Press Release
For the latest installation at Offsite, the Gallery’s outdoor exhibition space on West Georgia at Thurlow Street, MadeIn Company creates a fiction that uses subtlety and mistaken identity to prompt passers-by to reconsider their perceptions. At first appearing to be debris from a demolition or recent disaster, Calm is an installation that breathes life and ambiguity into a pile of bricks. So subtly that it is barely visible to viewers, the ruins begin to slowly move, creating a mirage effect. As implied in its title, Calm alludes to the stillness that follows a disaster, while simultaneously embodying the threat of latent and imminent danger that precedes a proverbial storm. The piece’s ambiguity questions ways of observing, believing and understanding facts, reminding us that truth is not always what it seems.
Calm, “MadeIn Company,” installation view of Calm, 2013, Offsite, Vancouver Art Gallery, (photo: Rachel Topham)
MadeIn Company is an artist collective established in Shanghai, China in 2009. With up to thirty artists working on any given project, the group satirically portrays itself as a contemporary art corporation that is focused on the production of creativity. Aside from producing their own works, MadeIn Company curates exhibitions and supports art projects, including the Chinese contemporary art online forum called Art Ba-Ba. In a short time the group has participated in both national and international exhibitions at such institutions as S.M.A.K., Gent IKON Gallery, Birmingham Kunsthalle, Bern Hayward Gallery, London; and Rijskakademie, Amsterdam and have also participated in the 8th Shanghai Biennale; 7th Busan Biennale and 1st Kiev Biennale. Members of MadeIn Company are currently based and working in both Shanghai and Beijing, China.
Organized by the Vancouver Art Galley and curated by Diana Freundl, assistant curator.
Offsite is organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery and curated by Kathleen Ritter, associate curator. Offsite is funded by the City of Vancouver through the Public Art Program. The Gallery recognizes Ian Gillespie, President, Westbank; Ben OFFSITE Yeung, President, Peterson Investment Group; and the residents of Shangri–La for their support of this space.
Generously Supported by our Visionary Partner:
Michael O’Brian Family Foundation
Vancouver Art Gallery Offsite is located on West Georgia Street between Thurlow and Bute Streets in downtown Vancouver.
