JANA STERBAK
ABOUT WINTER
03 June - 01 July 2006
Tuesday to Saturday 2 - 7 pm
Waiting for High Water, 2003 (video still)
Erna Hecey Gallery is pleased to present About Winter, an exhibition of three video works by Czech-born Canadian artist Jana Sterbak.
The theme of winter pervades Sterbak’s recent work and provides the essential setting for her innovative experiments in the medium of the moving image. February, a new piece by Sterbak, consists of a high resolution recording of a public ice skating rink in a Montreal park, accompanied by ambient sounds. The spectator has the impression of peering into an aquarium, in which an entire small world is contained: people moving about, enjoying themselves, sleds descending a snow covered hill, children playing with dogs, adults in snowshoes, the eventual arrival of snow removal machines… all the goings-on of a banal Sunday afternoon in February. Emulating the style of the Flemish masters, the video’s high resolution makes it very jewel-like, reminiscent of a scene from a Brueghel painting, a kind of contemporary equivalent of the Northern Renaissance style.
Waiting for High Water is a continuation of Sterbak’s critically acclaimed video installation From Here to There, which was first presented in the Canadian pavilion at the 2003 Venice Biennale, and will be on display at the Palais des Beaux Arts, la grande salle Horta, during the same time as the exhibition at Erna Hecey.
Waiting for High Water takes place uniquely in Venice, during the period of the winter floods. The same Jack Russell Terrier, Stanley, continues his voyage through the streets of Venice, recording his travels with three small video cameras mounted on his head. Original music based on the images and performed by a harpsichord player was commissioned for this 3 screen video installation. The unique canine viewpoint combined with the composite screen and radical editing situates the installation in the tradition of the early cinema (E. Muybridge, E.-J. Marey) and experimental film (J. Mekas, M. Snow).
Artist as a Combustible, an earlier video work, provides a fiery contrast with the cold landscapes of the other videos. In this piece, a wry play on the idea of artistic inspiration, Sterbak’s head literally bursts into flames, as if she were seized by a sudden creative vision or rapturously transported by some incendiary poetic insight. The artist stands naked in a darkened room with a small heap of gunpowder on top of her head, which when set alight burns intensely for a few seconds.
As part of About Winter, the gallery will also show a number of sculptural and photographic works linked to From Here to There and other video works.
Selected solo exhibitions: ARTIUM de Álava, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, (2006) ; Solo Exhibition, Carré d'Art, Nimes, France, (2006) ; Art Unlimited, Basel, presented by Galerie Erna Hecey, (2005) ; Planetarium, Galeria Toni Tàpies, Barcelona (2004) ; From Here to There, Musée des Beaux Arts, Nantes (2004) ; From Here to There, Canadian pavilion, Biennale di Venezia, Venezia (2003) ; Jana Sterbak, Malmö Konsthall, Mälmo (2002) ; Haus der Kunst, München (2002) ; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (1998).
Selected group exhibitions: Bing Bang, Destruction et creation dans l'art du 20e siècle, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2006) ; Citizens, Art Circuit Touring Exhibitions, PM Gallery & House, London, England (2005) ; The Nature Machine: Contemporary Art, Nature and Technology, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane (2004) ; Thinking out loud, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Bulleen Victoria (2004) ; Hors d’oeuvre: ordre et désordres de la nourriture, capc Musée d’art contemporain, Bordeaux (2004)
The exhibition has been produced with the kind support of the Canadian Embassy, Brussels.
JANA STERBAK
FROM HERE TO THERE
BOZAR, Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels
Horta Hall
03 June -27 August 2006
Every day 10 am - 6 pm, Thursday 10 am - 9 pm
http://www.bozar.be
www.janasterbak.com
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