©Thomas Kneubühler
THOMAS KNEUBÜHLER
DARK MATTER
11 NOVEMBER – 19 DECEMBER 2015
(Vernissage: 12 November 2015, 17.00 – 20.00)
PATRICK MIKHAIL GALLERY
12 – 22 NOVEMBER 2015
(Vernissage: 13 November 2015, 17.00 – 19.00)
RIDM HEADQUARTERS
19 NOVEMBER – 19 DECEMBER 2015
(Vernissage: 19 November 2015, 17.30)
GALERIE B-312
Dark Matter is a three part exhibition by Thomas Kneubühler, a Swiss artist based in Montréal, presented at different venues across Montréal – Patrick Mikhail Gallery, RIDM Headquaters and Galerie B-312. Dark Matter unites Days in Night and Land Claim, two of Kneubühler’s recent projects. Produced as the result of an artist residency at CFS Alert, a military and research station in the high Arctic located 800 km from the North Pole, Days in Night examines the phenomenon of 24 hour-long polar nights, an experience of living in the dark and the limits of how much one can see. (shown at Patrick Mikhail Glalery and RIDM Headquarters) Similarly, Land Claim (shown at Galerie B-312) investigates mining conditions in Northern Quebec, a highly controlled territory hidden from the public eye and its connection to global markets. Thomas Kneubühler is interviewed below about his upcoming exhibition series, by fellow artist Andreas Rutkauskas
THOMAS KNEUBÜHLER IN CONVERSATION WITH ANDREAS RUTKAUSKAS
AR: Dark Matter unites two recent projects, Days in Night, and Land Claim. How are they connected?
TK: There is first a geographic connection since both deal with Canada’s far North. But there is also the theme of darkness. Days in Night is about the Polar Night, the limits of how much we can see, and the experience of living in the dark. Land Claim is about mining, which in the case of an underground mine takes place in darkness as well. Mine sites are not easily accessible, they are very controlled territories and hidden from the public eye. They are also in the dark in that sense, as there is a lot of secrecy around the mining business.
AR: How do you approach such a hidden subject?
TK: This is of course a challenge, but it is also the core of many of my projects: How do you access something inaccessible? How do you make something visible which is otherwise hidden? It starts with doing research on a subject. You also have to negotiate in order to get access to a specific site. In the case of Land claim, I went to a mine site in Nunavik, which is only accessible by a company plane. So the only way to get there is through the company. I had to negotiate for six months to get access, and once I was there, everything was controlled by the communication department.
AR: That mine is owned by a corporation based in Zug, Switzerland.
TK: It used to belong to a Canadian company, but then it was swallowed by an international corporation, which is using Zug as a tax haven. The mining business is global these days, yet the mining sites are more and more in remote locations. There is a tension between the local and the global.
AR: A lot of your work is about power, or power structures. In previous projects, you looked at office buildings, transmission lines and security guards.
TK: Historically, photography has looked elsewhere. There is an abundance of work which shows people or places on the margin. There is not much work which looks at power, for a good reason. When you are in power, you have also the resources to control your image.
AR: Do you see your work as political?
TK: It really depends how you define political, but I definitely care about social issues. My work is a way to look at the world differently, and hopefully that initiates a discourse.
AR: You show your projects regularly in Europe. Is the perception different than in North America?
TK: I am always surprised how in Europe they pick up on environmental issues much faster than here. I guess the audience is more sensitive to these issues. When I showed Office 2000 in France and Switzerland, I was always asked why lights are turned on in these buildings at night. It is also more common to see social or political issues in contemporary art, so people are open to these questions.
AR: You only started to work with video a couple of years ago. What made you interested in that medium?
TK: When I still lived in Basel, I programmed a cinema, so film and video was always important to me. With my own work, my background is photography, and you probably will notice it when you look at my videos, as I often work with still images. What brought me to video is the possibility to combine images with sound. For Forward Looking Statements, the starting point was a soundtrack of a conference call by investors of a planned iron mine. For Days in Night, I did an audio interview, and then combined it with one still image, which is slowly changing.
AR: Days in Night, and also your other video works, have been shown both as screenings and as installations in exhibitions. Which do you prefer?
TK: It really depends; there are advantages to both. With a screening in a theater, the audience is often more focused. With a gallery situation, you have better control over your work, you can create a context around it which helps the reading of the work. ■
Born in Solothurn, Switzerland, Thomas Kneubühler has been living in Canada since 2000. In 2003, he completed a Master’s degree in Studio Arts at Concordia University, Montreal. His work often deals with social issues and how technology is affecting people’s lives. His work has been presented in many exhibitions in both Europe and North America, most recently at the Centre culturel canadien, Paris (2012), at the Centre Pasquart Bienne (2014), and at the Videonale.15 at the Kunstmuseum Bonn (2015). In 2011 he was awarded the Pratt & Whitney Canada Prize of the Conseil des arts de Montréal, and in 2012 the Swiss Art Award by the Ministry of Culture Switzerland. www.thomaskneubuhler.com
Andreas Rutkauskas is originally from Winnipeg and moved recently from Montreal to the foot of the Rocky Mountains. They both received a MFA from Concordia University, and have collaborated on many occasions, most recently as part of the Fieldworkers Collective in an exhibition at Oslo8 Contemporary Photography in Basel, Switzerland in 2015. www.andreasrutkauskas.com
*The interview (both in English and French) is also available in printed format at the exhibition venues.
Patrick Mikhail Gallery
4445 Rue Saint-Antoine Ouest
Montréal, QC H4C 2Z6
patrickmikhailgallery.com
Opening hours
Tuesday – Saturday: 11.00 – 17.00
RIDM Headquaters (Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal/
Montreal International Documentary Festival)
3450 Rue Saint-Urbain
Montréal, QC H2X 2N5
www.ridm.qc.ca
Opening hours
Monday – Sunday 11.00 – 22.00
Galerie B-312
Espace 403, 372 Rue Ste-Catherine O,
galerieb312.ca
Opening hours
Tuesday – Saturday: 12.00 – 17.00