Calling the Shots
Carole Condé, Karl Beveridge
A Space Main Gallery
May 3 – June 7, 2003
Copresented by: Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts (www.mayworks.ca)
Co-presentation with the Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts, April 25 - May 5, 2003. For more information, visit www.mayworks.ca
Condé and Beveridge present a new series of staged scenes in their renowned photo-tableaux style. The exhibition consists of four works.
Not a Care…(1999-2000) is a 12-part piece on the history of health care; Theatre of Operations (2000), is an 18-part series in which US health care workers look at the American system; Ill Wind (2001) is a five part series in which Ontario health care workers portray themselves and their work. These works narrate the lived experiences of health care workers in hospitals and home care situations. The fourth piece, Calling the Shots (2002), is a long zoom that moves out from an anti-globalization protest march into a television production studio and a world trade press conference.
Biographies
Condé and Beveridge work with unions and communities as part of a larger collective process with the intent to change the practice and understanding of culture in society. As Clive Robertson observes, the artists ³… engage with their represented subjects both as collaborative storytellers and as primary audiences for their work.² (Fuse vol. 25 #4) Their lucid, clean presentation eloquently articulates the concerns and experience of working and community life; but it also stands up to the slick image-making of corporate culture, as it mocks the crisp style of advertising. The artists live and work in Toronto. Their work has been exhibited across Canada and internationally in both the trade union movement and at art galleries and museums. Recent exhibitions include the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art and The Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography. They are currently producing a public art project with the Edmonton Art Gallery for fall 2003. Carole and Karl are active in several labour arts initiatives such as the Mayworks Festival in Toronto and the Workers Arts and Heritage Centre in Hamilton, Ontario.