Jeremy and Sus Borsos: The Blue Cabin

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Jeremy and Sus Borsos, "The Blue Cabin," 2018

When Jeremy Borsos and his wife Sus took on the remediation of The Blue Cabin, we at grunt never expected what eventually came out of the six months of labour. Using historical materials, the Borsoses took the structure apart, methodically cleaned every inch, and replaced the rotted bits. They insulated the walls and fixed the floor. In this exhibition, Jeremy and Sus both present a body of work that documents this journey.

Jeremy and Sus treated the cabin as an archaeological site, collecting its history in bits of newspapers and mouse nests and – in an archival process – painstakingly saving what remained. The humble structure revealed itself slowly over the six-month period of the restoration and culminated, when they took up the floor, in the discovery of almost 40 posters that had been put there in 1927 to prevent the floor from squeaking.

This show is a culmination of their time with the cabin as they deconstructed and reassembled the studio. The process became the basis for their own, separate body of work around the project. The results are an extraordinary collection of photos, sketches, assemblages, found objects, and archival material. What they give us is the history of the cabin before Al Neil and Carole Itter’s tenancy, offering us insights into histories of the earlier inhabitants— squatters, and marine workers on the foreshore.

The show will have its opening reception June 14, 2018 at 7 p.m. with both artists in attendance, followed by The Blue Cabin Speaker Series:

· Wednesday, June 20 at 7:00 p.m.

Artist talk with Jeremy Borsos

· Thursday, June 28 at 7:00 p.m.

Author and historian Daniel Francis will speak about the history of squatter villages on the region’s foreshore

· Saturday, July 7 at 2:00 p.m.

Vancouver artist Carole Itter will present an informal talk about her artwork and writings during her 35-year-long residency at The Blue Cabin

· Thursday, July 12 at 7:00 p.m.

Artist Jen Weih and curator and artist Vanessa Kwan will speak about Other Sights for Artists’ Projects, The Foreshore series

· Thursday, July 19 at 7:00 p.m.

Founding partners Glenn Alteen, Esther Rausenberg, and Barbara Cole will discuss The Blue Cabin Floating Artist Residency Project

Jeremy Borsos studied at the Emily Carr and later attended the Art Students League in New York where he studied 19th-century classical painting. He worked in many facets of motion picture production before enlarging this to a multidisciplinary practice that includes architecture, writing, photography, installation, painting, and video. In his works, ephemeral histories are redefined through a course of material discovery and translated through the language and dialects of the archive. He exhibits his works nationally and internationally.

Sus Borsos was born in Denmark and studied statistics and computer sciences at Copenhagen University before managing Scandinavian Stage Design, creating stages for major events in Europe. Moving to Canada in 1992, Sus built a home with Jeremy, which they created from salvaged architectural fragments. Since then, she has worked in multiple creative capacities, including digital film and sound editing, and the design and construction of multiple residences. Beginning in 2018, she will design and rebuild a studio and living space with Jeremy in Greece.

The Blue Cabin project is led by grunt gallery, along with Other Sights for Artists Projects, and Creative Cultural Collaborations (C3).