Kara Uzelman: 2013 at Sommer & Kohl, Berlin

The exhibition 2013 by Canadian artist Kara Uzelman is her second solo show at Sommer & Kohl Gallery in Berlin. Uzelman has a background in urban planning and archaeology. In her works, Kara Uzelman explores an object’s potential for alternative sources of meaning and constructs pseudo-historical narratives for discarded items through collecting and assemblage. In this video, Patricia Kohl (co-director, Sommer & Kohl) provides us with an introduction to the exhibition, and Kara Uzelman talks in detail about her creative process and the title of the exhibition. The show runs until February 23, 2013.

Kara Uzelman was born in Vancouver (Canada) in 1978. The artist lives and works in Vancouver. Kara Uzelman graduated at Emily Carr University in 2004. Her solo exhibitions include: Warblers, AKA Gallery (with Jeffrey Allport), Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, (2012); Si vous recevez ceci, vous serez bientí´t couverts de gloire, Le Commissariat Paris, (2011); If you receive this, you will soon bask in glory, Mercer Union – A Centre For Contemporary Visual Art Toronto, (2010); Fire Watcher, Liste 09 Basel (2009); The Cavorist Projects, Sommer & Kohl Berlin, (2009); Fire Watcher, The Bodgers’ and Kludgers’ Art Parlour Vancouver, (2007); You look like you whereas I tend to look like me, Art Projects Gallery Regina, (2005); Clubhouse, Access Artist Run Center Vancouver, (2005).

She has attended residencies at The Klondike Institute of Art, Dawson City, CA; Triangle, Marseille, FR and Mains D’oeuvres, Paris, FR. She completed a mentorship in Archaeology at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, CA. Recent exhibitions include The Power Plant, Toronto, CA; Le Commissariat, Paris, FR; Temporäre Kunsthalle, Berlin, DE and Mercer Union, Toronto, CA.

Kara Uzelman: 2013 at Sommer & Kohl, Berlin (Germany). Interview with Patricia Kohl & Kara Uzelman, January 11, 2013. Video by Frantisek Zachoval.

> Right-click (Mac: ctrl-click) this link to download Quicktime video file.

Press release:

As an artist with a background in urban planning and archaeology, Uzelman works with scavenged materials exploring the possible histories embedded in found objects. Her growing body of work has consistently evaluated the object’s potential for alternative sources of meaning, constructing pseudo-historical narratives for discarded items through collecting and assemblage.

The artist has recently moved to a remote region of Saskatchewan, CA. Influenced by this, 2013 is a new body of work that builds on a heritage of renegade communities which have historically populated this remote area such as the Harmony Industrial Association in Moosomin SK, 1897-1900, which regarded the existing capitalist ideology as being one of greed and exploitation, and proposed its co-operative system as a model to show how human beings should live together in peace and harmony. From 1951-1961 the ‘psychedelic’ movement originated in Weyburn SK and undertook first experiments with LSD. More recently back-to-the-land movements are (re) discovering the region. Working with materials and equipment sourced from dumps, garage sales and haphazard excavations in combination with regional homesteading techniques, Uzelman formulates a material language of salvaged and reassembled twentieth-century refuse. It is through this material language that a collection of fabricated artifacts and documented site-works come to life.

Since graduating from Emily Carr University in 2004, Uzelman’s process-based sculptures and site-specific installations have been shown internationally in both group and solo exhibitions. She has attended residencies at The Klondike Institute of Art, Dawson City, CA; Triangle, Marseille, FR and Mains D’oeuvres, Paris, FR. She completed a mentorship in Archaeology at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, CA. Recent exhibitions include The Power Plant, Toronto, CA; Le Commissariat, Paris, FR; Temporäre Kunsthalle, Berlin, DE and Mercer Union, Toronto, CA.

Posted in: art, Berlin, interview, VernissageTV