PORTAL: An installation by Sandra Vida

EMMEDIA presents

An installation by Sandra Vida May 19 - June 18, 2016 | EMMEDIA - 351 11 Ave SW, 2nd Floor Opening Reception: Thurs. May 19, 7-10PM | Artist Talk: Sat. May 28, 2-4PM

For more info, go to: emmedia.ca

The daily cycle of waking and sleeping is our most practiced movement between the known and unknown. The threshold between the two can inspire acceptance, curiosity, fear, or denial, depending on our tendencies or current mood. As children, we are introduced to this reality through literature and fairytales that include doorways to parallel worlds. As we grow and mature, our understanding deepens to acknowledge that no matter our stage in life, infinite knowledge and experience will always lie beyond our reach. Likewise, we become aware that moving into the unknown is often not a choice, as our lives progress through the inevitable stages and changes of existence.

Portal: Moving Through

by Andrea Mann A small child is awake in the night, calling for companionship in her panic at dream images she does not understand. She is afraid to cross the threshold back to sleep and only gains courage through careful comforting. Once the child is quiet again, the parent struggles to cross the same threshold, willing the mysterious moment to arrive when oblivion provides relief from the demands of adult life.

In Portal, Sandra Vida’s most recent video installation, we are called to consider this progression in our lives, escorted by the artist’s conceptualization of her own. Our first invitation into Portal is a contemplative melody of hand bells, violins and cellos from a meditative quartet composition by Sir John Tavener (1944-2013). For anyone who has previously known Sandra Vida’s work, anticipating a tone of introspection is confirmation of the sensibility one looks forward to in her installations. Portal also explores compelling new avenues that entice visitors whether they may already be familiar with the artist’s body of work, or are discovering her art for the first time.

Once we enter into the installation space, lit by a single projection, we are encouraged to interact with the artwork by moving through progressive layers of projection surfaces, completing a short circular path back to the beginning. We may decide to perform multiple circuits, or pause in a seated area that faces back toward the projector beam. The imagery

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of the projection advances in a gradually transforming sequence of rich layers and colorful abstract moments. We are surrounded and permeated by organic forms that call to mind textures of nature, the internal world of the body and the immensity of the universe. ********************************* In this complex multi-sensory setting, the artist has established the context, but my presence also defines the artwork in this moment.

My movements in the installation make me a participant, or even a performer, if I happen to be sharing the space with others. I compose meaning in the work through the questions, observations and connections that arise for me within the abstract images. Moving through Portal, I am also choosing the pace of the interplay. If I stop to look more closely, or let the images stream past, I am affecting how the work takes form in my perceptions. However, this “framing” is never fixed; it is like the constant yet mutable presence of a flowing river.

In Art as Experience, philosopher John Dewey observes that the art we find compelling often gives the impression that “there is a bounding horizon,” but that “it moves as we move. We are never wholly free from the sense of something that lies beyond”(201).1 I am indeed compelled.

The cavernous rhythm of the string quartet accompanies my reverie, multiplying emotions that cannot help but arise. Naming these, I feel ripples of sadness, regret and fear, but I am also, paradoxically, aware of an uplifting sensation that is more difficult to identify. Should I describe it as awe? It is unexpected, and reminds me of being on the top of a mountain or looking out at the expanse of the sea.

The words of Gaston Bachelard from Poetics of Space also resonate: “immensity is within ourselves. It is attached to a sort of expansion that life curbs and caution arrests, but which starts again when we are alone”(184).2 Being immersed in Portal affects me. I will remember this. The images and sensations will come back to me at unexpected moments, perhaps even in dreams. ********************************* Although the work speaks on its own, knowing that Sandra is an established artist and a mature woman gives us confidence that we are in the presence of wisdom. Finding out that she has recently recovered

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from a serious illness, reminds us of our own mortality and contributes to our reflections.

Sandra says that when viewers ask for confirmation of the meaning they see in her work, she often responds by saying, “yes, it could be,” rather than offering the definitive answer they may have been seeking. Her work has always involved juxtaposing images to allow for interpretation, but she finds that more often than not, viewer associations are similar to her own.

I think back to numerous conversations with Sandra on topics surrounding intersectional feminism, which is a passion and pursuit we share. I am struck by the sense that Portal touches a deeper current.

In Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, the following statement emerges as she nears her conclusion. “…There is no arm to cling to… we go alone, and our relation is to the world of reality and not only to the world of men and women”(102).3 Ironically, we are brought together in the very ways “we go alone.” No matter our differing states of being, heritage, preferences, or self-perceptions, we all pass through portals of birth, life, death, and many mysterious evolutions between.

It is refreshing to be in the presence of thinking that goes beyond the personal, supersedes the political, and treads in the territory of the spiritual. ____________________________________________________ Dewey, John. Art as Experience. New York: The Berkley Publishing Group, 1934.

Bachelard, Gaston. The Poetics of Space. Boston: Beacon Press, 1969.

3 Woolf, Virginia. A Room of One’s Own. New York: Penguin Books, 1929.

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About Sandra Vida: Sandra Vida’s work over the past three decades has included photo-based collage, performance, film, video and installation.

In addition to her art practice, she is known for her involvement in Calgary’s artist-run centres and as an advocate for the arts.

She is also known as an arts writer, and has facilitated a wide variety of creative projects. Sandra has been nominated twice for a Governor-General’s Visual and Media Arts Award, received the Epcor Established Arts award at the Mayor’s Luncheon for Business and the Arts, and was one of three finalists for Alberta’s first Marion Nicoll Visual Art award.

About Andrea Mann: Andrea Mann is an artist, writer and award-winning filmmaker.

She also brings her love of creativity to children and youth as a public school teacher. She is drawn to projects that include collaborative elements, and is inspired by the adventure of collective processes. Her work asks questions, often seeking unknowable answers. Andrea dreams, researches and designs, creating collages and poems in whatever medium is at hand.

She invests each day in growth, and is always looking for ways to contribute to a better future for us all.