MICHAEL BELMORE FEATURED IN CANADIAN ART, LANDMARKS 2017
10 ARTWORKS COMING SOON TO CANADA’S NATIONAL PARKS
COMING THIS JUNE, INCLUDING MICHAEL BELMORE’S COALESCENCE
LANDMARKS2017/REPÈRES2017 IS A NETWORK OF COLLABORATIVE, CONTEMPORARY ART PROJECTS ACROSS CANADA’S NATIONAL PARKS ON THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF CANADIAN CONFEDERATION IN 2017.
exerpt from the article in Canadian Art
Curated by David Diviney, Ariella Pahlke and Melinda Spooner (a.k.a. ACT), Véronique Leblanc, Natalia Lebedinskaia, Kathleen Ritter and Tania Willard, this wide-ranging endeavour, which spans from coast to coast, offers some site-specific responses to the notion of Canada 150.
“This anniversary marks an occasion to reflect on a land much older than 150 years, and to address the legacies of colonialism, the complex relationship between nationhood and cultural identity, as well as our relationship to nature in the face of present-day environmental and climatic crises,” say the curators. “Using art as a catalyst for discourse and social change, LandMarks2017/Repères2017 looks forward, and provides an opportunity to imagine, to speculate and to invent our futures through the eyes of artists, art students, communities and through the spirit of the land.”
Michael Belmore, Stones assembled on the tidal flats near Churchill, Manitoba, November 2016. Photo: Natalia Lebedinskaia.
MICHAEL BELMORE’S COALESCENCE AT CAPE MERRY, PRINCE OF WALES FORT NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE, RIDING MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK AND THE FORKS NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE IN MANITOBA, AND GRASSLANDS NATIONAL PARK IN SASKATCHEWAN
Four distant sites. One glacial history. That’s the context for Ontario-based artist Michael Belmore’s Coalescence, a multi-part sculptural project that begins on the shores of Hudson Bay in northern Manitoba and culminates on plains of southern Saskatchewan.
It’s a sweeping territorial range that follows the boundaries of an Ice Age glacier. For Belmore, that ancient framework, and the geological evidence left behind, makes a telling metaphor for trace histories of migration, displacement and the resilience of culture and community. Carving and inlaying copper on 16 granite and bedrock boulders sourced from around Churchill, Manitoba, Belmore will create hearth-like arrays that appear to radiate heat.
Each location becomes a gathering point along a modern-day migratory trail, connecting the ebb and flow of natural and human forces in the long shadow of geological time.
Travelling from June 10 to 25, 2017, the stones will be distributed evenly across four national parks, journeying between sites and welcomed at each stop by community events and workshops. Curated by Natalia Lebedinskaia.
Michael Belmore exhibition ‘thunder sky turbulent water’ at Central Art Garage