Monument (Sundial)
The sculpture is created by displacing the energy cost and invisible labour which form the backbone of recycling processes as central techniques in my studio practice. Simultaneously, it allows a unique opportunity for a community to contemplate elements of life which are normally hidden, shameful, tucked away at the margins - now exposed in a grand fashion.
The act of material compression, whether geological or human-directed, is one in which increase of density corresponds to increased value, whether practical or symbolic. [The final sculpture] thus straddles the line between value and worthlessness; equally plausible as a distant future reminiscing on a monumental past, or ancient ruins that uncannily extend themselves into an unknown future.
Born in Tel-Aviv (ISR, *1985) and raised in Vancouver (BC), Adam Basanta lives and works in Montreal since 2010. Originally studying contemporary music composition, he has developed a broad, experimental, autodidactic artistic practice in mixed-media installations, sculpture, and print media. Across various media and techniques, he investigates technology as a meeting point of concurrent, overlapping systems; a nexus of cultural, computational, biological, and economic forces.
Since 2015, his works have been exhibited worldwide including the Musée des beaux- arts de Montréal (CAN), WRO Biennale (POL), Fotomuseum Winterthur (CH), Cite International des Arts - Paris (FRA), Arsenal Art Contemporain (CAN), Galerie Charlot (FRA), iMAL (BEL), National Art Centre Tokyo (JPN), V Moscow Biennale for Young Art (RUS), Serralves Museum (POR), Edith-Russ-Haus fur Mediakunst (GER), York Art Gallery (UK), and The Center for Contemporary Arts Santa Fe (USA). His work has been awarded in Canada (Prix Pierre Ayot 2019, Sobey Art Award Longlist 2018 and 2020) and internationally (Japan Media Arts Prize 2016, Aesthetica Art Prize 2017).
