Exhibition notes: entering the landscape

Edited by Sarah Nesbitt and Jenifer Papararo
Published by Plug In Editions
Design by Mariah Meawasige
Softback
76 pages
1 artist insert
8.5 x 11 inches
ISBN: 978-1-927385-48-7

Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art is pleased to announce the launch of Exhibition Notes: Entering the Landscape. Featuring extended curatorial essays by Sarah Nesbitt and Jenifer Papararo, an artist insert by A.K. Burns, and over 30 colour images, this special publication marks the first in our Exhibition Notes series. 

Entering the Landscape, which featured artists Pia Arke (1958-2007), Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory, Jaime Black, Lori Blondeau, A.K. Burns, The Ephemerals, Melissa General, Rebecca Horn, Katherine Hubbard, Maria Hupfield, Simone Jones, Tau Lewis, Amy Malbeuf, Meryl McMaster, Ana Mendieta, Natalie Purschwitz, Dominique Rey, Jamie Ross, Xaviera Simmons, Ming Wong, and Alize Zorlutuna, is an exciting exhibition to begin this series, marking the first collaboration between curators Jenifer Papararo and Sarah Nesbitt, and participating in a long and nuanced history of artists addressing bodies in the land.

Proposed as quick compilations, and archival gestures, the Exhibition Notes series intends to capture the exhibition as part of the research process and not its end goal. This publication series also functions as a record, documenting the organization of artworks in the galleries, transcribing public conversations, and reformatting respondent and artists’ talks, as well as affording time to expand curatorial essays. Because the nature of research is that it unfolds over time, within the ‘quickness’ of the note is the decoding of a more durational moment, of time spent thinking, reading, conversing, experiencing.

The depth of engagement is immediate and evident in the directed conversations that occurred and are recorded within Exhibition Notes: Entering the Landscape. An introductory quote by artist Lori Blondeau is a trace from a longer talk given at Plug In; expanded curatorial essays build on the framework of the curators’ initial texts, incorporating lessons learned and offering moments of elaboration where possible; scholar Sherry Farrell-Racette adapted a talk given as part of the Respondent Series discussing Indigenous bodies and photography; an edited transcript of a panel discussion with Jaime Black, Tau Lewis, Dominique Rey, Jamie Ross, and Xaviera Simmons expands many of the topics that could only be alluded to elsewhere, showing the depth and divergences of each artists’ practice and contribution. An Insert of Leave No Trace by A.K. Burns, as well as a full page spread of LINE by Xaviera Simmons and a still from the Ephemeral’s video, After Birth, compliment a larger selection of images, which situate the works in place.

Working with designer, Mariah Meawasige, we set the Exhibition Note series within a nostalgic sixties design, taking cues from school text and notebooks to imply ongoing engagement in the process of research we hope will continue to unravel. 

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