1 3 8.
PARAHUTE 112
Luther Price:Imitation of Life, text
by Lia Gangitano, et al., New York:
Thread Waxing Space, 2003, n. p.,
ill. b. &w.
Nan Goldin, textes de Paulette
Gagnon et Eric Mezil, Montreal,
Musee d'art contemporain de
Montreal, 2003, 96 p., ill. coul.
(texts also in English).
Nedko Solakov, texts by Ami Barak
and Henk Slager, Amsterdam: De
Appel, 2003, 52 pp., ill. col. (textes
aussi en neerlandais).
Rachel Harrison:Brides and Bases,
texts by Ben Portis and Margaret
Sundell, Oakville: Oakville Galleries,
2003, n.p., ill. col.
Revealing the Subject, text by Shannon
Anderson, Oakville: Oakville
Galleries, 2003, 64 pp., ill. col.
The Royal Art Lodge: Ask the Dust
Dictionaryof Received Ideas, texts
by Wayne Baerwaldt, et aL., New
York: The Drawing Center; Toronto:
The Power Plant; Middleburg: De
Vleeshal; Winnipeg: Plug In ICA,
2003,104 pp., ill. b. & w. & col.
Steve Reinke, text by Tom Folland,
New York: Thread Waxing Space,
2003, n. p., ill. b. & w.
Suzanne Lafont. Appele par son nom,
texte de Marie de Brugerolle, Aries,
Actes sud, 2003, n.p., ill. coul.
Tom Dean: Ruins, texts by Josephine
Mills and Lee Rodney, Lethbridge:
University of Lethbridge, 2002,
64 pp., ill. b.& w.& col.
Revues-Magazines
Perfect Magazine, Lyon, Les Presses
du reel, n'i, 2003, 6o p.
Livres d'artiste_Artists' Books
Daniel Danis et Susan Coolen,
Terre oceane, coil. Des photographes,
Montreal, Dazibao, 2003, ii6 p.,
ill. n. et b.
Mark Dion, L'ichthyosaure. La pie et
autres merveilles du monde naturel,
Marseille, Images En Manceuvre
Editions, 2003,128 p., ill. n. et b.
et coul. (texts also in English).
Marie-Eve Gagnon et Marisa
Portolese, Un chevreuil d lafenetre
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Althea Thauberger, Songstress,
Vancouver Artspeak, compact disk,
2002.
Althea Thauberger's "Songstress
Project" is,at root, a conceptually
rigorous artwork that merges with
popular music discourse. The
Songstress CD presents audio and
photographic portraits of eight
young female singers drawn from
an ad placed by the artist in an
entertainment weekly: "Female
Victoria filmmaker seeks female
singers/songwriters, ages approxi-
mately 17-25, to be featured in an art
film. No experience necessary."
While savvy, Thauberger is no wolf
in sheep's clothing. Rather than
taking a cheap shot at the innocent,
she places her own subjectivity- as
the copyright acknowledgments
underscore - alongside those of
her subjects.
Each chosen respondent cut a demo
of her song in a recording studio.
These songs are undeniably driven
be feeling and affect. Titles like
Reaching Over, Sunshine, Lookingfor
Something and Why reflect the
proclivities of heart and soul. Emo-
de ma chambre, coil. Des photo-
graphes, Montreal, Dazibao, 2003,
80 p., ill. coul.
Sylvie Tourangeau, Appel(s) d I'aigle,
Montreal, Galerie Sylviane Poirier,
2003, n.p., ill. n. et b.
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tion is formalized as Thauberger
adopts an impresario or curatorial
role in bringing these moods into
public through the strategies and
criticality of art discourse. What is
revealed is the role of musical craft
in engaging an aspirational politics,
the varied yet coded ways "of be-
coming a songstress." Most of the
songs record a deeply felt loss of
love that marks a reckoning with
personal symbolism. They testify to
the act of writing one's way out of
turmoil and are at times excruciat-
ingly earnest. But is earnestness in
itself suspect? Perhaps only to a
polarized positioning of mind ver-
sus emotion. Thauberger configures
these performances as places to
stand, spaces to speak from.
The verdant sites around Victoria
function as the context for the
singers' portraits. "Nature" be-
comes an explicitly mediated term,
framing the women as they take a
stake in, and project, affect. The
liner notes include an essay by
Kathy Slade who situates Songstress
within the history of portraiture and
within an explicitly female audience
that has expanded since Sinead
O'Connor's pivotal performance
at the 1995 Lollapalooza festival
and Sarah McLachlan's all woman
Lilith Fair- these are "girl
singer[s]...singing for girls." With
this CD Thauberger articulates an
important locus of emergent
authorial subjectivity within the
specificity of gender and art.
> JENNIFER FISHER
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

TITLE: [Songstress]
SOURCE: Parachute no112 O/N/D 2003
WN: 0327406069015

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