In the exhibition (play/pause/repeat), Toronto artist Laurel Woodcock invited us to consider an expanded definition of authenticity and the experience of live and recorded events through interactive installation, video, and performance. Woodcock is interested in video mediation of live events such as the ‘instant replay’ in televised sport, large screen projections that accompany live concerts, and the proliferation of video/DVD rentals that follow cinematic theatre. She uses the devices of cinema, television, popular culture, and technology with wit and sensitivity, while examining how the relationship between performer/audience, screen/viewer, and scale/event alters each live, recorded, and play-back experience.
(play/pause/repeat)
featured new work by Woodcock including a special, one-time performance on
Thursday, January 15 from 4:00 to 4:30 p.m. during the opening reception.
In (play/pause/repeat), Woodcock framed actions and events connected to
everyday existence. Constructed from materials and locations that are
universally familiar (signage, seating arrangements, cinematic experience),
Woodcock’s installation-based work provided informal environments that invited
viewers to reconsider their relationships to spectatorship in the everyday
world.
Laurel Woodcock, Location Shoot, 2004 (detail, video still)
Woodcock is an Assistant Professor at the University of Guelph where she heads the Extended Media Department in the Studio Art Program. The exhibition catalogue contains an essay by Dawn Owen. The exhibition and catalogue were supported by the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts.
