Gallery 1C03 at the University of Winnipeg launches INTERVAL by Berlin-based artist, Rodney LaTourelle

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Gallery 1C03 at the University of Winnipeg launches INTERVAL
by Berlin-based artist, Rodney LaTourelle

WINNIPEG MB, October 16, 2008 – Gallery 1C03 proudly presents a two-part architectural installation by Berlin-based artist, Rodney LaTourelle.

Titled INTERVAL, LaTourelle’s site-specific exhibition at the University of Winnipeg will feature two installations investigating relationships between light, colour, space, and the body. Referring to his work as a form of “three dimensional painting”, the artist uses various spatial transitions, colour associations, and oscillating rhythms of reflection and absorption of light to explore territories of space and to draw attention to the affects of light on the human form and social interactions. The artist’s complex immersive environments employ physiological, psychological, and aesthetic considerations allowing him to provoke an array of intuitive and memory-based responses.

For this project, LaTourelle will construct twin installations in Gallery 1C03 and the Hamilton Galleria. Referring to the original supergraphics sited in Centennial Hall designed by Ursula Ferguson, both installations will involve undulating sequences of saturated colours, reflective walls, and seating areas. Visitors will notice a formal reference to the original "high tech" modernist architectural style of Centennial Hall, the building that houses both installation sites. This "high tech" style is reminiscent of Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (which Centennial Hall pre-dates), and whose antecedents include the British avant-garde architectural group Archigram, and the earlier movement of Russian Constructivism, both of which were characterized by efforts to invest art and technology with social purpose.

The notion of the twin, or doppelgänger, evokes ideas of simultaneous presence. Each construction will appear like an unfolded, spatialized graphic image and, through the strategy of twinning, they will creative parallel yet shifting narratives seeming to move between the two physical spaces. This experience of spatial displacement between the two sites will construct a spectral interval – a strange and un-locatable feeling of recognition – intended as a metaphor for this particular architectural spirit, which is characterized throughout history by a (flagging) social optimism. The constructions will draw viewers into alternate realms to provide unique experiences referencing both the history of art and architecture, and the dual nature of contemporary society where many lead twin lives: one based in reality and the other played out in the virtual space the Internet.

Born in Winnipeg, LaTourelle holds a Bachelor of Architecture and a Master of Landscape Architecture, both from the University of Manitoba. The recipient of numerous grants, LaTourelle's installations have exhibited across Canada and in Europe. LaTourelle is also a curator and art critic; his writing has appeared in C Magazine, Canadian Architect, and various publications in Germany.

Members of the media are invited to arrange interviews with the artist on November 5 and 6.

Rodney LaTourelle’s installations will be available for viewing from November 6 – December 6, 2008

Exhibition launch: Thursday, November 6 from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. (1st Floor, Centennial Hall) Artist talk: Friday, November 7 beginning at 12:30 p.m. in Room 2C15 (2nd Floor, Centennial Hall) Admission is free for all and all are welcome!

Gallery hours: Monday – Friday: 12:00 – 4:00 p.m.; Saturday: 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. Closed Remembrance Day.
Please note that the Hamilton Galleria is open during regular library hours; see http://library.uwinnipeg.ca for details.

Gallery 1C03 wishes to acknowledge the generous financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Manitoba Arts Council.

Images: Rodney LaTourelle, In the Absence of Unambiguous Criteria (details of installation at Program, Berlin), 2007.


Milena Placentile, Art Curator, Gallery 1C03, University of Winnipeg
515 Portage Ave, Winnipeg MB R3B 2E9
204.786.9253 | m [dot] placentile [at] uwinnipeg [dot] ca
uwinnipeg.ca/index/artgallery-index | gallery1C03.blogspot.com

– 30 –