The First Decade: A Short, Illustrated History of the Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener and Area in the Rotunda Gallery, Kitchener City Hall, September 1 – October 2, 2011.

2011 marks CAFKA’s 10th anniversary and to celebrate, CAFKA is taking the opportunity to recall highlights from past exhibitions in this exhibition of documentary photographs.

CAFKA grew out of ARTWORKS, an annual visual arts festival collaboratively run by the City of Kitchener and artists from the community. ARTWORKS was a two-day event held at the Kitchener City Hall, which consisted of an art sale, cultural information exchange and six artist projects. The objective was to encourage the public to participate and see “art being made.”

In 2000 ARTWORKS was re-evaluated and a group of artists from the region transformed the event into an artist-run organization dedicated to presenting contemporary art projects in the public realm. That year, nine projects were presented at City Hall.

In 2001 the festival changed its name to CAFKA and presented 17 projects by Canadian and international artists over nine days, expanding its base to include Kitchener City Hall and environs. A volunteer board of directors and a part-time Artistic Director organized the Forum, and in 2003 a Public Relations Coordinator was added. CAFKA operated under the umbrella of Globe Studios until it incorporated as a non-profit organization in 2005. In 2005 CAFKA adopted a biennial format and a full-time Executive Director and Artistic Director were hired. CAFKA received charitable status in 2011.

Each edition of CAFKA takes on an over-arching theme relating to the history or current preoccupations of the Region.  By having artists from across Canada and around the world participate, each theme has been explored from diverse social and cultural perspectives. 2007 marked the beginning of CAFKA’s collaborations with local art galleries and museums. In 2009 CAFKA became a partner in programming and marketing in the Three Festivals of Contemporary Art in the Region of Waterloo with the Open Ears Festival of Music and Sound and IMPACT (International Multicultural Platform for Alternative Contemporary Theatre).

2011 is CAFKA’s eighth exhibition in its ten years of existence. From September 16 through October 2, twenty artist projects are installed in Kitchener and at sites around the Region.  Focussing on art in public spaces, the CAFKA programming committee has identified some of the most interesting work by artists in contemporary public art and has invited these artists to develop projects for the biennial. In recognition of the variety of strategies employed by contemporary artists to negotiate the complex social, political, psychological and aesthetic terrain of a looming ecological dystopia, the theme for the 2011 biennial is SURVIVE. RESIST.

For more information about CAFKA and informational guides to SURVIVE. RESIST., please visit our web site at www.cafka.org.

This exhibition of photographs has been made possible through a generous donation by Rex Lingwood and Wendy Mitchinson.

Image credits for the thumbnails above, left to right, top to bottom.  Exhibition titles and dates in bold, artwork in italics:

And then We Take Berlin, 2001

Christine Shaw (Regina, SK)
behave
2001, fabric, steel cable
Kitchener City Hall

Christine Shaw constructed a large membrane-like participatory environment made from translucent stretch fabric, industrial rubber, rip-stop nylon, and guy wire. The artist is fascinated by spontaneous interactive events and the possibilities that may flow from the reactive behaviour of people participating within her constructed environments.

Power to the People, 2002

Matt Gorbet, Rob Gorbet, and Susan Gorbet (Kitchener, ON)
Power to the People
2002, 125 incandescent light bulbs and switches
Kitchener City Hall

Working together and drawing on their varied and impressive expertise, the Gorbets will create a large outdoor grid of light bulbs in which text can be created by passers-by.  Reminiscent of a similar grid that was stretched across King Street in 1910 for the inauguration of hydro power which simply stated “For the People”, this grid will actually provide an interactive experience.  The work will be draped under the canopy above the main entrance to City Hall.

Power to the People, 2002

Ben Woodesen (Glasgow, UK)
Kitchener Radio
2002, 300 cups pulped tomatoes, wires and copper plates,
Kitchener City Hall

Kitchener Radio consisted of over 300 cups of pulped tomatoes all interconnected by wire and copper plates.  The acidity created as the tomatoes decayed produced an electrical current which in turn powered a small transistor radio tuned to a Kitchener station.  The work reminds us of simple yet essential scientific principles; it shows us that from decay comes life, and proves that energy is equivalent, whether it be used to feed our stomachs or to feed our minds.  The tomatoes as battery lasted about 7days.  By day 5, the smell of the rotting fruit was already an additional “challenging” aspect to the work.

Peace of Mind, 2004

Daniel Olson (Montreal, QC)
Fifteen Seconds
2004, interactive performance
Kitchener City Hall

Daniel Olson installed a large tower in Civic Square.  From there he directed a spotlight at passers-by, providing them with “fifteen seconds of fame.”

Peace of Mind, 2004

Adonis Flores Betancourt  (Havana, CU)
Visionary
2004, performance,
Kitchener City Hall

Visionary is a performance in which I embody a soldier or watchman obsessed with the security. During the Forum I remain dressed in camouflage military uniform and take two hygienic paper rolls as binoculars. My work of surveillance, looking after the movement of any person that can seem suspicious, can be watched in a video installed in the exhibition.

X Industria, 2005

Anticool (Yokosuka, JP)
Allurements of Mass Media
2005, performance
Kitchener City Hall

Allurements of Mass Media is an installation/performance piece in which a TV set plays continuously a series of typical commercials for cosmetics, drinks, food, etc.  The artist, wearing a business suit and high-heeled shoes balances on a balance beam installed in front of the TV. While walking from end to end, she consumes the products that are advertised in the commercials.

Haptic, 2007

Jens Meyer (Essen, DE)
Tuchfühlung
2007, synthetic fabric, cable, video projections, 4.5 x 6 m.
Kitchener City Hall

Tuchfuhlung was a site specific installation constructed of stretched fabric and cable creating a walk through architectural space touching and changing the facade of Kitchener City Hall. At night imageswere projected onto the large stretched fabric forms.

Haptic, 2007

Jem Robert Koko Bi (Essen, DE / Abijan, CI )
Exdodus
2007, wood, dimensions variable
Kitchener City Hall

"As people, we are grounded by our feet and it is very much a haptic experience to feel the land we walk on.  African culture in particular is very much connected to the earth and singing and dancing is an important way to understand the world and be a part of a community."

Veracity, 2009

Pipilotti Rist (Zurich, CH)
Open My Glade (Flatten)
2001, video projections, 9 - 1 minute each.
Kitchener City Hall

The 9 one-minute video segments of Open My Glade were originally commissioned for the NBC video screen to enter into a dialogue with the multitude of high-tech screens and commerical billboards overlooking Time’s Square.  Rist's collection of videos will appear in slow motion; relaying poetic visual statements through close-ups, flying camera work and intense colour.  Open My Glade will only be available for viewing after dusk.
Veracity, 2009

Veracity, 2009

Kate Wilson (Toronto, ON)
Celestial Mechanics
2009, acrylic paint, 3.66 x 7.62 m.
Kitchener City Hall

Celestial Mechanics is a large scale architecturally site specific wall drawing.  Wilson’s drawings flirt with abstraction & recall macro views of botanical and astronomical forms.  They take on the appearance of intimate, colourful, doodles which have been magnified to larger proportions.

Veracity, 2009

Max Streicher (Toronto, ON)
Dung Beetle
2005, recycled billboard vinyl, electric fans, 9.2 x 6.4 x 6.1 m.
Kitchener City Hall

Dung Beetle is a 30-foot-long inflated sculpture of a dung beetle on its back, constructed of recycled billboard vinyl. Hieroglyphs of advertising slogans are etched across the glossy vinyl, which Streicher chose specifically for its insect-like sheen and tactile qualities. Known for his inflatable installations and kinetic sculptures, Streicher contrasts the heady and buoyant messages usually conveyed by inflatables with existentialist references to Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis.