Words today are infinitely produced. Words are detritus. Words are additive as they pile up. Words are recycled, re-purposed, and reclaimed. Words are both physical and material that can be inserted into the environment and engaged. Words are temporary, reshaped, shoveled, hoarded, molded, and discarded quickly. Words are treated by their material qualities as what they weigh has gained value over what they mean. (Goldsmith, Kenneth. Uncreative Writing: Managing Language in the Digital Age. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011.)
The works in NICE TO "MEET" YOU take on such qualities as described by Goldsmith in the use of language as a material. The exhibition explores how we connect and communicate through social media and online platforms in our bid to initiate, achieve, and/or maintain an intimate connection. Digital words indicating intent are sourced from both text messages and hook-up apps (i.e. Scruff, Grindr, and GROWLr) and cast in concrete to then be sorted, stacked, arranged, and piled in three sculptural installations. A series of emails composed in regret are impressed, torn, and documented as both works on paper and large-scale photography. When an online connection is halted, what is the ongoing story that these messaging platforms don’t tell? Is it ever truly over? What resonates as a lingering relational fragment?

Opening Reception: Saturday October 1, 5-8pm
Artist Talk October 22, 2 -4pm

mpefm CANADA art press release