Patricia Piccinini, “Teenage Metamorphosis,” 2017
silicone, fibreglass, human hair and found objects, 54” x 10” x 30” (installation view at Patricia Hotel, Vancouver; photo by roaming-the-planet)
Grotesque. Disturbing. Creepy. The Vancouver Biennale’s latest installation, Curious Imaginings, the fourth of eight major works scheduled over the next two years, has people talking.
Composed of 18 life-sized resin sculptures by Australian artist Patricia Piccinini, it addresses family, motherhood and genetic tampering in ways both repulsive and compelling. The show is on view at the Patricia Hotel, a gritty east-end landmark, and the prosaic setting only intensifies the disquiet.
“This is a hotel with a history and a personality,” says curator Marcello Dantas. “The Patricia Hotel is a place of people longing to be included. Her creatures are also marginal to society, they too long to be included.”
Patricia Piccinini, “The Comforter,” 2010
silicone, fibreglass, hair and clothing, 24” x 31” x 31” (installation view at Patricia Hotel, Vancouver; photo by roaming-the-planet)
Each piece sits in its own room, looking benign and content. They range from the marginally weird (The Comforter) to the truly grotesque (Atlas). The biennale also commissioned a special piece, called The Builder. Half human and half beaver, it’s strangely engaging.
Patricia Piccinini, “Atlas,” 2012
silicone, fibreglass, human hair and auto paint, 33” x 21” x 20” (installation view at Patricia Hotel, Vancouver; photo by roaming-the-planet)
“In the first moment, our reaction is one of revulsion or estrangement,” says Dantas. “And yet, in the next instant, the artist manages to arouse feelings of empathy by having us face the profound gaze of each one of these beings, thus fostering an encounter between something so very strange and our best sentiments.”
The works elicit a visceral response. By the time I reach the end of the second-floor hallway, my heart is pounding and my mind racing.
Alfredo Jaar, “A Logo for America,” 1987/2018
electronic billboard, 38 seconds (shown for two minutes every hour at the corner of Robson Street and Granville Street, Vancouver; photo by roaming-the-planet)
The biennale, which launched in June, is now in its fourth edition. Other highlights include Alfredo Jaar’s A Logo for America, an electronic billboard in downtown Vancouver that’s peppered with political messages. Meanwhile, over in Kitsilano’s Vanier Park, Saudi Arabian artist Ajlan Gharem has built a chain-link enclosure in the shape of a mosque.
Ajlan Gharem, “Paradise Has Many Gates,” 2018
Plexiglas, aluminum, rolled steel, paint and electric lights, 10’ x 33’ x 21’ (Vanier Park, Vancouver; photo by roaming-the-planet)
Maskull Lasserre’s massive Acoustic Anvil: A Small Weight to Forge the Sea occupies a pedestrian square along the city’s seawall. Some 13 feet tall, it’s a delicious mix of power and subtlety. One can hear the wind whistling off the water by putting an ear to an aperture in its facade.
Maskull Lasserre, “Acoustic Anvil: A Small Weight to Forge the Sea,” 2018
steel, sound components (solar panel, electronics), paint and sound, 13’ x 25’ x 9’ (Leg-In-Boot Square, Vancouver: photo by roaming-the-planet)
Previous biennales have bequeathed long-term legacy pieces to Vancouver, including social media favourites like Trans Am Totem, by Vancouver artist Marcus Bowcott, and Giants, brightly coloured murals spray-painted on six large concrete silos on Granville Island.
Marcus Bowcott, "Trans Am Totem," 2015
five refinished cars, cedar tree, metal column, solar panel and lights, 33' x 17' x 6.5' (Quebec Street and Milross Avenue, Vancouver; photo courtesy of the artist)
The biennale also organizes an extensive program of music, film and new media events and offers emerging artists an opportunity to workshop their talents through its artist-in-residence program. Thirty artists have been invited this year.
As for coming installations, Dantas talks about pieces by Japanese botanical sculptor Makoto Azuma and Peruvian artist Ishmael Randall Weeks, known for his work with recyclables.
Dantas also mentions Ibrahim Mahama, from Ghana, who likes to envelop small buildings in jute sacks. Are we going to see a Christo-like event? “I can tell you that they are surprising and powerful projects,” says Dantas. “Let’s hope we can make them as planned.”
Dantas makes no apologies for his diverse choices. “I think it is difficult enough to find good ideas, good places and good contexts to be super concerned about coherence,” he says. “I also don’t find coherence something of much value in art, an imperfect form.”
roaming-the-planet
Patricia Piccinini, “The Builder,” 2018
silicone, fibreglass, hair, sheets and towels, 21" x 15" x 28.5” (installation view at Patricia Hotel, Vancouver; photo by roaming-the-planet)
The biennale’s objective, he says, is to use art as a catalyst for learning, community engagement and social action.
Mounting Curious Imaginings in a hotel, rather than a gallery, is a case in point.
“I think it extends the places where we can discover art, beyond the predictable and into the surprising,” he says. “The biennale is all about discovering artistic potentials within the city. Essentially it is a dialogue between city, landscape and art, a very powerful combination.” ■
Curious Imaginings is a ticketed event and is open from Sept. 14 to Dec. 15, 2018. For information, go to vancouverbiennale.com.