May 31 - June 29, 2014

CAFKA's 9th exhibition of art in the public spaces of the Waterloo Region presents installations, interventions, projections and performances by Canadian and International artists. CAFKA.14 is presented in conjunction with the Open Ears Festival of Music and Sound and our Curatorial Partners University of Waterloo Art Gallery, City of Kitchener, Critical Media Lab (University of Waterloo), City of Waterloo, Cambridge Galleries/Idea Exchange and Cambridge Sculpture Garden. Check the CAFKA web site for event times and project updates. 

IT SHOULD ALWAYS BE THIS WAY

The CAFKA.14 theme, "It Should Always Be This Way," was inspired by the thinking of Marcel O'Gorman, and reflects CAFKA's belief that during the biennial, people's daily business is disrupted by the presence of "objects-to-think-with" positioned throughout the city. Rather than putting our heads down and rushing toward our destinations, we may turn our heads sideways and upwards, turn toward contemplation and curiosity, turn toward the artworks and then toward each other in conversation. 

Contemplation and curiosity are vanishing skills in our culture of distraction and efficiency, of handheld devices and online interactions. We have shifted from an information economy to an attention economy, subjected daily to psychotechnologies and neuromarketing. CAFKA has the capacity to disrupt this economy, or perhaps to engage directly in it, by capturing the attention of the city for a few short weeks. People should always be prompted to turn their heads sideways for the sake of contemplation, curiosity, and conversation. "It should always be this way."


Events and Performances

The University of Waterloo Art Gallery has curated a series of performances featuring Lisa Birke (Kitchener), Jessica Thompson (Waterloo), Johannes Zits (Toronto) as part of its symposium entitled THIS COULD BE THE PLACE organized by Ivan Jurakic and Bojana Videkanic. CAFKA is very pleased to present a series of performances by Toronto-based artist SWINTAK in Kitchener and Waterloo through the month of June. Jefferson Campbell-Cooper (Hillsburg, ON), Mary Mattingly (New York), and Berlin-based artist Robert Seidel, (produced by CAFKA and City of Waterloo) will animate their work on June 21st on the occasion of the Summer Lights Festival in Downtown Kitchener and Uptown Waterloo.  The Open Ears Festival of Music and Sound (June 5 - 15, 2014) has an amazing line-up of performances and sound installations. Most notable (for CAFKA fans) are performances by Shary Boyle and Christine Fellows (Toronto and Winnipeg), Isabella Stefanescu and Ian Crutchley (Waterloo and Sackville, NB) and installations by Sandor Ajzenstat and Max Streicher and Garnet Willis. Make sure to check out the full line-up of Open Ears performances and events at openears.ca.

CAFKA relies on the volunteer support and financial assistance of its members and sponsors. CAFKA is generously supported Christie Digital, the City of Kitchener, Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation - Musagetes Fund, Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, and City of Waterloo.