Release party: Thursday, November 20, 2014, 7–10pm
Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art
401 Richmond Street West, Suite 124
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5V 3A8
Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art is pleased to announce the release of the 30th issue of Prefix Photo magazine. On the subject of object lessons, founding director Scott McLeod writes: “So thoroughly have viewers been indoctrinated into reading photographic images within a journalistic, commercial or other framework that these photographs of objects—presented in a neutral environment and isolated from any context—at first glance seem completely impenetrable and unyielding. But when viewers, shifting their gaze from conventional modes of perception, subject these images to intense scrutiny, they find that these objects have much to reveal.”
Contributors to the magazine include the following:
Leah Modigliani examines the underlying principles that have animated Michael Snow‘s photographic work throughout many decades, exploring his aesthetic methodology organized around framing, puns, perspective, reflexivity and the relative autonomy of subject and medium. In her course, she offers an interpretive analysis of several important early works, including Four to Five (1962), 8 x 10 (1969) and Crouch, Leap, Land (1970), among others. Ultimately, she demonstrates Snow’s belief that human experience, including the representations of the world that we create to make sense of it, is highly contingent on spatial, temporal, physiological and linguistic factors.
As we mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, its afterlife as a continuously transforming object with shifting symbolic value becomes all the more compelling. Blake Fitzpatrick & Vid Ingelevics, in their project Freedom Rocks (2003, ongoing), trace the wall as a mobile ruin to locations in North America post-1989, as well as to storage and commemorative sites in Berlin itself. Working with photography and video, and notions of geographic and temporal displacement, the artists show the wall as a valorized commemorative object, a neglected relic, a personal souvenir and, ultimately, as dust.
Celina Jeffery explores the work of Sylvia Safdie, a prolific artist whose four-decade-long career has traversed a variety of media and processes, including recent excursions into video art. Often drawn to sites associated with migration, she explores the experiences of place and placelessness. In this exploration, objects, rendered as images, are transformed. Examining the echoes and traces of history—dust, shards of light, shadows and cobwebs—she illuminates the ephemeral, fragile and sometimes ruinous state of being, as well as the redemptive potential of art.
Laurie Davis, in her literary feature, speculates on the significance of the only objects to have endured from her early childhood: a baby doll, with whom she has “no unfinished business,” and a pair of broken eyeglasses, the history of which is fraught with complexity.
Other contributors include Bani Abidi, Michel de Broin, Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige and Gaye Jackson, with book reviews by Scott McLeod, Sarah Munro, Shaun Pett and Ellyn Walker.
On the occasion of its 15th anniversary of continuous publishing, Prefix Photo is pleased to supplement its 30th issue with a commemorative poster, 30 for 30. Produced with exceptional artistry by the staff of Daniel Ehrenworth Photography, Underline Studio and Transcontinental, it features photographs of the prized possessions of 30 individuals who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes on the magazine, past and present.
In conjunction with the release party, Prefix ICA is pleased to host the closing reception for Pellejo, an exhibition curated by Scott McLeod and featuring the work of Los Carpinteros. The release party for the magazine and the closing reception for the exhibition will be held on Thursday, November 20, from 7 to 10pm at Prefix ICA, located at 401 Richmond Street West, Suite 124, Toronto. Admission is free.
Prefix Photo is published by Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art, Inc., a registered charitable organization that fosters the appreciation and understanding of contemporary photographic, media and digital arts. Prefix Photo is available by subscription and in fine bookstores and newsstands in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Switzerland, Ireland, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Prefix Photo gratefully acknowledges its supporting sponsor Steam Whistle Brewing, its official catering sponsor à la Carte Kitchen and its official hotel sponsor Hotel Le Germain for their assistance with the release party held for Prefix Photo 30 in Toronto.
Prefix Photo gratefully acknowledges the assistance of its staff, volunteers and patrons, as well as the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts.
For more information, join our e-mail list, become a fan on Facebook, or contact Alysha Rajkumar at [email protected] or T +416 591 0357.
