MAIN SPACE EXHIBITION
OCTOBER 21 – OCTOBER 28, 2016
STRIDE GALLERY
1006 MACLEOD TRAIL SE
GRAYSON RICHARDS – CENTRE FOR GLOBAL INQUIRY: SYRIA
SCHEDULED PERFORMANCES
OCTOBER 21 – 25 during gallery hours
During the first year of what has become the Syrian Civil War, artist Grayson Richards collected nearly 500 articles, videos, and sound clips. The materials have since constituted an investigation in which the artist wades through its pages in futile search of human connection or holistic understanding. Restricted to image and text, this search inevitably becomes stuck in a loop of self-reproducing abstractions chasing an ever-elusive realization.
By conducting this search within the confines of linear Western thought, Richards works to lay bare the negation of the subject by an ideologically bankrupt humanism.
Over the course of the festival the space will collect traces of the artist’s efforts, paper compounding paper in a monument to the shortcomings of media.
During the performance the public is invited to join the artist in conversation or explore the archive.
DESEARCH REPARTMENT – INSTITUTE FOR DURATIONAL FUTURES: BROUGHT TO YOU BY ESSENTIALHAPPINESSPOSSIBLITY
YAGA WORKSHOPS
Saturday, October 22 @ 12-1pm
Tuesday, October 25 @ 6pm
Desearch is a methodology that exercises neoliberal privilege through the removal of facts, context and responsibility. The Desearch Repartment embraces careerism and economic/cultural hegemony, while highlighting modes of value recognition and readily absorbing, neutralizing and commodifying themes of social justice and political dissent. Their anti-disciplinary processes quantify the art world on its own terms using formulaic art making, constantly fluctuating terminology and signposts of success as their mediums.
The Desearch Repartment’s focus is building tools for survival and prosperity to empower world citizens with skills for successful living at the zenith of neoliberal capitalism. Indeed the DR motto, “think fast, die less”, reminds us that exible thinking is the key to the enduring viability of any pursuit. To this end, the DR is working towards the ESSENTIALHAPPINESSPOSSIBIL ITY, the new world order, a quotient of success and an approach to self-actualization, structured within a galaxy of social service networks.
They have developed YAGA, a new spiritual exercise tradition, which af rms that the answers to all problems lie inside. Desearch Repartment is credited with discovering the body-mind connection: the neck. The YAGA program teaches exibility, encouraging us to say yes to everything, and also helps practitioners to develop deep empathy through torture compassion practices. With these tools and networking opportunities, late-stage capitalism feels more like fashionably late capitalism.
GRAYSON RICHARDS’ artistic approach is rooted in research and centered on themes including politics, international relations, human rights and journalism. Varied in approach and medium, his work aims to complicate global narratives by identifying — and often constructing — points of overlap and friction as these narratives vie for in uence, making visible the currents of power that shape and move our histories.
Receiving his BFA in Photography From Emily Carr University in 2012, Grayson Richards is an MFA candidate in Documentary Media at Ryerson University in Toronto, where he currently lives and works. His work is featured in public collections including the Richmond Public Art Collection in Richmond, B.C. and private collections across Canada and the United States.
THE DESEARCH REPARTMENT’S Corporate Creativity Workshops for Art (Motivate: Stop Torturing Your Sel e, Innovate: Creative Prison Solutions and Captivate: Art Fairs for Life) take place internationally in various cultural institutions – prisons and museums. They are part of the curatorial team of the upcoming Guantanamo Art Fair which counts renowned contemporary painter George W. Bush as a collaborator in addition to the hottest international durational performers in residence at Gitmo. The Desearch Repartment’s conventions of Neo Lived Realism tour leading cities of global cultural importance and economic dominance, melding the Essential Elements of Status QuoTM seamlessly into the tapestry of everyday life. DESEARCHREPARTMENT.COM
