The Learning Zone

If you haven’t checked out External Space yet, the video exhibition space we host in cooperation with XPACE Cultural Centre, now’s a good time because last week a new piece was installed: o i’m lisa, by Lisa Folkerson. Here’s what XPACE has to say about it:

o i’m lisa is a conjoined video about “Lisa”. It features the artist’s best friend and sister styled as the artist’s avatar in an attempt to embody and present an accurate portrait of the artist. o i’m lisa reflects on the value of self or existing as a person in the experience of other people. The video is rendered through the essential memories and details of the artist’s intimate relationships.

O i’m lisa is the fourth video we’ve had in External Space, and the third in a series curated by Jennifer Simaitis, OCADU grad. About the series, Simaitis writes that in celebration of emerging Canadian artists, she has gathered together a collection of “unassuming, documentary-type videos” in which the artists “embrace and execute trivial or absurd tasks through repetition and humour.” In o i’m lisa, two similarly-costumed women portray the same person although, in fact, neither are the person being portrayed. The effect is ambiguous, “comically self-deprecating,” and at once “relatable but abstract.”

Come in for the full story, or just stand back and enjoy: O i’m lisa will be on-screen in the Learning Zone until February 12th!