Welcome, David Bobier,
Image courtesy of the artist
Through the use of vibrotactile technology, Bobier breathes life into the spaces, architecture and forgotten objects of the previously abandoned King George Public School. Throughout the lower level of the school, and outside on its perimeter, you’ll find four installations that consider the space and its former inhabitants.
Desks, windows, and walkways are brought back to life, vibrating, emitting audio that invites us to reflect on the histories and people who have passed through this space.
Welcome greets visitors near the box office by pairing the ASL sign for “welcome” with audio of a voice reciting the word in different languages. The piece calls on the tenets of education and friendship that heavily inform the school experience while questioning colonialist and ableist structures that form its foundation.
Recess embeds the doorways and windows of an otherwise empty hallway with the sounds of childrens’ excitement moving through the school between classes. Placement of this soundscape transports us back to this time in our lives as we navigate the school to explore the festival.
In the library, two installations, Touch and Sound in Memory and Non-Fiction transform the room into a capsule of time we have all experienced.
in-form
Factory schooling is a term that refers to a public education model originally developed in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when learning was first provided for and regulated by the state. This approach to education emphasized impersonal, standardized teachings with the goal of producing a literate, compliant workforce. The neat rows of desks found in today’s classrooms echo these origins.
Youthful, but deflated stick-figure forms present themselves in fleshy, ordered formation while a wall-to-wall curve-stitching looms overhead. Weaving together symbols of formative school experience, these familiar and uncanny additions to the classroom prompt reflections on one’s own experiences within the factory school system questioning what is gained, lost, and transformed.
Emerging out of rich discussions about their own experience, Kelly and Leslie’s material interventions explore the exacting conditions that inform the moral, social, and cultural imperatives entangled within curriculum. The formative education we receive comes with a rulebook; our performance is measured as success or failure. Assumed into the production line pupils adapt, absorb, adjust, form, transform, and sometimes, disappear.
In their installation, in·form, Leslie Menagh and Kelly O'Neill liken the classroom to a loom - one that threads us into the fabric of society and ties learning to production.
Artist Bios:
Leslie Menagh is an interdisciplinary artist, craftsperson, teacher, curator, and community organizer. After many years working in the arts and cultural sector, Leslie opened Madderhouse Textile Studios where she screen prints cloth, hosts artist residencies, facilitates workshops, and constructs products for retail. Leslie’s varied creative practices are united by a love of textiles and the importance of story-telling and creating opportunities for communities and individuals to find their own expression. She holds a BFA from NSCAD University.
Kelly O’Neill is a sculpture/ installation, mixed media and textile artist who lives in Selwyn, ON. Working with assemblage and text, video and projection, and incorporating traditional textile methods with unconventional materials, Kelly creates objects and experiences that explore the fluidity and impermeability of embodied experience.
After completing an Honors BA in Philosophy and English Literature at Trent University, Kelly worked as a Social Worker before having a family and staying home to raise her 4 children. Having an art practice throughout her life, Kelly returned to school, completing her BFA/Sculpture and Installation at OCAD University, Toronto (2018). Her work has been shown in galleries in Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia, and New York.
Organized by Public Energy, Erring at King George is a multi-arts festival that will see dozens of performing and visual artists as well as community groups taking over all three floors of the now closed King George Public School. Numerous performing and visual artists will transform classrooms, hallways, offices and even the gym into exhibition spaces.
Ticketing:
Festival Passes provide admission to the main Erring program. Passes are available online or at the door.