Sydney Lancaster & Scott Smallwood: MACROMAREAL (a rising tide lifts all boats)
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SNAP Gallery 10572 115 Street, Edmonton, Alberta T5H 3K6
Sydney Lancaster, "SLSS Fundy Sine," 2018
Image Credit: © Sydney Lancaster. Copyright Visual Arts-CARCC, 2020
Sydney Lancaster & Scott Smallwood: MACROMAREAL (a rising tide lifts all boats)
Opening Reception: Friday September 11th, 7-9pm (Online and in-person by appointment)
Performance: Live outdoor sound score performance on Saturday, September 12th at 1pm (Outside SNAP gallery, in-person) | More information here: https://snapartists.com/event/live-outdoor-sound-score-performance-macromareal/
Artist’s Talk: Saturday, October 10th at 1pm (Online) | More information here: https://snapartists.com/event/artists-talk-sydney-lancaster-scott-smallwood/
MACROMAREAL (a rising tide lifts all boats) approaches the tidal range of the Bay of Fundy and its documentation in tide tables and real data through a series of interrelated works that explore ways of understanding natural processes, and our relationship to those processes as perceived from different vantage points and through different scales of time. The history of human interaction with the Bay, including tide-related industries and oceanographic research in the Parrsboro area offered unique opportunities to create a body of work that explores the relationships between human actions, the coastal landscape, and tidal patterns and processes. Parrsboro’s proximity to the Fundy Geological Museum, the FORCE tidal power research station, the Ottawa House Museum, and Maritime Museum of the Atlantic presented further opportunities to investigate & incorporate both historical documents and current scientific research into our creative process. Moreover, the Bay and its tides also figure prominently in Mi’kmaw legend and story; this oral tradition situates geological history and processes firmly in the living memory of the Mi’kmaw.
Initially, MACROMAREAL developed over the course of two residencies (2016 & 2017) at Main & Station in Parrsboro, NS. The current iteration of the project has evolved from additional research and subsequent presentations at the IAST (Interactive Art, Science, and Technology) Crossing Boundaries Symposium at University of Lethbridge (2018) and at Emily Carr University of Art & Design (2019). The resulting work combines sculptural elements, video, and sound to create a multi-layered environment that allows viewers to consider the interactions between human-built spaces and things, intertidal environments, and ocean ecosystems globally. Through the lens of the Fundy tides and their impact on a specific place (Parrsboro, NS), MACROMAREAL offers an opportunity to consider the different scales of time and memory we each experience (geological, tidal/celestial, transgenerational, diurnal, the brevity of a human lifespan), and the processes of change, loss, and transformation inherent in each of them.
By extension, MACROMAREAL draws attention to the intersection of human activities, time and the tidal environment, particularly the cyclic, durational aspects of living systems, human life, and work on or near tidal waters. Humans have sought to understand and harness the power of the world’s tides historically, and in the present; now more than ever, it is vital to understand our relationship to (and impact on) this immensely powerful natural phenomenon.