STEVE BADGETT & DEBORAH STRATMAN | AUGURAL PAIR

Outdoor Site-specific Installation, N&M 2011
Artist Talk: Thursday, August 11, 7pm, KIAC Ballroom
Arts Festival Installation Walk: Sunday – August 14, 1 PM

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Badgett and Stratman’s public sculptural interventions take the form of two viewing stations—complete with magnifying spotting scopes—that allow the audience to focus in on two discrete constructions. Above the CIBC Bank on Second Ave., electronic signage displays up-to-the-minute pricing of gold. On a forested ridge across the Yukon River, a large mirrored disc reflects the luminosity of the sky as a phenomenological mystery, attracting ravens to nearby rocks and branches. Investigating how value and desire are connected to landscape and resource extraction, these two works suggest a connection between international commodities exchange and natural splendour. The banal digital depiction of speculative economics coupled with the magical reflection of the luminous sky reveal a set of cultural beliefs that conflate “the numbers” with the vicissitudes of nature. Witnessed through the mediated viewpoint of the lens, these works literally bring into focus the things we might desire but can’t ultimately reach.

BIOGRAPHY

Working collaboratively and individually, Steve Badgett & Deborah Stratman have shown their work internationally at some of the globe’s premier institutions and events including the Whitney Museum (New York), the Tate Modern (London), the Venice Biennale of Architecture, the Sundance Film Festival, Documenta (Kassel), the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Georges Pompidou Centre (Paris), the Renaissance Society (Chicago), Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven), and the Centre for Land Use Interpretation (Wendover, Utah). Steve is best known for his work with the artist group SIMPARCH, while Deborah typically works in video, film, sound and installation. More info: simparch.org / pythagorasfilm.com