PROXIMAL SPACES

Joel Ong and I are Artistic Directors of the exhibition, Proximal Spaces, originally produced for the DesignTO Festival (Canada) in January of 2021. Because of the pandemic it had to go online. It was also presented in further online exhibitions: FACTT 20/21 (Portugal), and the Centre of Sensory Studies (Canada). In the spring of 2021 six poets responded to the works with an amazing tapestry of poems and were presented at an event as part of FACTT 20/21.

In September 2021 a new iteration of the artworks as a physical exhibition was hosted by the ArtSci Salon at the Fields Institute (University of Toronto, Canada), and online as Proximal Fields as part of Ars Electronica, Garden Leonardo Laser, [Anti]disciplinary Topographies.

Proximal Fields at Fields Institute here

Proximal Spaces Website here

Proximal Spaces at DesignTO Festival, Toronto, online here (January 2021)

Proximal Poems event at FACTT 20/21 Improbable Times: Poets reading & discussion with Bioartists here (May 2021)

Proximal Spaces in FACTT 20/21 (Festival of Art, Science & Technology) virtual gallery here (March 2021)

Proximal Spaces in Uncommon Senses III, Centre for Sensory Studies, Concordia University, Montreal, virtual gallery here (May 2021)

Proximal Spaces is a multi-modal exhibition that explores the environment at multiple scales in concentric circles of proximity to the body. Inspired by Edward Hall’s 1961 notation of intimate (1.5ft), personal (4ft), social (12ft) and public (25ft) spaces in his “Proxemics” diagrams, the artworks are a interpretation for this current time -this time of the COVID-19 Pandemic.  

In Fall 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a team of international BioArtists collaborated on a montage of microscopic images of their everyday environment. The resulting images and discussions explored a heightened awareness of the microbiome on and around us. Proximal Spaces was originally designed as an exhibition at the Toronto International Design Centre as part of the DesignTO festival 2021. Following the Festival's decision to move to a "virtual and distanced" format, the piece was redesigned through a series of artworks:

An Augmented Reality application that explores the invisible environments of computer generated bioaerosols suspended in the air of virtual space. here

An infographics diagram based on original microbial drawings, Petri dish samples by the BioArtists, and Hall’s proxemic concentric circles. here

A hyper-Penrose Petri dish that fractures and mirrors as thousands of contagious and non-contagious filled triangles mutate into new life forms. here

A video brings together all these elements and the BioArtists’ discussions and responses to the sampling and culturing of their microbiome and that which lives in their Proximal Spaces. here

These works visualize the variegated response of the biological environment to unprecedented levels of physical distancing and self-isolation and recent developments in vaccine design that impact our understanding of interpersonal and interspecies ‘messaging’. The artworks present an interesting mode of interspecies engagement through hybrid virtual and physical interaction.

In the spring of 2021, six Canadian poets (“The Intransigents,” formerly known as “The Inconvenients”, Kelley Aitken, nancy viva davis halifax, Maureen Hynes, Anita Lahey, Dilys Leman, & Sheila Stewart came together to pursue a lyric response to Proximal Spaces. The poets were challenged and inspired by the virtual exhibition with its combination of art, science, and proxemics. The focus of the artworks – what inhabits and thrives in the spaces and environments where we live, work, and breathe—generated six distinctive poems. here

Artistic Directors: Joel Ong, Elaine Whittaker
Original Drawings: Elaine Whittaker
Graphic Design Programming: Natalie Plociennik, Bhavesh Kakwani
AR/Web development: Sachin Khargie, Ryan Martin
BioArtists: Roberta Buiani, Nathalie Dubois Calero, Sarah Choukah, Nicole Clouston, Jess Holz, Mick Lorusso, Maro Pebo, Felipe Shibuya
Video Editor: Nada El-Omari
Sound designer: Michael Palumbo
Web designer: Lu Zhouyang

Proximal Poets: Kelley Aitken, nancy viva davis halifax, Maureen Hynes, Anita Lahey, Dilys Leman, Sheila Stewart

This project is funded through the Vice President Research Innovation’s “Research in the Time of COVID-19” initiative at York University and supported by Sensorium: Centre for Digital Art and Technology. We thank the staff at DesignTO and the Toronto International Design Centre for their support and adaptability through the various stages of provincial “lock-down”.