic program. The community is invited to the opening day event and to visit the gallery during regular gallery hours, Tuesday –Saturday 10 AM – 5PM, to participate in this art and technology thematic program. CVAG programs and events are all ages / free / donations gratefully accepted.

AT WILL, the work of artist Heather Koning, will be presented in the George Sawchuk Gallery at the Comox Valley Art Gallery. The work is the first installment of a larger exhibition included in the thematic program Constant Change which will unfold over the upcoming months. 

Koning’s installation provides the viewer with the opportunity to interact with the work by setting an intention, then asserting their own will upon the configuration, then recording that change, and finally sharing their instigated change through a digital interface. 

at will

A pulley is a simple machine. A wheel with a grooved edge around which a chain passes. It acts to make work lighter. It can do so by changing the direction of a force, increasing the distance or speed of its power, transferring the energy from one place to another or increasing the magnitude of its strength. Machines are everywhere in our daily lives and make peoples’ existence much simpler. As a child, I played with an un-greased bike chain. I would pass it back and forth, snaking it through my fingers and coiling it around itself. The movement was automatic, aimless and easy. at will, another chain without a sprocket to grab hold of has the same kinetic invitation that beckons the viewer to maneuver it. Unlike the chain of my youth, the sculptures movement requires a concerted effort. To do so involves strength and persistence. The shape at will is left to rest is a negotiated dance and a surrendering of your intentions. 

I grew up in Port Alberni and recently returned after almost a decade away, to set up a home and studio here. I am an interdisciplinary artist who crafts experiences and relationships by way of making and organizing objects. I use my art practice to elicit emotions and visceral responses in the viewer to pose questions that are culturally and socially pertinent to the community and place that I am exhibiting in. When I construct an experience, I am particular about the media I choose to work with. Every material has a memory, has a history an association for the viewer. Often this means learning to work with a material, method or technology that I might only use once. For one specific piece. For a particular experience. For a single connection between the viewer and the work. While the materials and process are ever-changing, there is one constant in my art and in my life, and that is humour and empathy. They are the humanizers, the life breathers of all things heavy or mundane. It’s what motivates me when the making gets hard. 

– Heather Koning