Sunday, May 20th, 7 PM
SP Weather Station and Observatory present:
Over the Rainbow, Under the Radar:
Electromagnetic Infrastructure and Outpost Architecture in the Arctic
Lecture and audiovisual presentation by Charles Stankievech
Image: Das Eismeer aus Licht, NASA Astronomy Photo of the Day, Feb 8, 2011. © Charles Stankievech + Anna Sophie Springer, 2011
Observatory
543 Union Street at Nevins Street, Brooklyn (directions below)
$5 suggested donation
Over the Rainbow, Under the Radar is an audiovisual presentation of Charles Stankievech’s experience of the Arctic as a hybrid zone of brute reality and fantasy projection. Combining archival material, scientific theories, geopolitical maps and the artist’s own fieldworks, the lecture engages ideas of military colonialism and communication technology embedded in the sublime landscape. Stemming from Stankievech’s time living in Northern Canada and travelling to remote military outposts, Over the Rainbow draws from primary research ranging from his visit to the archives at Massachusetts’s Institute of Technology as well as a residency with the Canadian Department of National Defense at the northernmost settlement in the world (the Signals Intelligence Station ALERT). The resulting material includes images and video taken by the artist published by NASA and commissioned by the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, as well as shown in museums and galleries from Palais de Toyko, Paris to the Musee d’art Contemporain in Montréal. The lecture was originally commissioned for the Phyllis Lambert Seminar 2011 at Université de Montréal.
About Charles Stankievech:
Charles Stankievech is an artist who creates “fieldworks.” His diverse body of work has been shown at such places as the Palais de Toyko (Paris), International Symposium on Electronic Arts (ISEA2010, Germany), Xth Biennale of Architecture(Venice), Eyebeam + ISSUE Project Room (New York), the Musee d’art contemporain Montreal and the Canadian Centre for Architecture. He has curated such unorthodox exhibitions as Magnetic Norths, A Wake For St. Kippenberger’s MetroNet, and the series OVER THE WIRE with Lawrence Weiner, Gary Hill, Tim Hecker, Centre for Land Use Interpretation, Lize Mogel and others. His writings have been included in academic journals, such as Leonardo Music Journal (MIT Press) and 306090(Princeton Architectural Press), artist’s catalogues and translated into several languages. Stankievech holds an MFA in Open Media with a thesis on sound and architecture and a previous critical theory thesis on Slavoj Žižek and Franz Kafka. He currently is artist-in-residence with the Canadian Department of National Defense with a sortie to CFS ALERT—northernmost settlement in the world and active signals intelligence station. Upcoming projects include a public art commission by the government of Washington, D.C., the exhibition Oh, Canada at MASSMoCA, and artist-in-residence at Marfa, Texas. A founding faculty member of the Yukon School of Visual Arts in Dawson City, Stankievech splits his spacetime between the Yukon and Berlin.
