Rosemary Heather Bücher

Published on the occasion of the exhibition Kate Newby - Let the other thing in, held at Fogo Island Gallery, June 27 - September 8, 2013.

Kevin Schmidt is best known for addressing notions of displaced spectacle bystaging elements of urban culture against the backdrop of the natural world.This compact but elegant exhibition publication, the fourth in the series fromthe artists' residency, Fogo Island Arts, documents the installation and film EDMHouse (2013) in which Schmidt transformed the abandoned British Columbiahomestead where he lived for four months into a meeting place of the urbanand rural. By superimposing EDM (electronic dance music) and colored lights ontothe remote location, Schmidt imbues the scenery with a chilling and exhilaratingsense of displacement augmented by his disorienting camera work, and critiquesour pioneering expeditions into the natural world. This slender volume includesstunning color photographs of the installation plus reflections on Schmidt's practiceby writer Jeff Derksen, a fictional narrative by novelist Michael Turner, and artistinterview by Jack Stanley.

Accompanying Zin Taylor's exhibition at Fogo Island Gallery is the catalogue Zin Taylor: Lichen Voices / Stripes and Dots, copublished by Fogo Island Arts and Sternberg Press (Berlin). The publication features essays by Zoë Gray and Saelan Twerdy, and Zin Taylor in conversation with Patrick Staff and Robin Simpson. The book also presents the artist's portfolio An Index Describing the Individual 19 Thoughts About Stripes and Dots Arranged on a Vitrine Made of Brass and Glass. -- Publisher's description.

This publication accompanies parallel exhibitions by Silke Otto-Knapp in two contrasting locations: Fogo Island, Newfoundland, and Kunsthalle Wien Karlsplatz, Vienna. The selection of works reflects the differing influences of rural and urban settings, highlighting the relationship between art and its contexts. The exhibitions raise questions about the tensions between nature and culture, serving as a backdrop for the artwork's activation. Included are essays by Susan Morgan and Vanessa Joan Müller, along with a conversation between Otto-Knapp and Nicolaus Schafhausen. Müller examines the tensions in Otto-Knapp's work as integral to its experience, while Morgan discusses three key influences: cultural geographer J. B. Jackson, avant-garde dancer Anna Halprin and landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, and poet Elizabeth Bishop. In his dialogue with Schafhausen, Otto-Knapp describes the exhibition as a "theatre situation" that exists both separately from and engaged with reality. The viewer, as an activating element, embodies the reality of the artwork's engagement. The project title, 'Questions of Travel,' is drawn from Bishop's poem of the same name, which is included in the catalogue. Exhibition dates: Kunsthalle Wien - Karlsplatz, Austria (12.3.-25.5.2014) / Fogo Island Gallery, Canada (16.4.-31.8.2014).