Suzanne Caines

Conversations

In today’s society there is a cultural phenomenon of loneliness and feelings of being disconnected from a community. I was interested in finding new ways in which to make connections with a larger community. This was one of the themes that run through all of my work. There is also the aspect of banal conversations and awkwardness that exists with in each piece.Most of my performance/video work focused on trying to make connectionsthrough social interventionsthatI have set up.This piece deals with the need for human contact in contemporary society and what lengths one would go to obtain this contact. I was also testing the boundaries of what can be considered socially permissible.

As traditional families are being dissolved the need to create other connections is imperative.Needing to connect with others reflects the phenomenon of people yearning for a sense of belonging and towards a cultural or ethnic group’s collective pursuit of identity. This fear of being alone is relevant since it touches on the question of one’s own (individual, collective,ethnic or cultural) identity.In the pieces I produced during my Binaural/Nodarresidency I tried to make connects to others who are strangers to me. Nodar was an integral location for this work to take place because the idea of community if ever present.

The works I produced both critically engage with the ritualized nature of social conventions, where I tried to create spaces where those conventions could temporarily be destabilized. I also anticipate that this work may have raised many questions, such as around the role of the audience and artist, dynamics of insider/outsider, and the role of local context.There is a historical and contemporary context for art work that engages participants in events, performances and situations. In such situations,meaning is as unstable as audiences are heterogeneous. Varying backgrounds, belief systems, and levels of contextual awareness all play a part in creating multiple and conflicting discourses concerning the significance of artists’ actions.

These situations were an extension of my previous work where I was interested in finding new ways to make connections with alarger community. I began to set up social situations that were “activated” in 2003, while completing my Masters of Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art, London, England. These performances reflected the need for human contact in contemporary society and what lengths one would go to obtain this contact. I was also interested in testing the boundaries of what is considered socially permissible.In the piece called “Blue Hammer”,which was exhibited at Transmediale 2006 in Berlin, Germany and in 2006 at The Nunnery Gallery in London, England, I went to a hardware store and created an “activated situation” by holding apromotional test. I asked customers to tell me which hammer they prefer after they test the hammers laid out for them; they could take a free blue plaster hammer that I have made with them.This blue hammer operated slightly as a pun, as a tool that symbolizes an act of force. Every time I produce a new relation piece I learn something new about how other respond to awkward or unusual situations.

The performances that took place in Nodar were centred on a transaction or exchange. In the performances called “Split PeaSoup” I went to a convenience store and created an “activated situation”.The sharing of soup was used as a pretext for social interaction.As the piece continues the lines are blurred and there is confusion about what role each of us belong to. On this occasion I examined how our individual needs and freedoms are altered on a daily basis as we move between public and commercial spaces. The audience is invited to re-evaluate what they think is permissive and the preconceived ideas of normalcy.This work was exhibited at Anna Leonowens Gallery at NSCAD University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, September 2007. It was displayed on three monitors that formed a circle. The screens faced outwards towards the gallery walls forcing the viewer to backup against the wall in order to view a monitor, because of their positioning the viewer was only able to view one screen at a time.Each monitor had a different segment from the three hour performance. The speakers were in the back of the monitors and the sound over laps, causing the viewer to be drawn to the nextmonitor missing what might happen on their current viewingscreen. The location of the monitors in the gallery space again created an awkward situation for the viewers of the work and how they negotiated them selves in relation to the monitors.

Suzanne Caines received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 1993 and a Bachelor of Education in 1999, graduating with distinction. She graduated with her Masters of Arts (Fine Arts) from Chelsea College, the London Institute in 2004. Caines has held several solo exhibits and has participated in group exhibitions and festivals in public galleries in North America and Europe these includeTrampoline,Berlin Germany, Reception Space/Meals and SUV’s, London,England,The Projection Gallery, Liverpool, England,The Nunnery Gallery, London, England, Transmediale 2006, Berlin, Germanyand VertexList Gallery, Brooklyn, New York. Caines has received several Canada Council Grants, Nova Scotia Arts Grants and has participated in several international residencies including CAMAC Marnay Sur Seine, France, The Future Idea of Art, The BanffCenter, Canada, local artist in residence at CFAT, Halifax, Nova Scotia and Binaural, Portugal.