Elise Rasmussen: Fragments of an Imagined Place

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Elise Rasmussen, "There was an island situated in front of the straits...," 2016

c-print, 44" x 57.75"

Artist Talk and Critical Reading Group 

Thursday, October 24. 7 - 9 pm 

Please join Neutral Ground, in conversation with exhibiting artist Elise Rasmussen where we will discuss topics explored in her exhibition, Fragments of an Imagined Place, as well as screening her new video work - Did you know blue had no name?

This event will be presented as part of Neutral Ground's Critical Reading Group series. The NGCRG provides space to explore critical texts in a supportive and community-oriented environment. The goal of NGCRG is to bring the reading of challenging texts into a supportive space, while sharing different perspectives and ideas along the way!  

All are welcome to attend and guests are encouraged to read  the following texts:

Primary Readings:

-Blake Stimson, "An Art and its Public - A Public and its Art: Robert Smithson Versus the Environmentalists" (Collapse Journal. Issue 2, 1996)

- Carol Mavor, "In Lieu of a Blue Ending: Un-knitting a Cerulean Jumper" (from: Blue Mythologies: Reflections on a Colour. Reaktion Books, 2013.)

- Rebecca Solnit, "The Limits of Landscape" (Orion Magazine. 2007)

Additional Readings:

- Adam Lauder, "Robert Smithson's Vancouver Sojourn: Glue Pour, 1970" (Canadian Art, August 19, 2015)

- Amelia Barikin and Chris McAuliffe, "Robert Smithson: Time Crystals." (Monash University Publishing, 2018) (p. 5-18)

"Fragments of an Imagined Place" references the vast and varying histories related to Atlantis: its roots in Plato’s writing, its resurrection in 19th century conjectural texts, its relation to theosophy, and its influence on new age and conceptual art. As a point of departure, Rasmussen revisits Robert Smithson’s failed “Glass Island (Atlantis)” project, which would have been his first permanent Earth Work. Smithson intended to fill a small islet off the coast of Vancouver Island with 100 tons of glass shards to turn it into "a thing of beauty, reflecting light off the water." While the glass was in transit from California, press coverage of the proposed work alerted environmentalists who pressured the BC government to withdraw its permission in loaning Smithson the islet or any other property for his project. "Fragments of an Imagined Place” re-examines the conceptual framework of Smithson's unrealized project, Atlantis's relationship to notions of utopias, disasters, futures and pasts, and how this myth serves as a metaphor for the artistic practice. Rasmussen is grateful to the Canada Council for the Arts for providing support for this exhibition.

ELISE RASMUSSEN (born 1977, Edmonton, AB; resides in Brooklyn, NY) is a research-based artist working with lens-based media. Elise has exhibited, performed and screened her work internationally, including the Brooklyn Museum, Bronx Museum, Pioneer Works (NY), Night Gallery (Los Angeles), Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin), Sharjah Art Foundation (UAE), Institute of Modern Art (Brisbane), Doris McCarthy Gallery (University of Toronto, Scarborough) and ESP | Erin Stump Projects (Toronto). Elise received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago on a Merit Scholarship in 2007 and has been an artist in residence at a number of institutions, most notably the Irish Museum of Modern Art (Dublin), La Becque (Switzerland), the Nirox Foundation (South Africa), Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Workspace Program (NY), SOMA (Mexico City), and the Banff Centre (Alberta).