'Multiple Contingencies'
with works by Mitchell Akiyama, Raul Altosaar, Francesca Chudnoff, Lai-Tze Fan, Jesse Jackson, Brad Necyk, Stephanie Rothenberg, and Maria Whiteman.
Featuring 'She Falls for Ages', a machinima by Skawennati.
Presented as a part of 'Out of Mind': the 32nd Annual Meeting of the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts (SLSA): http://litsciarts.org/slsa18/.
Curated by Belinda Kwan.
2018 SLSA Conference Site Organizers:
David Cecchetto, Marcel O'Gorman, & Jason LaJoie
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Exhibition Hours:
Thursday 12:00 PM–5:00 PM
Friday 8:30 AM–8:00 PM
Saturday 8:30 AM–8:00 PM
Sunday 8:30 AM–12:00 PM
with daily performances by Francesca Chudnoff.
Opening Reception: Thursday, November 15 from 6:30–9:00 PM
Workshops: TBA
For a draft of the conference schedule, visit: http://litsciarts.org/slsa18/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/SLSA-2018-program-draft4.pdf.
This exhibition is FREE to the public, wheelchair accessible, and LGBTQ+ friendly. Trigger warning: Please note that there is work with mention of suicide, death, and mental health crises. If you require further accommodations, please email bkwanart@gmail.com.
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Excerpt from exhibition statement:
In response to the 'Out of Mind' theme of this year's SLSA conference, 'Multiple Contingencies' explores some of the foreign and extra-rational forces that challenge and undo the way our minds run.
The notion of 'contingency' carries countless contradictions. It asks that we prepare for unforeseen circumstances; costs us resources we may not have; and resists one's obsession to know *for sure*. It demands a long term plan but threatens to sabotage with a fierce immediacy, offering no guarantee of how it'll all play out. As a result, we are subject to a plurality of encounters: a multiplicity that is often overwhelming and anxiety-inducing.
Sometimes, we contend with that infinite possibility and unending precarity by compressing it into a single feeling of uncertainty. Dealing in the singular allows us to contain it in our minds—systemize it, intellectualize it. But there's no denying the slippery, overflowing character of chance. Uncertainty of this kind shakes the psychological drive for estimation: our drive to *know* in advance, to *know* what to expect and act in accordance with that. No matter how thoroughly we conceptualize a plan and check for risks, we are always subject to some level of unpredictability, some force of nature ready to deter or destroy our plans. In many ways, this unpredictability is humbling, even humiliating. For some, it is terrifying. It's no wonder, then, we spend so much time preparing for and worrying about the future.
It goes without saying that even when chance and control contradict each other, they have a productive relationship. Retrospective reflections with chance encounters become insight and constitute preparation for the future. And often, even in the face of chance, forethought and intention can pay off.
But these forms of control can also give way to paranoia, oversurveillance, and an unquenchable thirst for authority. And maybe there's something intensely satisfying about not being in control; *not* knowing. Complete predictability is arguably just a path to ennui, so we can thank the extra-rational, extra-cognitive domains of our lives for helping us avoid a fate of monotonous determination. Perhaps more encouragingly, the existence of phenomena that can act or think *otherwise* offers up potential for beneficial forms of interdependency and trust. Maybe we don't always have to be in control. Maybe we can depend on or benefit from other ways of thinking and being. Whatever it "may be", this much is clear: there is room for the forgetful, speculative, imaginary, non-sensical, and extra-rational that drive our encounters with the unexpected. There is room for being "out of your mind," as much as there is room for mindful and intellectually robust endeavours. And if we are to re-mind or re-wire ourselves for a different kind of potential, maybe we need to consider what lies beyond the self-assurance of "level-headed" and neurocentric thinking.
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For more on the artists & curator:
Skawennati: http://www.skawennati.com/
Mitchell Akiyama: http://www.mitchellakiyama.com/
Raul Altosaar: http://raul.earth/
Francesca Chudnoff: https://www.madebyfranznfriends.com/
Lai-Tze Fan: https://laitzefan.com/
Jesse Jackson: http://jessecolinjackson.com/
Brad Necyk: https://www.bradnecyk.com/
Stephanie Rothenberg: http://www.pan-o-matic.com/
Maria Whiteman: http://maria-whiteman.squarespace.com/
Belinda Kwan: https://belindakwan.com/
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Acknowledgements:
Those of us who are settlers would like to acknowledge the Indigenous communities that continue to live on and steward the land upon which this project takes place: the Haudenosaunee, specifically the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca (settled on Cobechenonk river, also known as the Humber), the Petun, the Métis and the Ojibwe, specifically the Mississaugas of the Credit River (also known as the Missinihe [Trusting Water] River).
We continue to gain insight from Indigenous knowledge and organizing strategies. We acknowledge the colonial histories that we have inherited by settling and doing work here, and we endeavour to honour the legacy of Tkaronto as a gathering place for exchange, to support Indigenous sovereignty, and to live in right relations with one another and these territories.
Additional thanks to the Society for Science, Literature (SLSA), and the Arts; Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC); OCAD University Inclusive Design Research Centre (IDRC); University of Waterloo; and York University for their support.