CAFKA.07

HAPTIC

 

Our physical connection to objects and spaces is essential to our being in the world: in the environments we inhabit, in the ways we relate to one another, and in the products we create. From the distinctive craftsmanship of the Waterloo Region's German and Mennonite founders to the region's current role in shaping the technological future we see a consistent understanding of the importance of haptic relationships from the outstanding design and use of materials in early furniture to the engineering prowess and innovation in our high-tech and research sector.  This local context gives us a unique perspective from which to investigate the interplay of science, technology and artistic vision in the formation and understanding of our connections to places and things.
 
For CAFKA.07: Haptic we asked artists to consider actual or metaphorical possibilities enabled by the haptic connection, whether achieved through exceptional handling of traditional materials or of new media. Artists were invited to consider how contemporary art practice, with its emphasis on the new, co-exists with and incorporates the skills, techniques and values of the past: to explore haptic relationships, or how contemporary art practice places into question the Cartesian duality of mind and body.

Judy Chicago - Chicago in Glass

Judy Chicago is most famous for her 1974-1979 work The Dinner Party. This work, in which hundreds of volunteers participated, will soon be permanently housed at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and is considered one of the most significant feminist art works ever produced.
 
Chicago in Glass marks the first major survey of Judy Chicago’s work in Canada. This survey demonstrates her tremendous versatility, technical brilliance and creative inventiveness—qualities that make her one of the most exciting artists of today.
 

Kelly Mark - Commercial Space

While these new store fronts await a tenant Kelly Mark fills this 'vacant' space with the flickering light of many TV screens, conspiratorially set to the same channel. The viewer sees only the light emitted from the screens... a cartoon plutonium-like glow amplified and pulsing through the space.
 
Kelly Mark’s (CA) installations are characterized by humble, everyday objects enlisted in the creation of Art. She was born in Welland, Ontario and currently lives and works in Toronto.  She completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree (w/ a Minor in Art History) in 1994 at the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design (N.S.C.A.D.). Kelly has exhibited widely across Canada, and internationally (including the United States, Australia, & Europe). Venues include: Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto), The Power Plant (Toronto), Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver), Saidye Bronfman Art Center (Montreal), ZieherSmith Gallery (NY), Leadbased (NY), Museum of New Art (Detroit), University of Houston (Texas), Real Art Ways (Hartford), Ikon Gallery (UK), Lisson Gallery (UK), the Physics Room (NZ) and the Henry Art Gallery (Seattle) etc. Kelly Mark has represented Canada at both the Sydney Biennale (1998) and Liverpool Biennale (2006).
 

Kent Anderson - Kitchener Handrail

Kitchener Handrail is a long handrail constructed of traditional ready-made wooden tool handles. The handles are chosen for their reference to the rural work that has made up such a big part of the area’s recent past, and for their feel and sculptural form.
 
Kent Anderson’s work addresses the filters that stand between himself and direct experience of the world. He completed his MFA at Alfred University in New York and his work has been exhibited and collected internationally.