Date/Time
Date(s) - November 24, 2022 - November 27, 2022
All Day
Location
SAMC Gallery (inside Norma Marion Alloway Library, TWU)
Categories No Categories
Through the exhibition Play Ground, Bethany Haynes-Kramm seeks to reclaim the gallery space from associations of stuffy pretension.
“Galleries often demand our best behavior—we are instructed not to touch, to move about in quiet contemplation, to keep our voices down,” Alysha Creighton, Sessional Assistant Professor of Art + Design, says in introducing the exhibition. “In contrast, Kramm’s playful works re-envision the gallery space as a site of adventure, exploration and play.”
Hung with brightly coloured textiles, Play Ground invites the viewer into a space of curiosity and delight. Light and shadow play across the walls. Notes prompt visitors to interact with and contribute to the artworks in an ongoing collaboration between artist and audience. Four sculptural installations comprised of yarn, cloth, cassette film and a tempting mound of bubble gum entice viewers to return to a time when play was a natural way of relating to the world.
“By creating an immersive and imaginative space, Kramm opens potential to ‘dream of different […] environments and worlds.’” Creighton continues. “Kramm’s work prompts us to consider: what kind of world becomes possible when we are freed from our routine environments? What world might we dream together if we made space for play and reclaimed imagination?”
Play Ground is on display at the SAMC Gallery October 20 to November 27. This exhibition is in partial fulfillment of Bethany Haynes-Kramm’s Honours thesis in Art + Design.