1111111 7 72006 86137 3 The source for the cover of this issue, a photograph of spoken word poet Sheri-D Wilson, was originally published on FrontMagazine's February 1990 issue, on the occasion of a performance at the Western Front (9pm, $5 at the door). We probably have a tape of that night in our video archives. I was nine that year and missed the show, but I've seen Sheri-D perform a couple times since - in a creative writing classroom, at a festival -and have known her name for years. Front's Art Director, Karianne, comes from the design world and had never heard of her. Sheri-Dis, in other words, a micro-celebrity. Our tendancy, as a culture, is to see semi-fame as a form ofhalffailure, but that's only one way to look at it.When I asked Sheri-D what it's like to be semi-famous, she said "I'm sort oflike a cup half full, and a cup half empty at the same time. It lends itself to a neutrality, which I really like." She liked our theme a lot. "Artists are micro, and they must remain micro. That's where they can move around." So she did what she does: she wrote us a poem. You can find it on page 8. Our intern, Karina Irvine, remixed the original cover in colour for 2oro. Enjoy the issue. ~""""Allr( Editor Keith Langergraber text page10 Aboue A Battlestar Galactica filmwasshot ot thissiteot l> 14 MICRO-CELEBRITY FRONT FALL 201 0 15 HERE TODAY, GONE TODAY Though Marian gives Brooks credit for his expertise, she finds his sense of design a bit wanting and hopes to one day contribute her thoughts in devising her very own robot. She has sent him drawings to which she has not yet received a response. Time will tell. Maybe one day we will see people talking about neurology to small robots covered in fun fur. Art+ Reali TV UBC MASTER OF FINE ARTS GRADUATE EXHIBITION September 3 to 19, 201 0 Keesic Douglas, Sydney Hermant, Fan-Ling Suen, Zoe Tissandier, and Clare Yow Presented with support from the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory at The University of British Columbia. MARK BOULOS MarianBantieshas beendescribedas a l(arina Irvinelivesand warksin typagrapher,designer,artistand writer. Vancouver. HavingabtainedherBFA Shehas lecturedand had herwork witha majorin photography,from publishedin booksand magazines EmilyCarr University,she is now aroundthe world.In 2008, she was continuingherstudiesin ArtHistory October 8 to December 5, 2010 Presented with support from The Canada Council for the Arts. acceptedas a memberof the prestigious at UBC. international designorganization, AllianceGraphiqueInternationale (AGI).Herbook,I Wonder, is dueout in October. MORRIS AND HELEN BELKIN ART GALLERY. THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA I~ The Front MagazineTVAduisory sitsdownin front of BrauoTV's Work of Art: The Next Great Artist ~ 1825 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2 I (604) 822-2759 http://www.belkin.ubc.ca I Open 10-5 Tue-Fri, 12-5 Sat-Sun YOU, ANDY WARHOL, UNICORN custom drawing by Beth Frey You ride the unicorn of success with Andy, even though he's already bored of you. You succumb to a lifestyle of hard drugs and bad sex, and when you finally die, all the bloggers will be writing about the tragedy that was your life. When you order the piece, please send a couple photos of yourself for reference, and give any special requests or customizations. Extra fees may apply for custom backgrounds, colours, bells and whistles. Pen and ink on nice acid-free 8.5'' x 11" cardstock, signed and dated. ,.._~ ;t.:i--, . •.. ;_;.-·:;· 5:;\t MARSHALL MCLUHAN Illustrationsby MeghanLatta Facedwith the challenge of writin{abouta showso muchin its infancythat wedon't know if it will becometh next American Idol, the nextArt Forum or-most likely-perishinto obscurity, what is the bestapproach? PANELISTS Shouldwe chart the art world'sdecliningenthusiasm for theshowas Meghan Latta coaxed us all into getting reflected in NewYorkart blogs?(Anearlyheadlineon Art FagCity: "Good together to talk, since she has been news.Work of Art will not embarrass the art world."A laterheadline: entranced by the show's contradictions. "What'sWork of Art's biggestfailuresofar?") Should wewritea critical essayabout the contradictionsof theprescriptive Fiona Hernandez can't fathom how this idea made it into a show. natureof realitytelevisionversusthe myth of the expressive artist? Ashley Soren has a firm grasp on reality Istheshowworthwritingan essayabout? Think what you will. We decided to get together,watchan episodeandtalk TV tropes, having followed 13 cycles of Tyra Banks' America's NextTop Model. overmostof the dialogue. $40 plus shipping bbeetthh.etsy.com 16 MICRO-CELEBRITY FRONT FALL 2010 17 SELECTED TRANSCRIPT [Openingcredits:contestantswritetheir nameson the screen,by way of introduction] A: Which one do you like so far? F, M: None of them. M: How could you like anyone who introduces themselves this way? A: I think it's trying to appeal to people E.:. Handwriting does not equal art. who feel like they could be artists. Some artists use keyboards! They've been making MySpace por[Acontestantintroducesherself] traits for five years and now they have M: Did she say she was an assistant for a show that they can have opinions JeffKoons? That explains everything. about. Which is why it's amazing that A: This is sad; everybody is trying to be they started with an episode about selfso quirky. portraits. It's what everyone knows. M: Because they want to be on TV. E.:. Is there really still contemporary art [Oneof thejudges,Simonde Pury, introduces that everyone knows? A lot of people himselfin uoice-ouer: "I havealwaysbeen who didn't go to art school can't name passionateabout contemporary art."A shot an artist after the 1960s - that isn't of him on the phone:"I want to speakto you Andy Warhol. about thisJqfKoons."] M: I lean toward Ashley's theory, since M: Do you think he's really calling everything technique-related on the someone about a Jeff Koons? show is weirdly instructional. Clearly it E_:_ Jeff Koons is contemporary art? Is isn't for practicing artists, exactly, but this 1985? Did Jeff Koons pay to be in it still has the pretentions of art, where this show? you have to be in the know. What is M: Or is it actually Workof Art by Jeff with these ridiculous challenges? Koons? F: It hurts like art school. E.:. You're onto something! [Contestantsshowa self-portrait, get paired [Contestantmonologue:'Tue beenin the art randomly,and have13 hoursto makea porworldfor about six hoursnow..."] trait basedon what theirpartnersshowed.] M: I guess they need some average-joe A: This is TV drama gold, though. The characters for people to relate to. ones who like each others portraits E.:. But who is this show targeted at? bond, and the others are totally alienM.:Ifit is just artists, the target market ated and catty. is too small. And, as an artist, it makes M_;The judge says, "ifI had this in my me cringe. gallery I don't think I could sell it," but E.:. Maybe they like the pain. Some artthe instructions so far have been to ists are masochists. express inner essences, capture beauty, 18 NAOBUSTAMANTE truth, yadda yadda. Nobody mentioned making sellable work, or considering viewers. E.:.Or making art that communicates over television. A: But that is what their medium istelevision! M, F: OH YEAH! M: That solves a big problem that I have been having with the show. E.:. The closest the contestants come to being self-referential is when they do the voice-overs on footage of themselves struggling with a painting. M: It's not even about painting, which is the medium most of the contestants chose. That's the wrong medium! The medium is the message!!! E.:. This has been a Canadian Heritage Minute. M: It all comes back to Marshall Macluhan. E_:_ As a contestant, I'd think, "Okay, my medium is 13 hours and television. I better piss off my subject so she/he gets more air time in the confession booth." M: That's why I feel the show itself-this episode, Self Reflexive is the art work. E_:_ What the contestants make is inconsequential. M: It is interesting that they all chose MIC RO-CELEBRITY traditional art-making techniques, though. Why aren't they making videos or something? E.:. The supplies they are given are paper, canvas and mark-making tools. Their studio shelves don't have film or cameras. M: Would that be putting too much power in the hands of the artist? If they are actually able to create footage, then they are able to manipulate the show too much. A: That would be so much more interesting. M: So much more! They could actually do what artists are supposed to do and f**kwith the medium. A: They have no power right now. E_:_ That would put the producers at the risk of having contestants that aren't interesting enough to make an exciting show. Easier to fall back on drama, crazy challenges and good reality TV editors. A: The contestant's power is in their cattiness. [ChinaChowdismissesthe loser:'Tm sorry. Yourworkof art didn't workfor us."] A. F, M: NO WAYYYYYY! MeghanLattais an artistwholives FionaHernandezis a Mexican-Australian and worksin Vancouver. Sheis on artistwhograduatedfromEmilyCarr. EmilyCarrgraduate,whichhasle~ Shecurrentlyworksat the WesternFront, herqualifiedfor nothingbut making whereshetalksabouttelevisionconstantly. pithyobservations on the wastesof popularculture. \ \ Exhibition/Ill September - 23 October 2e1e Curated by Kim Nguyen Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time Aleesa Cohene, Alex Da Corte, Jon Pylypchuk, Markus Vater Exhibition//6 November 2e1e - 8 January 2e11 Commissioned by the Or Gallery with support from Arts Partners in Creative Development Several Circles Mark Soo The Or Gallery gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council, the Province of BC through the BC Arts Council, the City of Vancouver, our members, donors, and volunteers. Or Gallery is a member of the Pacific Association of Artist Run Centres [PAARCJ. Kim Nguyen gratefully acknowledges the support of Canada Council for the Arts through Assistance to Culturally Diverse Curators for Residencies in the Visual Arts. I 555 Hamilton Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 2Rl Canada//w1,w.orgallery.org//Tel +1 6e4 683 7395// or@orgallery.org//Tuesday to Saturday 12-5PM// FRONT FALL 201 0 19 ADVERTISEMENTS Deirdre Logue Artist in Residence September 6 to 29 Artist Talk September 23, 6:30PM Location TBA See front.be.ca for details Residency and artists talk in partnership with Cineworks Independent Filmmakers Society. II Image courtesy of the artist Erin Shirreff Artist in Residence October3 to 30 Artist Talk, October 16, 3PM Grand Luxe Hall WESTERN FRONT MEDIA ARTS 303 East 8th Avenue, Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 1S1 T. 604 876 9343 F. 604 876 4099 www.front.bc.ca Western Front is grateful for support from Canada Council for the Arts, the Department of Canadian Heritage, the BC Arts Council, BC Gaming Commission, the Vancouver Foundation, the City of Vancouver, and Best Western Hotels Fall Jazz Concerts presented in partnership with Coastal Jazz and Blues Society &rNew Orchestra Workshop Society Sarah Foulquier Pablo Bronstein Intermezzo October28 8PM Angle Mort Orkestra Futura - Meeting of the Minds Friday Oct 15 8pm September 10 to October 23 Opening Reception Kim Myhr Mural Sunday Oct 17 8pm September 9 7PM to 9PM Performance Grand Luxe Hall Ben·amin Herman Quartet Saturday Nov 20 8pm Pablo Bronstein, Intermezzo, 2009. Courtesy Hera~d St, London Avec le soutien du Consulat gE!nE!ral de France Vancouver a Workshops i ■ ♦ [E [8] 0 □ [SJ • NOW Improvisation Series The Empty Vessel Makes the Loudest Sound Mondays, Oct 4- Dec 6 4-6pm + 7:30-930pm FREE Deep Listening Sessions - Sundays 11am-1 pm FREE for WF Members II WESTERN FRONT NEW MUSIC i.~,.,. Eli Bornowsky Walking, Square Cylinder, Plane Sarah Foulquier, Debout. 2009 ,--------~---~- II Photograph, 4" x 6 •••Courtesy of the artist. November 26 to January 22 Opening Reception November 25 6PM to 8PM WESTERN FRONT EXHIBITIONS 303 East 8th Avenue, Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 1S1 T. 604 876 9343 F. 604 876 4099 www.front.bc.ca Eli Bornowsky, Icon Art and Writing (31.detail, 2010. Oil on canvas. Courtesy of the artist. Western Front is grateful for support from Canada Council for the Arts, the Department of Canadian Heritage, the BC Arts Council, BC Gaming Commission, the Vancouver Foundation, the City of Vancouver, and Best Western Hotels FALL 2010 FRONT SUMMER 2010 VANCOUVER r,.,,,.,., FRANYH~f, Tuesday - Saturday, 12pm - 5pm 303 East 8th Avenue, Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 151 T 604 876 9343 F 604 876 4099 www.front.bc.ca c::f'ri-TYOf • r~~1.... Rfrunl.lQlm Gallery Hours Sept 26 Donna Lytle Oct 17 Hildegard Westerkamp Nov 14 Viviane Houle Dec 5 TBA Jim Denley [Australia], Kim Myhr [Norway). Ellen Burr [LA). Eyvind Kang (Seattle). Vicky Chow [NYC] Jesse Zubot, Lisa Miller & others 0 Co-Presented with the Contemporary Art Gallery, as part of the exhibition Following a Line soQ--~~ coastaljaa: n W ~ 21 - - - -- - - -----~- I\ Centre A TheDig:CentreA'sfirst10 years TO SEP 25 SEP 11-oCT 23 Or Gallery SeemedLikea GoodIdeaat the Time DIM Cinema SEP 20, 7:30PM TO OCT 2 9 SFU Teck Gallery OCT 21-23 BESA:MuslimsWhoSavedjewsin New Music Festival WorldWarII Photographs by Theatreforthe Ears• Artist talk 7pm ScotiabankDanceCentre 8PM Aleesa Cohene, Alex Da Corte, Jon FromAniconismto Bliss:Mediaart showsits Islamicroots• Curator Laura MFA show• Keesic Douglas,Sydney Pylypchuk, Markus Vater • curated U Marks • PacificCinematheque by KimNguyen OCT 7-9, 8PM Dance Centre She'sGoneAway • Susanna Hood, OCT 30-NOV Hermant,Fan-LingSuen,ZoeTissandier,and ClareYow SEP 20-SEP 27 OpenSpace CHAOS• Sinead O'Donnell, Pauline Nilan Perera Suzanne Franks & Kevin Yates • SEP 12, 8PM VIVO Media Arts Cummins, Sandra Johnson, Lori OCT 8-DEC The Extreme Animals Sit Down Weiden hammer, Anakana Scho- Mark Boulos • soloshow JacobCiocci,DavidWightman,Paper Rad,Fortress of Amplitude field • performance SEP 3-19 Belkin Gallery Here Today, Gone Today: UBC SEP 9-0CT 9 VIVO BLOODSTORM • Teny Haines OpeningSep9, 7pm NormanH. Gershman 27 Open Space WunderWorry• Troi Donnelly, OpeningOct29, 7:30pm s Belkin Gallery OCT 30 TO 2011 Museum of Anthropology OCT 1 s, 8PM WF New Music SEP 22, 7PM Orkestra Futura • Meetingof the Man Ray,AfricanArtandthe Modernist Lens• Walker Evans, Alfred Cineworks at VIVO Minds• Fall Jazz Concerts Stieg! itz and others OCT 17, 8PM WF New Music NOV 5 Front Magazine Gildford No ReadingAfrertheInternet• Reading group • Womenof Algiersin Their Apartment,Assia Djebar Kirn Myhr Mural• Advertising deadline _,, SEP 16 7PM VIVO SEP 23 6:30PM ~ TheCutting:short videoworks• Cura- Western Front Media Arts OCT 18 7:30PM Western Front New Music tors Frederick Cummings & Brian Dierdre Logue • Artisttalk Intersections Recordings·Sarah Gotro TheWoodenLightbox: a secretartof seeing• Alex Mackenzie • Pacific Cinematheque SEP 9, 1 OPM-2AM Front Magazine & VIVO SEP 14-NOV SoWarm:SwarmAfrerparty• Cruz Brothers • performance+ installation • DJs: Natalie Purschwitz,Jesse Birch, Ian Wyatt• Free Burnaby Art Gallery SEP 9, 7-1 OPM 21 TheIntertidalZone• Prints by Doug . ,. Concerts SEP 25, 1-5PM Buchanan, Caleb Johnston, Brady SEP 17 FrontMagazine Marks,Jarnes Maxwell Submissiondeadline• WinterIssue: SEP 10-0CT Western Front Exhibitions AngleMort• Sarah Foulquier OpeningSep9, 7pm SEP 1 o-oCT f~r"' ___ NOV s, 8PM WFNewMusic Centre A 3 Gachet EnlightenTherapy:AstralWalk· Judy Jheung • OpeningSep10, 7-10pm SEP 17-NOV 14 Richmond Art Gallery Waterscapes • Gu Xiong• Opening Sep16, 7Pm Centre A 7 CAG Followinga line • Pablo Bronstein, Vancouver International NOV 6-DEC SEP 26, 8PM WF New Music Writers & Readers Festival SFU Gallery (Burnaby) Christian Fennesz • EventHorizon Granville Island• Concert Series ers • .writersfest.bc.ca Kriernann, & others• opening Sep9, 6-9pm SEP 11-0CT OpenSpace OCT 20-24 OpenWord:Readings Sixdays,100 writ- imagineNATIVE Film+ Media Arts Festival 4 OpenSpace SEP 30-0CT SoundMassageParlour• Stuart - ArtistTalk• Terry Haines, with OCT 1 -2, 8 PM Dance Centre Paul Wong Howis SleepBeautiful?•Helen Walkley • ScotiabankDanceCentre SEP 18 & 19 Museum of TheSpiritof Things· Walter Tandy Anthropology OCT 2-3, Murch WAM!WorldArtMarket• Various Art On Main Street• 1oam-5pm 27-30 - - J ShadowMachine•Multime4ia& Dance \ Benjamin Herman Quartet• Fall In recognition of the BC arts funding cuts, listings are provided free to all members of the Pacific Association of Artist-Run Centres. jazz Concerts DIM Cinema DDR/DDR• Amie Siegel • Pacific Cinematheque Have questions about these events? Many of them are featured in the advertisements in this magazine. Others can be googled. * NOV 25 TO 2011 *Butdon't spendtoo lon9on the internet,there Museum of Anthropology is too muchto do outthere. OCT 1, 8PM FADO SignedwithoutSignature• Charles Singaporean artists Lee Wen, and Isabella Edenshaw 11-6PM The Drift Lam • TorontoFreeGallery OCT 16-21 OpenStudios NOV 30-FEB 6 Burnaby Art Gallery ArtWalkand FADO Agnes Ned regard • Performance Who NeedsArtWhenYouHavea View LikeThis?• Davida Kidd art workshop • Toronto• info@ SEP 16, 8PM aluCine&FADO SEP 17, 7-lOPM Performances • Gabriela Alonso, Nelda Ramos (Argentina) • TorontoFree imagineNATIVE & FADO Gallery performanceart.ca RunningTheNumbers Jason Lim, Amanda Heng, Kai 7 Presentation House Gallery TheEarlyWorksof GlennLewis OCT 20-23, Co. Erasga & W2 Media Arts Dempster SEP 18 VIVO international artists• Chris Jordan• 17 NOV 22 7:30PM SFU Gallery (Burnaby) SEP 11-NOV it aroundwithyou,or put it up on yourfrid9e.Infact,we Toronto• irnagineNATIVE.org and Ideas Sep 17, 7-gprn •Speakers+ Sympo- 30 Feelfreeto tokethiscalendarout of the ma9azineand carry NOV 20, 8PM WFNewMusic , SEP 28, 7:30PM sium • Sep 18, 1oarn-5prn Peter Gazendarn, Susanne NOV 6-JAN 8 Or Gallery SeveralCircles•Mark Soo encoura9e it. 1 TheTwister· Keynote• David Elliott, SEP 10-NOV Inhabitants• EventHorizonConcert Series OCT 19-24 Discussion A.F. Moritz• SEP 1 7-18 DIM Cinema J ContemporaryArchiving• Panel Silence• frontrnagazine.ca 23 Fall Jazz - ., ASpace, Performance• Archer Pechawis ExhibitionOpening• Toronto:ASpace Gallery performanceart.ca NOV 4 - 7 Vancouver Asian Film 7a*11d InternationalFestivalof Performance OCT 21-31 Art· Multiple venues, over 30 artists• Toronto• www.7a-11d.ca Festival Tinseltown Vancouver • vaff.org Cineworks, pg 43 WF New Music, pg 20 Malaspina Printmakers, pg 12 Three Minute Girlfriend Zeesy Powers is famous to 52 people. Everyonelovesto bein love,but datingis tediouswhenthe.firstbloomfades. Drawingout theinevitableis worsethan beinglonely.Actually,that'snot true.Thereis nothingworsethan beinglonely.I will beyourgirlfriend for threeminutes.No risk of rejection,no messybreakup.JUSTSHOWUP. -Craigslist ad 24 I WOULD PACE AROUND THE one minute left to go. We are still friends, On March 14, 2007, I had 52 relationships. Before that day I received over but I yelled at him and called him an 120 e-mails from potential suitors, but ROOM OR LIE DESPONDENT ON asshole on his way out. only two men who found me through There were times when there would my Craigslist ad came to see me face to THE SOFA BECAUSE I FELT THAT be IO to 20 minutes between relationface. I don't know why the rest did not ships. When that happened I would pace show up. NO ONE LOVED ME. around the room or lie despondent on Of the 52 people, 26 were men and 26 the sofa because I felt that no one loved were women. Two may have been transsexual, but I me. I wish I was kidding, but I am not. I wanted don't know and I didn't ask. And there was one dog, people to love me. I wanted to love people. does that count? He makes it 53. About half were friends and acquaintances, the rest front I justfinishedreadingthe zineyouproduced for this were strangers to me. Looking at their pictures now, project,consistingof all theemailresponses to yourCraigsI recognize some of them from around town. Maybe listposting.Yougot 12 3 responses, seeminglyallfrom they already felt like they knew me? Maybe they just men.A lotof themseemedto thinktheyweregoingto get a wanted to be friends. blowjobin threeminutes,ortheytriedto negotiate for more timeon a differentday.In reallife,though,yougot this Only 32 people consented to be photographed. All but one consented to be videotaped. This is what amazinglyevengendermix.Didthetoneof the Craigslist I remember of the people who did not want to be responses makeyounervousin thedaysleadingupto the photographed: bigdate? My first boyfriend of the day wore gloves and a Zeesy I was pretty nervous, so I set up a security crew mask. He brought me a box, carefully wrapped and of about seven intimidatingly cute women and a large, painted white. Inside was a handmade mask with 3D lenses for eyes and a 3D greeting card from a fictional suitor. His mask was identical to the one he gave me, except his was black and mine was white. He did not leave his name. He arrived an hour early and spent our entire relationship claiming to be there in place of someone else. I didn't buy it for a second. (At the end of the school year a classmate came up to me and confessed: it was him.) Another man had just arrived~from Mass. He brought me a used Christmas be nie baby, wore a wedding ring and refused to be vi eotaped. Another man, in his late-forties or mid-fifties, was entirely forgettable until he began to show up at every event I participated in for the next year. An older man who had been at a radio interview with me came to see me. He had heard all my thoughts on the project, and even more private reflections made off the air. He started our relationship by stroking my inner thigh. An older woman from a class I was taking brought her daughter and spent our entire relationship asking me why I was doing this project. There were a few people like that: we spent our time talking about why we were spending time together. Richmond Art Gallery Other gifts included a bouquet of flowers, a poem, Canada Line Stop: Richmond-Brighouse and the back halves of two decorative birds, fused 7700 Minoru Gate Richmond BC phone: 604.247.8300 together. Only one person broke up with me. I kissed Bie, ~tvnord richmondartgallery.org him on his forehead and he got up and ran away with Conod1Co~ntll ri.._11/Jt 11uw! To discover the magazines that match your interests go on/me to www.1free.magazinescanada.ca or phone toll-free 1-866-289·8162 ,I NOW l Wl\N'r rroBRtW YOUR DOG. fl ZeesyPowersworkswithtechnology, peopleand consequences. Heronline presence, zeesypowers.com, is pretty funny.Hernewpiece,Total Panic, willpremierin Nouember2011 at GalleryTPWin Toronto.Currently employedin biotech,shehasworked in telecommunications and wantsyou to knowyou can do anythingyou put yourmindto. 692EastHastingsSt.Vancouver, BC t: 604.251.3411I www.beermaking.ca Hours- Tuesto Sat:11- 6 I Sun:12- 5 26 MIC RO-CELEBRITY FRONTSUMMER2010 27 ""-~~- r~~~@ ~ I ~ ¼ 28 MICRO-CELEBRITY FRONT FALL 201 0 ,-'~ ro ~ V½J) 29 Images page28 & 29 Moral List & Most Wanted List I I I I Grey Hernandez questions Anna Szaflarski about infamous criminals and her shifting moral hierarchy. Grey: In PatternSeries1 thesubjectmatterappears to bea "Marurepresents the bestof whatthe Internetcanbe!" "I knowMarutoo,he'sa reallytalentclown...." "Everythingbecameright in my worldagainafrerI was introducedto Maru.Marumakesmy cat looklikea catatonictrout." "Whata cleanhouse!I'veneverseenany dustsin yourvideos. Howmanytimesa day do you clean?I myselfusedto livein a housethat has~oorlikethat.twas naturally shiny likethat, but dustsalwaysappe r fromnowhere despitecleaningeverymorning." "I wastryingto pinpointwhy I can't stopcomingherefor moreMaru,besidesMaru,obvious.AndI think it is becausethere'sno music....justMaru.It's so relaxing, calming....it neverfailsto makeme happyand relaxed." "Maru:Thankyou for remindingmeabout howto 'be."' -CommentsfromMaru'sYouTubechannel discover something for myself rather than display carefulcategorization of thesinister(crimes) ortheinfamous something I already know. I'd like to think of Suspi(fugitives).What'syourrelationship to thesegroups? ciousNon-Eventsas a library of studies that reveal my Anna: My personal relationship to crime and crimidiscoveries. nals is limited, but what did interest me was how What the viewer may gain from SNEis the feeling certain crimes and criminals were described in the that he/she can step outside the limitations of the media, and in the opinions of the public. We all have sidewalk, or perhaps gain a different lens to look at a relationship to these themes as we are exposed to strangers with. I would prefer if they gained tools society's reproaches to crime. from my work rather than revelations. In these drawings I took publicly familiar symbols In somerespects, PatternSeries 1 seemsliketheoddman or information and subjected them out,in termsof its subjectmatter. to my personal input. I chose these I ASKED MYSELF TO There are other works I have done particular subjects because they invoke that relate more closely to PatternSeries an emotional or moral response. In the ORGANIZE CRIM ES FROM I, but you are right to see a division. drawing MoralHierarchyI asked myself The drawings are different mainly to organize crimes from worst to most WORST TO MOST PETTY. because they are often done alone in petty. The exercise was focused on my studio or at home, while the other internally questioning my own judgment and morals. works deal with the unpredictability of the outside I took a subject I would hear about and know through world. MoralHierarchywas the beginning of a body of socialization and then I would attempt to know it work that deals with systematically subjecting myself better through a process of organization. to moral decisions. Although it may seem different I have repeated the drawing MoralHierarchyagain to some of the documentary works I've done, they all and again since this one from 2007. The interesting deal with my fascination with committing to a defioutcome is that the weight one puts on one crime one nite system to navigate in an indefinite subject. day may change the next. Theseworksarepartofa largerseriesentitledSuspicious Non-Events. Thereseemsto bea themeof highlighting the 30 banaloroverlooked, andmakingit ''.famous." SuspiciousNon-Events was not intended to display the AnnaSza~arskigraduatedfrom overlooked as much as it was a series of systems that I created in order to comb through public space. Then, through documentation, I would drag the viewer along with me. I feel I can't show or teach the viewer anything. I am on the chase of the lesson as much as they are, and usually don't start each project with a vision or message. Even through drawing, I try to mostrecentworkhasbeenproduced MARU IS FAMOUS Yet despite being a famous Internet Kitty', Marn is Marn introduces himself in the video, I am Maru from modest and enjoys a simple, solitary lifestyle. If the early 2009, as "bumbling, awkward ... a lazybones basically." This charming, self-deprecating attitude, mark of a good life is to love and to be loved, Marn along with Marn's dedication to seemingly imposlives the Good Life with Mugumogu, his videographer and caretaker. This slightly rotund kitty spends sible tasks, have attracted over 60,000 subscribers to most of his time indoors3, eating, sleeping and playhis YouTube channel. ing, unaware of his phenomenal impact on the world. With 149 videos to date and a webpage tirelessly chronicling his performative activity, plus the recently When asked to comment on his fame, Marn said, "I released DVD and book entitled I am Maru, Marn is don't really know how famous I am, but Mugumogu also a hardworking professional. sometimes tells me 'Everybody likes you, Marn.' I just Since Marn's first appearance on YouTube in 2008, don't get it. I am always so busy sleeping, eating and his videos have garnered over 3 million hits. This cel- playing everyday. Mugumogu says it is ok that I don't ebrated feline has been featured on TheEllenDeGeneres understand as long as I am happy." 4 And this happy kitty in turn pleases his YouTube Show,graciously accepted several YouTube awards enthusiasts: videos of Marn improve lunch breaks, in Japan, and been named Hot Slut of the Week by Facebook sharing and general internet activity for his popular celebrity gossip blog, Dlisted'. EmilyCarrUniversityin 2008. Her primarilyin artist booksthat have GreyHernandezis an architectand beenpublishedwiththe artistcollective writerlivingin Vancouver. Heis a AKVBerlin(akvberlin.com). In October, memberof the architecturecollective Annawillbegingraduatestudiesin HerbesSportifs,and is alsocurrently FineArtsat the Universitdtder l